Overview
- Investigators announced Thursday that the woman long known as “Claudia” was identified as Lydia Jane Wade McWhorter after a maternal DNA match confirmed the link.
- McWhorter’s remains were found on Aug. 30, 1992, along Highway 95 about seven miles north of Blythe, California, a scene tied by Jesperson to his 1992 truck-route movements.
- Keith Hunter Jesperson confessed to the killing, pleaded guilty in Riverside County on Jan. 8, 2010, and is serving multiple life sentences in Oregon.
- Cold-case work since 2022 used advances in DNA testing and genetic genealogy plus a 2024 public appeal to find paternal leads, and a recent public tip led to a maternal relative whose DNA produced the positive match.
- With the identification complete, the Riverside County Cold Case Homicide Team has closed the final case linked to Jesperson and the DA’s victim services team is working with McWhorter’s family on memorial and burial plans.