Transcript
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The following is for mature audiences only, so if you aren't cool with dark, disturbing,
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and depraved, you might want to keep it moving.
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Welcome to 10 Minute Murder.
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10 Minute Murder.
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Life didn't exactly deal Keith Jesperson the best hand.
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Growing up in the 1950s, Washington had two options.
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Be the shy, awkward kid everyone picked on, or become the violent monster his father actually
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would applaud.
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Guess which route he took?
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By age 5, Keith already discovered his favorite extracurricular activity, killing animals,
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and his dad was practically handing him gold stars for it.
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Fast forward a few decades and Keith's twisted need for control wasn't limited to stray
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pets anymore.
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With a truck driving job that gave him access to the open road, and no shortage of opportunities,
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he left the trail of devastation that stretched across the country.
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But here's where things get really messy.
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Wrongful convictions, bathroom stall confessions, and a calling card that was, let's just say,
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unconventional.
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Today, we're diving into how Keith Jesperson went from being bullied to one of America's most
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notorious serial killers.
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But before we get into that story, if you like your true crime brief and bingeable, you
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have found the right podcast.
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Tap the follow button now for access to at least two episodes per week, and now let's get
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into it.
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In the 1950s, Cela Washington wasn't just a small picturesque town.
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It was a battleground for young Keith Jesperson.
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Towering over his peers and burdens were the quiet, shy demeanor.
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Keith was called him between two versions of himself.
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The boy he was, and the boy his father, Les Jesperson, demanded he be.
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Les had a firm philosophy that raising boys, strength, defined their worth.
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If that strength didn't come naturally, it would be instilled, forcefully.
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Instead of protecting his son from bullies, Les turned his rage inward, punishing Keith
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for being a victim.
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A belt was his weapon of choice, wielded publicly for maximum humiliation.
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On one occasion, Les went even further, administering an electric shock as punishment.
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This wasn't discipline.
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It was brutality, masquerading as fatherhood.
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Les wasn't entirely stingy with his approval.
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He saved it for one thing.
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Violence.
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When Keith, at the tender age of five, began torturing animals, birds, straight pets, anything
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he could catch, Les rewarded him with pride.
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For Keith, this twisted encouragement unlocked something dark inside of him.
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The act of killing gave him a sense of control, a fleeting bomb for the chaos his father created.
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The violence became intoxicating, and as Keith's young mind tried to make sense of the world,
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he began to ask himself a horrifying question.
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If killing an animal feels good, what would it feel like to kill a person?
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At just five years old, Keith J. Persson was already teetering on the edge of darkness.
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His warped upbringing, ensuring he wouldn't be able to step back.
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By the time Keith was ten, his life already read like a primer for dysfunction.
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One of his few friends, Martin, seemed more like a frenemy, often getting the pair into
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trouble and then masterfully pinning the blame squarely on Keith.
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And most households, this might have earned a stern lecture.
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But in the J. Persson family, it meant "beatings" – public ones.
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Les J. Persson was nothing if not consistent in his cruelty, and Martin got a front row
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seat.
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And a day when Martin was, once again, shifting the blame onto Keith, something inside Keith
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snapped, confronting his friend the only way he'd ever been taught, through violence.
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Keith attacked.
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While it may have looked like a typical playground fight between two ten-year-olds, Keith later admitted
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that he wasn't just trying to hurt Martin, he was trying to kill him.
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Though Martin survived, Keith walked away with something chilling, an appetite.
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This marked the first deliberate attempt to take a human life, and while it was unsuccessful,
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it left him wanting more.
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A year later, that hunger resurfaced.
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Keith was swimming with another so-called friend, a boy who, like the others in his orbit,
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couldn't resist bullying him.
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As Keith swam, the boy ambushed him, forcing his head underwater until Keith passed out.
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Though Keith obviously survived, the incident cemented his need for revenge.
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Next later, at a local pool, Keith returned the favor, sneaking up on his friend, he held
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the boy's head underwater with brutal determination.
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It took lifeguards to separate them, but by then, the intent was clear.
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Keith wanted him dead.
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That attempt, like the first, ended in failure.
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Keith still didn't know what it truly felt like to kill another person, but he was no less
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determined.
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For now though, he kept those dark urges to himself.
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As Keith grew older, life seemed to follow a more conventional path, on the surface.
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Anyway, he graduated from high school, met Rose Huckle, and by the age of 20, he was married
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with three children.
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The young family settled into a quaint farmhouse that bordered an apple orchard.
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Keith took a job as a truck driver, providing for his family and putting on the facade of
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a normal, hardworking father.
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But lurking beneath the surface was a man shaped by violence, revenge, and an unrelenting
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thirst for control.
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What seems like a fresh start was merely a pause in the storm.
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On the surface, the Jesspersons family farmhouse, bordered by an apple orchard, seemed like
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the perfect place to raise children, with fresh air, open space, and plenty of wildlife.
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It was a slice of rule of Americana, but the reality of life inside those walls was far
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from idyllic.
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Melissa Jessperson, Keith's eldest daughter, would later share a chilling memory from her
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childhood.
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One day, while playing in the cellar, she discovered a litter of stray kittens.
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Thrilled by her find, like any young girl would be, she brought them outside eager to play
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with her new furry friends.
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But her joy quickly turned to horror, when Keith spotted the kittens and saw them as an
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opportunity to relive an early childhood cruelty.
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Without hesitation, he grabbed the kittens, hanging them from the clothesline as if they were
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laundry.
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Melissa could only watch and terror as the helpless animals clawed and screamed, struggling to
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free themselves.
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Her pleas for mercy went unanswered.
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Met instead with Keith's laughter.
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Desperate, she ran to get her mother at Rose, but by the time Rose arrived, the kittens
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were dead.
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Their tiny bodies discarded on the ground.
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Keith's twisted sense of amusement had run its course.
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Rose was horrified, but like so many times before, she chose to stay silent.
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She had three children to protect, and for now, that meant keeping the family together.
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But Keith's sadism wasn't the only crack in their marriage.
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When strange women began calling the house asking for Keith, Rose knew he was having a
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fares.
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She waited for him to leave on one of his long haul trucking jobs, packed up the kids, and
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drove 200 miles to her parents' home in Spokane, Washington.
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The marriage was over, but for Keith, it was barely hiccup.
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By 35, he was divorced, unburdened by family ties, and freed to indulge his darkest impulses
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on the open road.
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In 1990, Keith's newfound freedom came at a steep cost for 23-year-old Tanya Bennett.
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While on a trucking job in Portland, Oregon, Keith met Tanya at a bar.
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He invited her back to his rental, where an argument erupted.
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Fueled by his deeply ingrained tendency to soft conflict with violence, Keith attacked
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Tanya, killing her in the process.
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Using his knowledge of highways and back roads, he disposed of her body and any evidence linking
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him to the crime.
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But while Keith had escaped detection, the investigation into Tanya's murder took an
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unexpected turn.
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Laverne Pavlenek, trapped in an abusive relationship, saw the case as her way out.
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She fabricated a story, claiming her boyfriend, John Sinovsky, had killed Tanya, and forced
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her to help.
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He even provided detail she'd read in the news to make her tale more convincing.
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Her plan backfired spectacularly.
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John was sentenced to life in prison, and Laverne received a 10-year sentence.
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Despite her later admissions that she had lied, the damage was done.
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Meanwhile, Keith couldn't believe his luck.
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Not only had he avoided suspicion, but two innocent people were taking the fall for his
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crime.
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For a while, Keith reveled in his anonymity, but his father's shadow still loomed large
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in his mind.
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If no one knew he was responsible for the murders, where was the recognition?
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The validation.
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To satisfy this craving, Keith began leaving confessions in truck-stop bathroom stalls.
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When those didn't get the attention he wanted, he escalated, sending letters to newspapers
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and police departments.
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Each one was signed with a smiley face, earning him the moniker, the happy face killer.
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But his desperate attempts to claim credit didn't bring law enforcement any closer to
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catching him.
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Instead, Keith remained free and ready to kill again.
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Keith Jesperson's second known victim was a woman he identified only as Claudia, found
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near Blythe, California in the summer of 1992.
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She had been raped and strangled.
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Shortly after, he murdered Cynthia Lynn Rose in Turlock, California, claiming she'd
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trespassed into his truck while he slept.
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Then came Laurie Anne Pintland, a woman from Salem, Oregon, who was brutally killed
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after allegedly trying to double her fee for her services.
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In 1993, Patricia Skippell's body was discovered.
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Initially ruled as an overdose, it was later revealed to be yet another of Keith's victims.
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And in 2023, DNA testing finally identified his last known victims, Suzanne L. Kellenberg,
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a woman he murdered decades earlier, and Crestview, Florida.
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In 1995, Keith Jesperson's reign of terror came to an end with the murder of Julie Winningham,
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his girlfriend at the time.
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During initial police interviews, Keith clung to his father's lessons, staying stoic and
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refusing to answer any questions.
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The police had no choice but to let him go.
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But his composure cracked in the weeks that followed.
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He felt the pressure mounting and made multiple failed attempts to take his own life.
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Finally, he turned himself in.
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Over the course of his confession, Keith admitted to killing over 160 people, though authorities
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could only confirm eight.
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Among those was Tanya Bennett, whose murder had initially landed on Laverne Pavlanac and
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her allegedly abusive boyfriend John in prison.
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Keith provided details only the killer would know, including the location of Tanya's
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purse, leading to their release.
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Keith Jesperson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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From his idyllic farmhouse beginnings to his gruesome cross-country crimes, Keith's story
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is a grim reminder of how unchecked violence can ripple outward, leaving a destruction in
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its wake.
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That's 10 Minute Murder for today.
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Brief and bingeable true crime.
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I'm Joe the host.
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Thank you for listening.
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And if you're a brand new listener, hit subscribe right now.
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And that felt a little aggressive.
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My bad if that came across as pretty strong worded.
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Please, can I throw a please in there?
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If that helps, hit subscribe right now, please.
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And also follow and all social media places.
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I'm trying to ramp up my TikTok visibility.
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I'm trying to do that at the moment.
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I mean, it could get canceled again.
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So, who even knows if that's a waste of time, if I'm spinning my wheels.
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But if you've got a TikTok, go follow 10 Minute Murder and 10 Minute Mystery on those.
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I'm trying to level up my TikTok game with both podcasts.
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You can also send me an email, jo@10minutemurder.com if you want to get in touch with me to suggest
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cases or just to ask me any random questions like this one.
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Hi, Mr. 10 Minute Murder, Joe the host.
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What scares you?
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WRB in O.K.C.
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Now I chose to take this as a genuine question.
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It feels like a threat.
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So I'll answer it like it is a genuine question.
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Hopefully it's not a threat.
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Let me tell you because I just went on like a mini road trip yesterday.
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I'll tell you what scares me.
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And that's drivers of Nissan Altimas.
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Y'all just don't care anything about anyone else on the road.
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It feels like you just don't want to be safely driving in a lane without swarving in and
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out stomping on your brakes and then riding people's rear-ends.
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I don't understand.
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It's almost always Nissan Altimas that I see that if you get a little too close to me in
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traffic, I'm like, "Oh, I'm over here.
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I don't want to honk the horn because that feels rude.
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But also don't hit me."
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And it's always a Nissan Altima that does that to me.
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I don't know why.
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I didn't do anything to you guys.
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Take it easy on me.
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So that scares me.
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Nissan Altimas automatically got my Spidey Senses up when I see you in traffic.
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But you know, other than that, snakes and clowns, those scare me.
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Heights.
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Yeah, I forgot about heights.
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Again, back to driving if the overpass is too high, if it's more than like two stories
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of a building, that's too high.
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I get a little bit freaked out.
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I can still drive it, but it scares me.
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I hope that answers your question.
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WRB in OKC and I hope that wasn't some type of veiled threats.
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I will turn that over to my lawyer just in case.
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And that's going to do it.
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That is your episode for today.
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Thank you so much for listening to 10 Minute Murder.
