Smiley Face :)

Ominous Origins

Ah yes, the smiley face. It's an icon as old as time. It brings people together with its warmth and charm. Of course, like any form of language, the symbol has evolved to mean any number of things, from sarcasm to indifference. But one thing the smiley was never meant to mean was murder! Yes, today we're talking about the smiley face murders, or the theory surrounding it. The story goes that a couple detectives had a hunch that men who were being found dead in bodies of water where victims of either one, or multiple serial killers that left a smiley face tag/graffiti at the site in which they dumped the bodies. Some agreed that this was a sound theory, others called it ludicrous.

Whatever you believe about that theory, there is one man who was legit in his use of the famous emoji and murder, and was Keith Jesperson. At a young age Keith showed some trademark signs of being a bad, bad boy, but like many in the 70's, the signs were ignored, or missed. He had an abusive father, and was bullied at school because he was a giant (at 35 years old he was 6'7.5"). All this lead to him becoming a fairly prolific serial killer, who was charged with 8 counts of murder when it was all said and done. But what makes him the smiley face killer? Well, when a woman claimed her and her boyfriend killed one of his victims, he left a note on a public washroom wall signed with a smiley face. He later sent letters to the media signed with a smiley face.

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