There was a case about women’s bodies being dumped on the sides of busy highways in Ohio. Police officials discovered all the women were linked because they were prostitutes. They think it’s the work of a serial killer working as a truck driver.

It was a depressing segment. A reporter said that if these women were housewives or wealthy, much more effort and interest would go into the cases --- a sad fact. Despite their ''work'', they were still people. It was sad seeing their pictures flash across the screen. Anyone else get that sad feeling while watching this?

Any leads or updates?

I would say it is Keith Wayne Jesperson who was a notorious serial killer/trucker. I'm not sure if he killed any people in Ohio, most of his killing was done in Washington state. There is a possibility that he killed some women in Ohio, because he was a cross country long hauler.

Well said Opal! That always gets to me also!!!!!! It is like becuase they were street workers who cares. Well, I feel even more for them. Murder is wrong no matter what the person does.

I got scared. Those pictures were freaky. Like that one Forensic Files episode about the girl who got hit by the runaway driver. She never smiled, and her pictures were always eerie.

This is a sad case indeed, but it's one that would be hard to solve. These guys are cross-country all the time.

That's how life is. For example, the news is always focusing on Natalee Holloway when there are hundreds of missing people in the United States.

That's how life is. For example, the news is always focusing on Natalee Holloway when there are hundreds of missing people in the United States.


Yeah... that's what's wrong with our society.

I hope Holloway is found safe, and it's a very sad case, but there are so many other missing people in this country. The media seems to be obsessed with her -- devoting HOURS and HOUS of airtime. It's so stupid!
And I don't think the general American public is really gripped by this story (like the media wants us to believe).

Yeah... that's what's wrong with our society.

I hope Holloway is found safe, and it's a very sad case, but there are so many other missing people in this country. The media seems to be obsessed with her -- devoting HOURS and HOURS of airtime. It's so stupid!
And I don't think the general American public is really gripped by this story (like the media wants us to believe).

I now live outside of Chicago, but not that long ago I lived in "The City," during that time there were a lot of murdered prostitutes in the Englewood area. The cops were trying very hard to capture this guy and even had a task force for awhile. The news didn't touch the story until the Ryan Harris case. A little background:

In 1998, the year Ryan Harris was killed, 60 women and girls were sexually assaulted in Englewood. There were 28 murders. Many of those murders were committed by at least four different serial killers who were on the loose in Englewood in the mid- to late 1990s. But it wasn’t until after the spotlight was put on the community by the Ryan Harris case that police recognized the patterns and moved to solve the crimes.

Sad but true that in today's society certain cultural stigmas still apply. Natalie Holloway gets coverage on TV everyday since she's disappeared. Whereas the murdered prostitutes at the hands of various serial killers goes unreported.

KyooMac

I belive during the Unsolved Mysteries renactmet the truck they used was a Kenworth model not a Peterbilt and during the closing scnes of the lights next to the front licence plate was burnt out. Would it not make sense to use a dark blue or black Peterbilt instead of a Kenworth if the suspect truck was a Peterbilt?

Well as far as we know Jesperson didnt start killing until the late 1980's some of those killings occured before. That isnt to say he didnt do them but I just get the feeling it isnt Jesperson. Jesperson I think did killings as far as we know in Oregon, Washington State, Wyoming, Nebraska, Florida and California. I think he was just charged last year in California for a homicide that occured in 1992 or 1993, I think they are trying to extradite him down there now.

i just found this board because, ironically, i was looking for info on this very subject. my aunt was one of those women, and at least once a year i try to find out any new info that i can. it's a no-no subject with the family so i can't ask any of them but my ultimate goal is to hopefully find the child she had, who was later put up for adoption. yeah, i know 21 years later is quite a long time, but since i was a small child at the time, i feel like i need my closure too.:(

i just found this board because, ironically, i was looking for info on this very subject. my aunt was one of those women, and at least once a year i try to find out any new info that i can. it's a no-no subject with the family so i can't ask any of them but my ultimate goal is to hopefully find the child she had, who was later put up for adoption. yeah, i know 21 years later is quite a long time, but since i was a small child at the time, i feel like i need my closure too.:(

Sorry to hear about your aunt. I did receive an email quite a while back from Michael Berens, the reporter interviewed on UM about the case who seemed to be the one to realize the murders were the work of a serial killer. If you're interested here's the thread where I posted what he had to say about the case:

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=164977&highlight=Michael+Berens

this is a good subject to bring to light. yes the holloway case while tragic...is a good example of how others get the cold shoulder in comparison. the bordello murders are another good example. if any of you here posting on this topic haven't seen that segment.....i suggest you do. I can't believe it...it is infuriating(if that is spelled right) to say the least.

I just came across this thread. Creepy, since I was just watching that very episode.

FYI to CRYSTALDAWN: This was the very first Episode of UM that I ever taped and it has held up WELL. I mention this since it was a 90 minute episode and I don't think it was ever aired that way on Lifetime. So, if you don't have the NBC version, just let me know.

FYI to CRYSTALDAWN: This was the very first Episode of UM that I ever taped and it has held up WELL. I mention this since it was a 90 minute episode and I don't think it was ever aired that way on Lifetime. So, if you don't have the NBC version, just let me know.

I do have the NBC version of that one but thanks so much for the offer. :) Do you have any other UM's recorded off of NBC?

at least a half dozen or so. I know have the 2-hour 100th episode and one from May 1992 with the triangular UFO in Belgium, as well as the 1993 LIVE from the telecenter episode. At that point I started recording maily from Lifetime. I'll double check my earlier tapes to see if they're NBC or Lifetime.

Whoops, I was wrong, the Truck Driver case WAS the 100th episode...the 90 minute episode was a couple of months before than in Jan 1992. I t also featured a serial killer but not the Ohio Truck Stop killer.

at least a half dozen or so. I know have the 2-hour 100th episode and one from May 1992 with the triangular UFO in Belgium, as well as the 1993 LIVE from the telecenter episode. At that point I started recording maily from Lifetime. I'll double check my earlier tapes to see if they're NBC or Lifetime.

I think you're going to make lots of new friends. :)

I remember seeing the episode about the Ohio killer as a re-run back in '94. It really freaked me out because I think my friends and I actually talked to the guy on the CB radio back when all this stuff was happening. I don't really remember much about the episode anymore, but I do remember Robert Stack mentioning that the only thing the cops had to go by was that the killer went by the CB handle of "Dr. No."

Well, my friends and I all used to have CB radios at our house and we'd talk on them just about every night during late '90 till the end of the summer of '91. I remember there would always be a guy on there who said he was a truck driver who went by that handle. He really didn't say a whole lot other than that he was always driving from southern Ohio to northern Ohio and vice versa. He also always had a different woman in the truck with him every time he'd be on. Sometimes she would talk as well. That's about all I remember about it.

Seeing that episode sent chills down my spine. The time frame of the killings that was mentioned on the episode matched exactly to when we were talking to this guy. Just thinking that I could have been talking to a serial killer and his victims made me almost sick.

I remember seeing the episode about the Ohio killer as a re-run back in '94. It really freaked me out because I think my friends and I actually talked to the guy on the CB radio back when all this stuff was happening. I don't really remember much about the episode anymore, but I do remember Robert Stack mentioning that the only thing the cops had to go by was that the killer went by the CB handle of "Dr. No."

Well, my friends and I all used to have CB radios at our house and we'd talk on them just about every night during late '90 till the end of the summer of '91. I remember there would always be a guy on there who said he was a truck driver who went by that handle. He really didn't say a whole lot other than that he was always driving from southern Ohio to northern Ohio and vice versa. He also always had a different woman in the truck with him every time he'd be on. Sometimes she would talk as well. That's about all I remember about it.

Seeing that episode sent chills down my spine. The time frame of the killings that was mentioned on the episode matched exactly to when we were talking to this guy. Just thinking that I could have been talking to a serial killer and his victims made me almost sick.

Wow, thats really interesting. Have you ever thought of contacting the authorities and telling them what you know? It may not amount to much but you may know a little more the guy that could be helpful to finding out who he was and if he was responsible. Of course you could remain anonymous.

I remember seeing the episode about the Ohio killer as a re-run back in '94. It really freaked me out because I think my friends and I actually talked to the guy on the CB radio back when all this stuff was happening. I don't really remember much about the episode anymore, but I do remember Robert Stack mentioning that the only thing the cops had to go by was that the killer went by the CB handle of "Dr. No."

Well, my friends and I all used to have CB radios at our house and we'd talk on them just about every night during late '90 till the end of the summer of '91. I remember there would always be a guy on there who said he was a truck driver who went by that handle. He really didn't say a whole lot other than that he was always driving from southern Ohio to northern Ohio and vice versa. He also always had a different woman in the truck with him every time he'd be on. Sometimes she would talk as well. That's about all I remember about it.

Seeing that episode sent chills down my spine. The time frame of the killings that was mentioned on the episode matched exactly to when we were talking to this guy. Just thinking that I could have been talking to a serial killer and his victims made me almost sick.
Man, that's pretty chilling.

Wasn't this the case where there was a witness that knew the identity of the killer and talked to the one of the victims' mothers in a car through a screen set-up in the vehicle where she couldn't see the witness' face or am I thinking of a different case?

at least a half dozen or so. I know have the 2-hour 100th episode and one from May 1992 with the triangular UFO in Belgium, as well as the 1993 LIVE from the telecenter episode. At that point I started recording maily from Lifetime. I'll double check my earlier tapes to see if they're NBC or Lifetime.


Hey radar, you should find someone here that will convert videotapes to DVDs and burn those episodes all to disc before the tape gets too old and stops playing. I'm sure everyone here would want to see both of those episodes you mentioned especially.

Wow, thats really interesting. Have you ever thought of contacting the authorities and telling them what you know? It may not amount to much but you may know a little more the guy that could be helpful to finding out who he was and if he was responsible. Of course you could remain anonymous.

I really don't think I'd be much help. The guy really didn't say much. My friends and I would be talking and he'd pop on and say who he was and ask how his CB sounded. Then he'd say that he was on the road driving his truck. Then he'd say he was with "so and so" whatever the woman's handle would be, and then she'd say hi and that was about it. He never told us who he worked for or what he was delivering. He'd only say a few things and then we'd never hear from him again till the next night, or whenever he'd get on again. I always did think it was kinda strange that he had a different woman with him every time he was on.

Man, that's pretty chilling.

Wasn't this the case where there was a witness that knew the identity of the killer and talked to the one of the victims' mothers in a car through a screen set-up in the vehicle where she couldn't see the witness' face or am I thinking of a different case?


I'm not really sure. I saw the episode back in '94 and I don't remember much about it. I just remember flipping through the channels and I caught something about there being a truck driver that was traveling in Ohio and killing prostitutes and dumping them along the highway, and all the cops had to go by was that he used the CB handle "Dr. No". It was very chilling. I remember asking my friends if they remembered talking to the guy and they said that they did. They were pretty freaked when I told them about seeing it on Unsolved Mysteries.
Is there anything on the net about this? I've searched a few times, but haven't found anything.

Is there anything on the net about this? I've searched a few times, but haven't found anything.

I'm not sure but I did email Michael Berens (the reporter interviewed on UM who seemed to be the first to figure out it was a serial killer) a few years ago asking about the case. Here is his reply:

Heather,
This is a story that continues to follow me, as do the calls from people who claim they know the suspect. No charges have been filed. There've been many temporary suspects, but credit card receipts and other evidence eventually exonerated them. There is so much to this case. And there are many valiant law enforcement officers who helped me assemble the first stories so many years ago.
Here's a brief recap: All the victims were truck stop prostitutes; none worked city streets. All were strangled or beaten - or both; none were shot or stabbed. All were dumped on the edge of the roadway, or on the roadway (the theory is the killer opened the passenger door and pushed them out of the cab; grass pattern analysis indicated that bodies fell a short distance). The killer kept articles of clothing. In some cases, the killer dumped an article of clothing in the middle of the road every few miles from the body. Many of the bodies were found more than 100 miles from the abduction point. Police theorized the killer had a refrigerated truck. Some investigators suspected the killer had a law enforcement background. For instance, three victims worked the same truck stop (Union 76 in Austintown, Ohio), yet their bodies were found in three different counties - three different jurisdictions. This is why the killer went undetected do long, perhaps.
You might be surprised how many long-haul truckers have sexual criminal records and then frequented the same truck stops. I was. Police centered on a trucker as a suspect because the victims only worked truck stops, usually via CB radio. The victims had a history of never leaving the stop with a trucker.
Over the years there have been many similar crimes. I've had many "interesting" contacts. A group of college students in Iowa once claimed they had tied the killings to the Zodiac (not true, of course). And a woman once discovered a secret photo book filled with pictures of naked women, some possibly bound, that had been collected by her husband (she believed he was the truck stop killer; he wasn't). It's impossible for me to know what linkage, if any, there may be without access to forensic tests. But I've often wondered if the killer died, went to jail, went underground or continued. Good luck with your discussion.
And, of course, if anyone dredges up a tip they should call the FBI.

- mike