Lone survivor of Washington’s ‘Happy Face’ serial killer suing network over made-for-tv movie

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KTLA) -- A woman who survived an attack by an infamous serial killer was suing a cable network for falsely portraying her as a prostitute in a made for TV movie about the crime spree.

Daun Slagle recalls the night she came face-to-face with the so-called Happy Face Killer, Keith Jesperson.

It was April of 1990 and Slagle was a 21-year-old mother of three.

After a heated argument with her husband, Slagle grabbed the couple's youngest child and walked to a local shopping center near their Mt. Shasta home in northern California.

She told police that Jesperson approached her at the shopping center and the two struck up a conversation about family and relationships.

When it started getting chilly, Jesperson invited Slagle to sit in his car to keep the baby out of the cold, she said.

The assault that followed went on for several hours, before Jesperson finally let the young mother and her baby go.

Decades later, Slagle said she felt victimized again by a Lifetime movie about Jesperson that portrayed her as a prostitute who willingly had sex in front of her young child.

Slagle, who is now a nurse, has hired an attorney. She said she wants justice and her reputation back.