Melissa Moore’s father often crossed the boundaries of how a healthy father should behave toward his daughter. One summer, he said, “I know how to commit the perfect murder and get away with it.”

Her story is told in Shattered Silence, the Untold Story of a Serial Killer’s Daughter, co-written with M. Bridget Cook, a former Brigham City resident. The book gives the reader an intimate view of what it was like to grow up with a serial killer as a father.

In it, the writers depict Moore’s early childhood with a father who was alternately kind, attentive and playful with the one who would kill her sweet kittens and stray animals in front of her and her siblings.

“I learned to dissociate from that side of my father,” said Moore. “I needed him—the loving, kind provider, the protector.”

Like a child in a war-torn country, children’s minds have a way of detaching from the violence at hand and tucking it away as if it’s not real.

“It was the only way I could cope,” says Moore.

Moore would never have guessed that as a freshman in high school, she would discover that her father had been imprisoned for murder, and later learn that he was the infamous “Happy Face” serial killer that had haunted the Northwest and other areas of the nation.

Keith Jesperson confessed to murdering eight women, and is now serving one of four consecutive life sentences in Oregon.

Shattered Silence, though disturbing in parts, is a far cry from a true-crime book, however.

“It was my intention to create a way for people to experience Melissa’s story as if they were walking in her shoes… as a young child, as a pre-teen and teenager, and then finally as a young adult who looks for peace and healing for herself and boundaries for her own children,” said Cook. “I wanted to bring a sense of compassion to the reader for her raw, but inspirational journey. Melissa has been through incredibly difficult trials, but now she’s writing the healthy ending to her own story, and assists others in realizing that they don’t have to remain a victim, in unhealthy family patterns.”

Moore’s story is now gaining international attention. Showcasing her story and her book, Moore was interviewed by Oprah and Dr. Phil on the Oprah Winfrey Show on September 17. Her story will be featured in People Magazine, on newstands this weekend. She has held similar interviews for magazines in the UK and France. She has followers in New Zealand as well.

Moore found Cook and asked her to co-author her book after she was introduced to Cook’s first published book, Skinhead Confessions: from Hate to Hope (Sweetwater Books of Cedar Fort, 2008). Another story of transformation, this book describes the life of TJ Leyden, a former high-ranking Neo-Nazi skinhead and illustrates his bitter childhood, his rise to leadership in the white power movement and his dramatic life-change when he walked away from the movement (with a considerable price on his head) to become an inspiration for hundreds of thousands of children across the nation to get out and stay out of gangs.

Like Leyden, Moore has become a national advocate for children, though she feels it is vitally important for people of all ages to know that no matter our past or our current experience, we have the right, and the ability to create a life of purpose, contribution, and even joy.

Moore lives in Spokane, Washington, with her husband, Sam, and her two children. She is a recent convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and volunteers at shelters for abused women and children. Moore has also become a national advocate for abused and neglected children, and for dating safety.

Cook said the inspiration for the her work came from two Brigham City residents. Her mother, Pat, is one of them.

“My mother was fairly strict, at least as far as the proper use of English and dinnertime,” Cook said. “She let me bring home enormous stacks of books from the Bookmobile and the Brigham City library, and only growled at me occasionally when she caught me—flashlight gleaming underneath my covers—reading far into the night. I was a blessed child.”

Cook’s other inspiration was her best friend who attended Box Elder High School with her.

“Mary Ellen [Clark Shivers] and I used to think we were having such incredible adventures that we should write a book. ‘No one would ever believe us!’ we would laugh.”

Some of the stories Cook writes about now seem hard to believe, but they are true. Although she makes light of her beginnings, her work is compelling, sometimes disturbing, and she hopes, deeply inspiring as well.

More information can be found about both authors at ShatteredSilenceBook.com