‘Happy Face Killer’ Survivor Daun Richert Slagle Sues Lifetime Over Movie
Daun Richert Slagle, the sole survivor of Keith Jesperson, the Happy Face Killer, is suing Lifetime over a movie, aired on March 1 of this year, that was based on Jesperson’s story. According to TMZ, Daun Slagle is unhappy with the way she was portrayed in the movie. Slagle’s story was dramatized as the character Candy, a local prostitute who performed fellatio on the serial killer while her baby was present.
Daun Slagle disagrees with the way the true events were presented in the television movie. According to the court documents obtained by TMZ, Slagle referred to Lifetime’s portrayal as “false, egregious and disgusting.”
According to Examiner, the movie chronicles the true events surround Canadian serial killer Keith Jesperson.
Oroville MR News reported that Daun Richert Glagle came into contact with the serial killer when she left home after a disagreement with her husband. According to Daun, Jesperson began conversing with her in the parking lot of a store. Daun Richert continues.
“He did not appear to be a threatening person.()He strapped Tauna Bennett’s body in the same seat I was sitting in. I was sitting in the same seat that a dead girl was in weeks earlier and I had no idea.”
Once Daun Slagle was in Keith Jeserpson’s truck, he drove her and the baby to a remote location. That is when Slagle said Jesperson proceeded to brutally attack her. After several hours of struggling with the serial killer, he let her and her baby go. She attributes the baby’s screams as a determining factor for why Jesperson let her live.
Truck driver Keith Hunter Jesperson brutally killed eight victims from 1990 to 1995. He taunted the police and news journalists by sending them letters with little smiley faces until he was finally caught several years later. This case is also referred to as the smiley face killer. Jesperson was given three life sentences for his chilling crimes. He is housed in an Oregon state prison.
Produced by Front Street Pictures, Lifetime’s true crime movie was advertised as inspired by a true story. As noted earlier, it premiered earlier this year on the Lifetime channel. The movie was based on a script by Richard Christian Matheson and stars David Arquette, Gloria Reuben, and Stefanie von Pfetten. According to the Movies Based On True Stories Archives, most of the names of the real people in the Lifetime movie were changed. Lifetime’s movies are a guilty pleasure for the female audience, as was discussed in an earlier article by Inquisitr.
