Growing Up with the Happy Face Killer | Post Mortem Special

Summary

48 Hours: Postmortem Special – "Growing Up with the Happy Face Killer"

Release Date: March 15, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of CBS News' "48 Hours," host Ann Marie Green engages in a profound conversation with Melissa G. Moore, the daughter of notorious serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, and Jennifer Casicio, the executive producer of the new series Happy Face. This episode delves deep into the emotional and psychological complexities of growing up with a serial killer father, the challenges of redefining one's identity, and the intricate process of bringing such a harrowing true story to television.

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Melissa G. Moore’s Journey

Melissa G. Moore opens up about the harrowing moment at age 15 when she discovered her father’s true identity. Her father, Keith Jesperson, was arrested in 1995 for the murder of his girlfriend, Julie Winningham, and subsequently confessed to multiple other murders, earning the moniker "Happy Face Killer" due to his signature smiley face in letters to the media.

Melissa G. Moore [02:55]: “At that time, he wasn't known as a Happy Face serial killer. He was dad... I just started sobbing and crying because at that point, my dad was my savior.”

Melissa recounts her first visit to the prison, where seeing her father shackled and shaved was a shocking transformation from the image of the loving father she knew.

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Jennifer Casicio’s Role and the Creation of Happy Face

Jennifer Casicio explains her initial connection to Melissa’s story, which began as a dedicated listener of the original podcast. Her passion led her to adapt Melissa's experiences into a television series, ensuring the narrative remained authentic while fictionalizing certain elements for dramatic effect.

Jennifer Casicio [05:40]: “I just listened to the first episode and called my agent immediately... I wanted to write it. It would be such a good show.”

She emphasizes the importance of maintaining the integrity of the characters and the real-life implications for both the family and the victims.

Jennifer Casicio [07:44]: “It's a way of linking those things in a visual way and in a concrete way for the audience.”

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Psychological Impact and Emotional Entanglement

The conversation delves into Melissa’s ongoing struggle with her father’s legacy and her attempt to reconcile the loving memories of her father with his monstrous actions. Melissa reveals her vulnerability and the emotional toxicity that binds her to her father.

Melissa G. Moore [08:45]: “That's my vulnerability though. So my vulnerability is wanting to hold on to the good and the idea of this wonderful dad.”

Melissa shares her experiences of receiving letters and calls from her father, highlighting the manipulative dynamics at play.

Melissa G. Moore [09:35]: “I couldn't bear to open them because I know he's going to go after my heart.”

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Portrayal in the TV Series

Ann Marie Green and Jennifer Casicio discuss the portrayal of Melissa and her father in Happy Face. The casting of Annaleigh Ashford as Melissa and Dennis Quaid as Keith Jesperson is highlighted for their ability to embody the real-life individuals authentically.

Jennifer Casicio [16:05]: “It's about Melissa's relationship with your daughter. And we're not glorifying Keith's character.”

Melissa praises Dennis Quaid’s depiction of her father, noting his ability to capture Keith’s matter-of-fact demeanor.

Melissa G. Moore [16:08]: “Yeah, Dennis Quaid... he really embodied the matter of factness that my father has.”

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Impact on Melissa’s Life and Family

Melissa discusses the broader impact of her father’s crimes on her life and her children, including dealing with bullying due to her family ties. Her efforts to redefine her narrative and support others in similar situations are evident.

Melissa G. Moore [26:27]: “I feel honored that I get to be in this role... to give a platform for people to tell their story in their own voice.”

She also touches upon her relationship with her father today, marked by dissociation and a recognition that the man who served her family is a shell of who he once was.

Melissa G. Moore [29:00]: “I feel very much like the father that I know has passed back in '95. Like, he's gone, and this is a shell.”

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Exploring Supernatural Elements

The episode explores Melissa’s belief in the supernatural, particularly her experiences with what she perceives as ghostly encounters tied to her father’s victims. These personal anecdotes add a layer of emotional depth to her story.

Melissa G. Moore [24:37]: “I believe that there's an afterlife because of what I've experienced... I felt the energy.”

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Melissa’s Advocacy and Future Work

Melissa has expanded her role from being a victim to a producer, working on projects like The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown to shed light on victims' stories and provide a balanced narrative.

Melissa G. Moore [26:27]: “I get to give a platform for people to tell their story in their own voice. And I'm sure that's what Jennifer feels like as well.”

Jennifer Casicio echoes Melissa’s sentiments, emphasizing the privilege of telling these true stories responsibly.

Jennifer Casicio [27:29]: “It was an incredible privilege.”

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Conclusion

The episode concludes with a reflection on the ethical considerations of telling such sensitive stories. Jennifer highlights the importance of respecting all parties involved, including victims' families, and ensuring the portrayal is both respectful and enlightening.

Jennifer Casicio [23:30]: “Yes, always. I always had Melissa front of mind... I never forget that it's people's real lives.”

Ann Marie Green reiterates the significance of the series in offering a new perspective on true crime narratives, urging listeners to engage thoughtfully with these complex stories.

Ann Marie Green [30:07]: “I think that will definitely happen. So congratulations to both of your stuff, and I look forward to your future work.”

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Watch Happy Face

Happy Face premieres with two episodes on Thursday, March 20, exclusively on Paramount. New episodes are available to stream weekly on Thursdays. For those interested in exploring this deeply personal and intricate story, tune in to witness the delicate balance of truth, trauma, and resilience.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Melissa G. Moore [02:55]: “At that time, he wasn't known as a Happy Face serial killer. He was dad... I just started sobbing and crying because at that point, my dad was my savior.”

• Jennifer Casicio [05:40]: “I just listened to the first episode and called my agent immediately... I wanted to write it. It would be such a good show.”

• Melissa G. Moore [08:45]: “That's my vulnerability though. So my vulnerability is wanting to hold on to the good and the idea of this wonderful dad.”

• Jennifer Casicio [16:05]: “It's about Melissa's relationship with your daughter. And we're not glorifying Keith's character.”

• Melissa G. Moore [29:00]: “I feel very much like the father that I know has passed back in '95. Like, he's gone, and this is a shell.”

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This "48 Hours" episode offers an intimate look into the life of Melissa G. Moore, highlighting her resilience and the intricate dynamics of living with a notorious criminal parent. Through thoughtful interviews and personal anecdotes, the episode provides a nuanced perspective on true crime, identity, and healing.

Transcript

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[Ann Marie Green]

Welcome to a special episode of Postmortem. I'm your host Ann Marie Green and today I'm sitting down with Melissa G. Moore, the daughter of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson and Jennifer Casicio, the executive producer of the new series Happy Face, starring Annaleigh Ashford as Melissa and Dennis Quinn as her father, which premieres with two episodes on Thursday, March 20, exclusively on Paramount. So Happy Face is inspired by the true life story of Melissa G. Moore. At 15, Melissa discovered that her beloved father, Keith Jesperson, was the prolific serial killer known as Happy Face. As an adult, she changed her name and guarded that secret, all while her father continues to to be serving a life sentence in prison. Jesperson is responsible for killing at least eight women in the early 1990s and was dubbed the Happy Face Killer because he signed his letters to the media and law enforcement with a smiley face. And Melissa, I listened to the podcast because this was a podcast before it became this TV series and that's what the TV series is based on. I want to thank you for joining us and I want to dig into it. So thank you so much, guys.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Thank you for having us.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yes, thank you so much.

[Ann Marie Green]

So, Melissa, your father was arrested in 1995 for the murder of his girlfriend, Julie Winningham. You were only 15 at the time. He goes to trial and then he confesses to a number of other murders. He's recanted when it comes to some of them. But what was it like at 15 to wrestle with this realization that your father is not the person you thought he was?

[Melissa G. Moore]

It was blindsiding, obviously, to hear that he was arrested for the murder of Julie Winningham. At that time, he wasn't known as a Happy Face serial killer. He was dad. And he was a suspect that was charged with the crime of Julie Wanaham's murder. So I went to the prison to see if I could look him in the eyes and see the monster that everybody's saying he is. So I show up to the jail with my aunt and. And I remember his hair being shaved. He had really lush, thick hair, and he was very vain about it and proud about it. And so it was shocking to see him completely shaven and shackled. When I saw him, I wanted to see if I could see the color. And the first thing he said to me is, missy, my best advice is to change your last name. And that's when I knew he was admitting guilt and that this was all this was true. So I, as a teenager, I just started sobbing and crying because at that point, my dad was my savior. He was our financial hero. My mom was destitute financially. And when he would roll into town, he would bring groceries, like, off of his truck. He would bring boxes of Pop Tarts. Like a memory. It's weird what sticks out in your head. Like, to this day, I go to the grocery store and I see the Pop Tarts, and I'm like, I don't want those.

[Ann Marie Green]

Wow. Like.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Cause it's association, right? You know?

[Ann Marie Green]

Yeah.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Yeah. I only have good memories. Well, not maybe all good memories, but majority of them, really positive memories growing up.

[Ann Marie Green]

Jen, I want to ask you just how did you come to know Melissa and her story?

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yeah. First of all, I never knew that he said you should change your last name. You never told me that.

[Melissa G. Moore]

I never.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Oh, Season two. I'm going to put that in a flashback. So I just listened to the podcast like any other fan. I was working on a show called you'd Honor at the time, and I had a long commute, like an hour each way. And so I listened to podcasts every morning in the car, and I listened to tons of true crime. And so I listened just to the first episode and called my agent immediately and said, you know, does someone have the rights to this? I want to write it. It would be such a good show. You know, I have to have it. And the producers on youn Honor were Liz Glatzer and then Robert and Michelle King. And so I had gotten to know them and I was looking for a project to develop with them. So I went into work and I said, I'm going to try to get this podcast. And so I was lucky enough that Melissa trusted me with it in the end.

[Ann Marie Green]

So, Melissa, I don't wanna give too much away in terms of how the TV series unfolds, but obviously you're here talking with us now about who your father is. But it did occur to me, you know, you could have stopped just at the podcast and been like, okay, I got it out of my system. So I'm curious why you didn't choose to do that and why you're still speaking about it.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Well, the more I talk about my story, the more I connect with other families that have a killer or a perpetrator in their family. And it's surprising to me, when I came forward with my story originally, that was quite shocking because I felt alone. And then all of a sudden, my inbox just started getting filled up. And whenever I would see the subject line in my inbox say, I'm just like you. I knew was authentic, I'd open up the email and it would be a story. I'm so. And so my family member is this person. Here's a link to the news that you know, to validate. Like, this is who I'm related to. And thank you for telling me your story. I actually get them daily. Just like today, I got a message from a woman whose husband tried to burn her alive. And so it's also survivors of crime and family members related to the victims.

[Ann Marie Green]

When I was thinking about you and your relationship with your dad, when he shows up, he's like, he's Santa. He's bringing food, he's bringing toys, but he's also bringing you trinkets. It turns out that these trinkets are not just things for you, but they're things for him, too.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Well, I think that's where Jen really took the liberty of the true story. Jen, I'll let you lead off with that.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yeah, that was one thing that we definitely took a bit of liberty with, that I knew that he brought change and little trinkets and candy, but the idea that it linked to a murder is invented.

[Ann Marie Green]

Why did you choose to include it?

[Jennifer Casicio]

So in any places where we took liberties, I always kind of checked in with myself to make sure that we were still sticking to the spirit of each and every character and the spirit of the story. And, you know, it's one of those things where I know that in real life Melissa has felt extreme guilt and shame and connectedness to her father's crimes. And so it was a way of kind of linking those things in a visual way and in a concrete way for the audience.

[Ann Marie Green]

There's a symbolism here, right?

[Jennifer Casicio]

Definitely.

[Ann Marie Green]

And it's that, Melissa, you have all of these memories of your father and then you get these additional memories as you start to learn about his movements, the places he went, the women that were killed. And so I wonder, like, you must want to keep the good memories. Is there a way to keep the good and ignore the bad?

[Melissa G. Moore]

That's my vulnerability though. So my vulnerability is wanting to hold on to the good and the idea of this wonderful dad. Because that is the weak point for me. And the stronghold my father has to me, which you will see in the series, it's an emotional toxic entanglement. He preys upon my desire to have that loving father again. And when he lures me in and pulls me in, that's when he strikes. I would receive letters from my father in prison. Phone calls from strangers, like he constantly was trying to stay in communication with me. And people always ask me, why do you keep these letters from your dad? And I couldn't bear to open them because I know he's going to go after my heart. And so I just didn't wanna read them.

[Ann Marie Green]

Right. I wanna play a little bit from the series. There's a scene where the character Melissa and a TV producer interview Keith Jesperson in prison. I wanna share that clip.

[Jennifer Casicio]

We're here for the truth, Keith, so.

[Ann Marie Green]

Go ahead and tell us.

[Keith Jesperson]

I will, as soon as Missy here tells me why she's acting like she's God's gift when she's the one that benefited from every killing that I did.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Excuse me.

[Keith Jesperson]

Every time a woman took her last breath, you got presents, time with daddy. I needed to be around you after because it kept me out of the darkness.

[Ann Marie Green]

So that scene, I think encapsulates exactly what you were talking about. Cause I found myself as I was watching it, Melissa, thinking, does he want her to love him or does he want just to get attention?

[Melissa G. Moore]

I have a theory that he thinks that I am a part of him. Because what we know about narcissists is that they only self serve. So if I am an appendage of him, then that might evoke why he does some of the actions he does. That's just my theory.

[Ann Marie Green]

That's fascinating, Jennifer. You're sort of agreeing with that.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yeah, I think that's how I see him and obviously I haven't met him. But you know, when Melissa didn't know what to do with all those letters, she gave them to me and I read them all and they're really what informed Keith's character. His character is really Melissa's version of him and who he is to her and to me, really. Season one is about, you know, can you love a monster? Or what it means to love a monster? And that's really the question that we're exploring.

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[Ann Marie Green]

Welcome back. You know, one of the things that you see in the series is the attraction and interest that many people have in serial killers. And in the first few episodes that I saw, you sort of see the gamut, right? The people who are just interested in true crime. Like a lot of people who are gonna be listening to this podcast. The people who think they can save the serial killer, the people who are drawn to the morbid. I wonder if this is something Jennifer, that you were sensitive to and even Melissa in telling this story.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yeah, I definitely see this as a fictionalized inspired by story and I think it could ask some bigger questions about true crime. And I think there's just been plenty of serial killer shows where you're just. It's all about the killer, you know, and it's all about the psychology of the killer. And we're all interested in that for obvious reasons. But I just hadn't seen a show that's exploring everybody and everything around that, you know, and how can we get at some of these more nuanced elements of these crimes and all these other people that are affected in different ways. I always tell people, you know, yes, it's about generational trauma and the daughter of a serial killer and facing your demons. But, like, it's not a bummer. It's fun to watch, you know?

[Melissa G. Moore]

Yeah, there's a lot of levity and that. Some of my favorite scenes. And what I love about Analy is that there. There's the episode where my dad in prison has a girlfriend, which happened in real life, by the way. My dad had a lot of women writing to him, and he would invoke these women to me, reach out to me, and try to have a relationship with me.

[Ann Marie Green]

What do you think that was about?

[Melissa G. Moore]

Oh, I don't know. It's hard to say what that's about, but I found it to be really humorous because it's so absurd, right? So absurd. It's funny. And so I like that Analy she. And so there's moments of levity.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yeah, it's how we cope.

[Ann Marie Green]

Yes. So what was it like to see Analee Ashford portraying you on camera? Like, I have to say, when I looked at her and looked at you.

[Jennifer Casicio]

I thought, oh, my gosh.

[Ann Marie Green]

I mean, they really got an actress that looks very similar to you. You guys could almost be sisters.

[Melissa G. Moore]

I think she's incredible. I really appreciated how she respected me as a person, and I also really appreciated how her sensitivity to the people that she meets in the series. Because I feel like in my own life, I feel like I care, and I feel like she portrayed how I care.

[Ann Marie Green]

And then what about Dennis Quaid portraying your father?

[Melissa G. Moore]

Oh, there's scenes that. From his profile or just his. The way he speaks, he really embodied the matter of factness that my father has. Like, in one of the letters he wrote to me, I was a great dad, but the only thing that was wrong is my eight errors in judgment, meaning the murders of the eight women. But that's how he would speak about the victims, his eight errors in judgment. And I felt that Dennis Quaid, he did a great job of portraying my father in that way. Yeah.

[Ann Marie Green]

How does it work sort of behind the scenes. Like, did you all meet with Dennis Quaid?

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yeah. I mean, from the beginning, I always knew I didn't want to cast an actor who always played a bad guy. I really wanted someone who was known more as a lovable dad because I felt like it was important. You buy that he's a loving dad. You get Melissa's connection to him. And, you know, Dennis, not only is he a movie star, but he's parent trap dad. And he definitely was hesitant to take the part. He was really flattered because I don't think he gets bad guy offers that often. And he was intrigued, but he was saying, you know, this guy's still alive, and we're the same age, so he knows who I am. And I hate the idea of him walking around prison saying, dennis Quaid's playing me in a TV show, and I just don't want to give him the satisfaction. And I said, I totally get that, you know, but this show is really about Melissa. It's about your relationship with your daughter. And we're not glorifying Keith's character. We're not showing the murders. You're not gonna have to do anything horrific in any flashbacks. You're not gonna see extensive, you know, violence against women on screen. And I was really adamant about that. And I just said, you know, it's more about the psychological toll on your relationship with your daughter. And so he was like, okay, let me think about it. And then the next day, he said yes, and I was shocked. And he said, you know, I've realized that I'm not playing Keith. I'm playing Melissa's version of Keith. And I think that gave him the freedom to do what he wanted because he had asked me, you know, should I try to meet Keith? And I said, no. And he said, I don't really want to, and I don't really wanna. So he just decided to do his own thing. And I shared some of the letters with him, and I shared some of my notes from what Melissa had told me and answered his questions. And then he kind of just did his own thing.

[Ann Marie Green]

Hmm. Melissa, in 2018, you hosted a podcast also titled Happy Face. I listened to it, and one of the things that really stuck with me over the years was the episode where you get a brain scan. You are really curious about the nature of psychopathy. And you wonder, I mean, am I made of the same stuff? Do I have the same DNA? Is it nature? Is it nurture?

[Melissa G. Moore]

Well, I wanted to get the head scan because I heard from Dr. Fallon, he's a world renowned expert and researcher on psychopaths and is one himself. And he has this incredible story of how he discovered he's a psychopath by looking at the brain scans of criminals, violent criminals. And for one of his studies, he had somebody put his brain scan in, mixed in with a whole bunch of violent criminals. And he put it up on the board and he's like, oh, here's the psychopath and it's his brain scan. But I found him really fascinating because there's this negative association with psychopaths. And if you're a psychopath, you're, you know, it's kind of linked to being a killer, but it's actually not the case. He, he talks about how psychopaths are necessary in our civilization, but he leads me down, if you recall, of listening to it, he leads me down a long path of like drawing out after he looks at my head scan to see if I'm a psychopath.

[Ann Marie Green]

Right.

[Melissa G. Moore]

And I'm just on edge. And then he's like, and you're not a psychopath. I'm like, okay, great. Thank you. Thanks for that. Now I could breathe. But for my kids, they were really interested in that as well. They, they never let me on to think that it was important to them to have that. But they were being bullied in school and people were saying, your grandfather is a serial killer. Because at that point, I was working in the media and was public with my story. And so that is the dark side of coming forward as you share your story, to be a light to others, but then you're also a target. And then inadvertently, my children. And so they would tell me, like, they're so glad that they got that scientific proof because it gave them ammo against the bullies saying, we're not like him. Right, yeah.

[Ann Marie Green]

That's interesting. In 2018, you actually went on the Dr. Oz show and there's kind of like a fictionalized version of this in the series, the Dr. Greg Show. But I want to play a clip from that episode.

[Jennifer Casicio]

All I ever wanted was to have a normal family. And I never want my kids to ever worry about going hungry or getting evicted or having to visit their father in prison.

[Keith Jesperson]

Melissa, you have worked hard to give your children everything you never had in life, to create a life that looks.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Perfect.

[Keith Jesperson]

From the outside. But do you ever worry that part of why you kept your father a secret is because you're afraid that deep down you are like him?

[Ann Marie Green]

So we know that you are not like him and you have this Brain scan to prove it. I wonder, though, about the shame. Have you killed the shame?

[Melissa G. Moore]

No, the shame's still there. I think that's going to be my lifelong journey. I'm always looking at my intentions to make sure that they're pure and probably in a way that other people don't look at their intentions. That I'm constantly evaluating and scrutinizing why I do the things that I do. And that is. That is my North Star. Always, every day, right when I was.

[Ann Marie Green]

Watching that scene, I became uncomfortable because I'm a 48 Hours correspondent. And, you know, you're always asking yourself when you're doing these stories, you know, am I helping these people? You know, I don't want to be taking advantage of their grief. You're just always sort of checking yourself that you're doing right by them. And so for you, Jennifer, this is a question for you. I wonder if that is something throughout this whole that you also sort of asked yourself when it comes to Melissa and her family, you know, is this okay? Is this going to make their lives even more challenging? Is that something that you sort of had in mind?

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yes, always. I always had Melissa front of mind. And, you know, that was also part of the reason I wanted to fictionalize. You know, her kids have different names. They have different ages. You know, the kids are 100% invented. Her husband is 100% invented. Dr. Greg is invented. Even though, yes, she's been on Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz. We wanted to create just someone brand new. And then in addition to all of those concerns, there's also the concern about Keith's victims and their families. It's just I take it really seriously. You know, it's really important to me that we do write by everybody. And, yes, it's entertainment, but, you know, I never forget that it's people's real lives.

[Ann Marie Green]

Absolutely. So in the podcast, there's kind of a supernatural component to this story. Right. Your father, Melissa, feels like there are ghosts around him, and he really feels like some of them may be his victims who are waiting for him, you know, on the other side. Have you had any of your own encounters?

[Melissa G. Moore]

Yes, I've had my own encounters, and I believe that there's an afterlife because of what I've experienced. So in the podcast, I go into detail about the first time I enter into a home, unbeknownst to me that my father had murdered a victim. And it felt the energy that I walked into it. I think we all can feel energy. If you walk into a room and people have Just been fighting. You feel the thickness when you walk in. And that's what it felt like. Walking into my father's house. This was his home after my parents had divorced. And the house that he murdered, his first victim, Tanya Bennett. And I'm at this point just a young teenager, I felt that energy. But then at night, that's when it really started to amplify. And I felt like someone was watching me and I felt uneasy. And then my sister talked about her hair is being pulled cold. And then I go into the living room and I lay down and on the couch and I, I, I had a view of the kitchen and I saw the cupboard doors open and shutting on their own. And then I fell asleep. And then I was awoken by the TV turning on. When I told my dad, this house is haunted, and he said, you know, don't pay them any mind. They bother me too, at night.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Right.

[Melissa G. Moore]

And I look back and I wonder if it was maybe one of his victims. You know, Tanya, from the house. I mean, obviously I'll never know. I will say that house has a. And I'm not referencing that. Tanya is the dark energy, but there's a dark, dark energy in that house. And you couldn't pay me to stay the night in that house again.

[Ann Marie Green]

Wow.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Yeah.

[Ann Marie Green]

Wow. So, Melissa, are you a true crime producer now? How has this kind of blossomed for you?

[Melissa G. Moore]

Yeah. So once people started reaching out to me, like, I'm just like you, some of them wanted to come forward with their story to connect with other people, and some people wanted to do it on the down low. So not everything is in front of the camera. But then there's some people that want to change the narrative. Like, for example, this last summer, I was the executive producer on the Life and Murder of Nicole Brown, because the O.J. simpson case is such a well known case. But I felt like the, the one thing that wasn't really told was Nicole's story through the archive and through her sisters to really tell how this beautiful person is gone and that their children, O.J. and Nicole's kids, are left without their mother. But it was about setting the story straight from their point of view. And I feel honored that I get to be in this role, probably like you do, where you get to give a platform for people to tell their story in their own voice. And I'm sure that's what Jennifer feels like as well. It's such a privilege. It really is.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Yeah. I mean, it was an incredible privilege.

[Ann Marie Green]

Melissa, what is your relationship like with your father today?

[Melissa G. Moore]

I haven't spoken to him in years. The last time I did speak to him was actually, what, three years ago now. He called me on Father's Day, and my mom had just passed away from cancer, and she passed away on my dad's birthday. And then I realized, you know, my family historian is gone, and I have so many questions still. She went away too soon. And I'm going to ask my dad more about his history and more about how he met my mom. And so that really was the genesis for me talking to my dad again was just my own curiosity about their love story. So. So he calls me at, like. I think it's like, 5:00am, 6:00am everybody's sleeping in my house, and it's Father's Day. And I. I picked up and he was shocked. He's like, wow, you know, like, I. I'm surprised you answered the phone, missy. So I started asking him questions. Thankfully, the prison has a timer on it, and a call is only 15 minutes. And. And the prerecorded alert says, you have one minute left. And he's like, can I call you back? And I was like, no, I'm busy. And he's like, well, you're still my daughter.

[Ann Marie Green]

Wow. And what does that mean to you, being his daughter now?

[Melissa G. Moore]

Well, there's a dissociation now. You know, I feel very much like the father that I know has passed back in 95. Like, he's. He's gone, and this is a shell, you know, of what that man is. And that's how it's reconciled in my brain, is that the real father is gone and this is the version that's left.

[Ann Marie Green]

Jennifer, what do you hope people get out of watching this series, Happy Face?

[Jennifer Casicio]

I hope that it's entertaining to watch, and I hope it starts a conversation about true crime and kind of its role in culture and just that the show provides a new lens through which to view these kinds of violent crimes and a new way of understanding the nuanced layers that exist for so many people involved. So I hope people walk away thinking, like, huh, I never really thought about that aspect of it.

[Ann Marie Green]

I think that will definitely happen. So congratulations to both of your stuff, and I look forward to your future work.

[Melissa G. Moore]

Thank you.

[Jennifer Casicio]

Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.

[Ann Marie Green]

Tune in to the new series Happy Face, which premieres with two episodes on Thursday, March 20, exclusively on Paramount, which, like CBS and 48 Hours, is part of Paramount Global. New episodes are available to stream weekly on Thursdays. If you like this series postmortem, please rate and review 48 hours on Apple Podcasts and follow 48 hours wherever you get your podcast. You can also listen ad free with the 48 hours plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Thanks again for listening.