New lead in cold case murder of Stanwood girl

Tina Stensaa Was 17-year-old Tina Stensaa of Stanwood a victim of a serial killer in 1986?

“There’s no doubt,” said her younger brother, Michael Stensaa, who currently lives in Everett. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Tina Stensaa was last seen in Stanwood the morning of Feb. 13; 36 hours later, she was found on the side of a road in Weed, Calif. suffering from severe injuries.

She died shortly thereafter.

Nearly 25 years later, the Stensaa family may finally get some answers.

Last month, detectives with the Weed Police Department discovered a possible confession to the crime by convicted serial killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson.

The confession was found on a Web site that features documented conversations with and letters by serial killers, according to Susan Gravenkamp, spokeswoman for Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department.

Jesperson, 55, is currently serving four life sentences at Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem for murdering eight women in six states.

Initially, authorities were unable to identify Tina Stensaa’s body or determine a cause of death. An autopsy revealed she had been intentionally struck by a vehicle.

Her death was ruled a homicide.

Five months later, a billfold with her identification was found by a prison camp inmate picking up trash along Interstate 5 — 10 miles from the scene of the crime.

A phone call to the Stanwood Police Department revealed Tina Stensaa had been reported by her father, Ray Stensaa, and step-mother at the time, Lori Gibbs, as a missing person since Feb. 13.

Gibbs said the family worried about Tina every day despite the fact that she had a tendency to leave home for extended periods.

This time, she did not return.

Detectives put together the clues and with the help of Barbara Gidden, Tina Stensaa’s biological mother, were able to identify Tina’s body.

Several years passed and the case went cold.

“After 25 years you come to a place thinking nothing will ever happen,” said Michael Stensaa.

When he was notified that investigators were looking into a new lead, shock set in.

“It blew me away,” he said.

“Nothing can bring my sister back,” he added. “The only thing I can hope for is closure.”

Jesperson’s confession to an alleged murder of a girl in Weed is being reviewed for validity by a team of Siskiyou County investigators, said Gravenkamp.

Details Jesperson provided during the 1998 interview will be compared to what was released to the public at the time of the murder.

Investigators are also planning to speak with Jesperson directly.

The former long-haul trucker did not name his victim and said the incident took place two years after Tina Stensaa’s death.

However, he did identify the location and his description of how the victim’s injuries were sustained parallel the case.

Jesperson admitted, in his answer to the question “Does any one crime sit out for you?” on the posting, to choking a woman he met at a restaurant near Weed until she passed out.

After tying up the woman in the cab of his 18-wheel truck, Jesperson said he met with his regular girlfriend for two hours before returning to his victim.

“She wasn’t being very cooperative,” he says in the posting, “and so I felt I needed to show her a lesson.”

Jesperson continues to explain that he placed the woman’s unconscious body under the trailer tires of his truck before locking the tires and pulling away.

“I guess now it will be the topic of yet another search to see if it happened or not,” Jesperson states in the posting.

“The circumstances he describes in the confession, what he did, that kind of thing just doesn’t happen in a little town in Northern California to a 17-year-old girl on a regular basis,” said Michael Stensaa.

His former stepmother agreed that the similarities are striking.

“I have a strong feeling this is the suspect,” said Gibbs. “After doing some research, I think he’s the one.”

The patterns and circumstances lead Gibbs to believe Jesperson’s confession is true.

If the system proves it, Michael Stensaa wants his day in court to confront the murderer.

“It would be important to me,” he said, “to stand up in court and describe how our family has been affected.”

Staff Reporter Adam Stewart: 629-8066 ext. 115 or astewart@scnews.com.