Woman’s Death May Be Linked

Thu., Sept. 28, 1995

Wyoming authorities are trying to determine whether a woman whose body was found in Nebraska was one of eight women a prisoner in Washington state said he killed.

The Laramie County Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday said it had launched an investigation into the death of an unidentified woman believed to have been killed in eastern Laramie County early this year.

In a release, the department said the Nebraska Highway Patrol on Tuesday discovered the remains during a search along Interstate 80 near Lexington, Neb. The search was prompted by information authorities obtained from Keith Jesperson, who was being held in Vancouver, Wash., awaiting a murder trial.

In at least one case, in Portland, Jesperson said innocent people are serving life sentences for his crime.

He is being held at the Clark County, Wash., jail on charges he kidnapped, raped and strangled a woman in March.

“I want this to end as soon as possible,” he said in one letter. “I do not want this to drag on.”

Laramie County detectives said the victim, possibly from Spokane, was white, in her 20s, and had a green tattoo on her ankle. The release said authorities believed her parents live in Fort Collins, Colo.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Terry Bohlig said an autopsy was scheduled Wednesday afternoon.

Jesperson’s letters have described deaths in Oregon, Washington, California, Wyoming and Florida.

He has pleaded innocent to the slaying of Julie Ann Winningham, 41, of Camas, Wash., although police say he had confessed.

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