In the 1980s, Michael Carson, was sentenced to 75 years to life in prison

Jesperson, who was caught in the 1990s is spending life behind bars

The daughters of two notorious serial killers came face to face to explore their childhood memories and discuss the horrific moments they found out their fathers were murderers.

Mother of two Melissa Moore, discovered her father was the 'Happy Face' serial killer, Keith Jesperson, when she was 15.

Jenn Carson, on the other hand, came to know her father, Michael Carson, as one half of the San Francisco Witch Killers when she was just eight years old.

'It's taken us both to some very dark places,' Moore said of the pair finding out about their fathers' secrets.

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Jenn Carson discovered her father, Michael Carson, was one half of the San Francisco Witch Killers when she was eight years old

Melissa Moore learned her father was the notorious Happy Face serial killer, Keith Jesperson, when she was 15-years-old

Between 1981 and 1983, Michael Carson (left) and his second wife Suzan Carson killed at least three people who they believed to be witches. Between 1990 and 1995 Jesperson (right) raped and murdered at least eight women.

Moore, a Crime Watch Daily special correspondent, sat down with Carson on an episode of Crime Watch where they talked about their childhoods and being victims of their fathers' actions.

Moore said she believed her childhood to be normal.

'He was a provider, a protector. He was what I thought every dad should be,' Moore said of Jesperson.

But things took a dark turn when she saw her him 'torture animals that would come on the property', she said.

When Moore was five she watched in horror when her father hung her pet kittens on a clothes line and tortured them to death - paying no heed to his daughter's screams.

Another time, he pinned down a cat and twisted its head until its neck snapped, as his children looked on. Melissa said he had a look of 'enjoyment' on his face.

In 1995, he was arrested for the murder of eight women.

Carson grew up in an unconventional household, but she believed it was ordinary.

'[My dad] was a stay-at-home pot dealer...yeah, that’s what he did. At preschool once I got in trouble - we were playing house and I was rolling joints. That was my concept of normal,' Carson said.

Her parents eventually got divorced when she was five years old. Carson's father spiraled into a world of drugs and married a woman named Suzan.

'People calk about Charlie Manson eyes and how some people look frightening, and to me, she looked frightening,' she said.

Jenn Carson, pictured here as a young girl, said her father, pictured left, was a stay-at-home father who sold marijuana for a living

Jenn Carson's mother, pictured left with Michael (center) and Jenn (right), was a teacher when Jenn was a young child

The couple divorced when Jenn (pictured) was five, and three years later, Michael Carson (left) was arrested for the murder of his roommate

Michael Carson (right) and his second wife, Suzan Carson (left), were sentenced to 75 years to life in prison in the 1980s

Carson's father and stepmom were arrested in 1983 for the murders of three people. Carson was only eight years old.

'I found newspaper articles in the house. I remember the word bludgeoned because I didn't know what it meant, but I read the other words and I was able to figure out that they stabbed her in the neck 12 times and they hit her over the head and that's when my lifelong struggle with nightmares began,' she said.

Carson said that after news broke of her father's murders, she 'felt so alone'.

'I remember doing research and found out I was more likely to have a parent who died by being struck by lightning than have a parent who was a serial killer,' she aid.

Moore, one of Jesperson's three children, said her family members are secondary crime victims - and still carry a lot of shame.

'I feel in a sense I am related to my father, but I didn't cause the pain,' she has said in earlier interviews. 'But knowing that my father caused some pain causes me pain'.

She added in the same previous interview that there are 'no books like what to do if your dad is a serial killer'.

Jesperson would taunt the police and media by sending letters about the murders and signing them with a smiley face

Moore, pictured here with her father in an undated photograph, recalls Jesperson torturing animals when she was young

Moore, her husband Sam and their two children visited her father Keith Jesperson (right) in jail in 2005. It was the last time she saw her serial killer dad, although she says he continues to write to her

'There's no pamphlets, no support groups, and the best answer that i could do for myself was just little by little,' she said.

In 2009 Melissa wrote a book, Shattered Silence, about her father and her family's struggle to cope.

She now reaches out to other serial killers' family members, who she she says often cope silently with the trauma and stigma of who they are related to.

Jesperson, now 60, earned his notoriety by sending confessions describing his heinous crimes to police and journalists. The letters were signed with a smiley face - hence his nickname.

The killer, who is spending life behind bars, usually targeted prostitutes and homeless women - raping them before strangling them with his bare hands.

Carson, too, felt the guilt of having a killer as a family member.

'I instantly thought this world is a very scary place,' she said. 'I remember thinking "I am the daughter of the devil. I must just be evil." (I thought) I was going to hurt people too.'

Carson's father and stepmother, Michael and Suzan Carson, were apprehended in the early '80s after going on a killing spree, murdering people they believed to be witches.

The killing spree began in 1981 with their 23-year-old roommate, Keryn Barnes, in their San Francisco apartment. They hit her in the head with a frying pan before stabbing her 13 times, wrapping her in blanket and hiding the body in the basement, according to the Lakeland Ledger.

They were both sentenced to 75 years to life in prison.