Jesse Lee Calhoun is accused of causing the deaths of six women in and around Portland, Oregon, between November 2022 and April 2023. A Multnomah County grand jury has indicted him on five counts of second-degree murder, four counts of second-degree abuse of a corpse and one count of first-degree manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty to every charge, none of the charges has been tried, and he is presumed innocent. As the district attorney's office put it when the first charges were filed, a charging instrument is only an accusation of a crime.
The women whose deaths he is charged with are Elizabeth "Libby" Gibson, 32; Kristin Smith, 22; Charity Lynn Perry, 24; Joanna Speaks, 32; Ashley Real, 22; and Bridget Leanne Webster, 31. Five of them were found dead in wooded and rural places in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington in the first half of 2023. Gibson's remains have never been found.
Calhoun was already well known to the courts. He had a record going back two decades, and in 2021 he was one of 41 prisoners whose sentences were commuted by Governor Kate Brown after they fought wildfires in 2020. That release, and the questions it raised, made the case a political issue in Oregon long before any homicide charge was filed.
The earliest entry in Calhoun's criminal history, according to a timeline KOIN compiled from court records in July 2023, is a third-degree assault conviction in Baker County, Oregon, in 2003. Between 2007 and 2019 he faced dozens of further charges in Baker and Multnomah counties, among them assault, harassment, drug possession, theft, kidnapping and traffic offenses. Many of those charges were dismissed or reduced, KOIN reported. The Oregonian, in a 2024 report, described his record as covering two decades.
In 2019 he was found guilty of assaulting a public safety officer, interfering with a law enforcement animal, burglary and unauthorized use of a vehicle (KOIN). The Associated Press described the same case as assaulting a police officer, attempting to strangle a police dog, burglary and other charges. The Associated Press and Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) summarized the 2019 conviction as stolen vehicle and burglary charges.
His sentence was reported as 50 months by the Oregon Capital Chronicle and as four years and two months by KOIN. Sources differ on when it would have ended without clemency: KOIN gave an expected release in June 2022 (and, in a second entry, July 2022), the Associated Press said he would likely have been released in the summer of 2022, and OPB said the sentence was set to end in December 2022.
During the 2020 wildfire season Calhoun worked on a prison firefighting crew. In 2021 Governor Kate Brown commuted his sentence along with those of 40 other prisoners who had helped fight the fires, after a determination that they did not pose an unacceptable risk to public safety, the Associated Press reported. The Associated Press and OPB dated the commutation to June 2021; KOIN dated his release to July 2021. The commutation took about a year off his sentence.
KPTV reported in 2024 that his name was on a list of prisoners eligible for clemency that went to District Attorney Mike Schmidt's office for review. That review usually took about a month, KPTV said, but the office had one week, and it did not take a position on Calhoun's release. KPTV attributed his inclusion on the list partly to good behavior and to his work as a prison firefighter.
The commutation was conditional. When those conditions were later found to have been broken, it could be withdrawn, and in 2023 it was.
Each of the six women was known to her family and friends long before her name appeared in an indictment. What is known of them comes from what relatives, friends and officials have said in public.
Elizabeth "Libby" Gibson was 32 and lived in Portland. In a statement read by prosecutors in September 2026, her siblings described her as "kind, creative, and silly," a woman who welcomed everyone with love and acceptance, and said her future had been taken too soon. A childhood friend called her "a true light in this world" and "a special person and special spirit." Another friend remembered her as quirky and funny. A friend reported her missing in March 2023.
Kristin Smith was 22 and from Gresham; the Associated Press noted that she was also known as Kristin Reedus. Her family remembered a contagious smile and a laugh unlike anyone else's. She was left-handed, drew well, and loved wearing wigs and makeup. She loved her cat and treated the animals at home as family. Her sister said Kristin had taught her how to do her hair, nails and makeup. She was last seen on November 19, 2022, in Portland, KPTV reported, and her family reported her missing on December 22, 2022. A Facebook group called "Justice for Kristin Smith" had more than 600 members by July 2023.
Charity Lynn Perry was 24. Her mother told the Associated Press in 2023 that she had struggled with her mental health and "had an amazing personality when she had her mental health under control." She had once won a prize for the spiciest chili in a cooking competition, and, her mother said, "She was so proud of it."
Joanna Speaks was 32, a mother of three and one of seven siblings, KGW reported. Her family described her as funny, sarcastic and witty. Their last contact with her was in March 2023. Her older sister said the family would not give up looking for answers, and her stepsister called her "the missing piece of our family that completed us."
Bridget Leanne Webster was 31. Her mother held a celebration of life for her in Oregon City in June 2023 and asked those attending to wear yellow or butterflies in her honor. She had sons, the Associated Press noted. Polk County Sheriff Mark Gerton said in July 2023 that his detectives knew it was important "that we do justice for Bridget."
Ashley Real was 22 and from Portland. She was last seen at a fast-food restaurant in Portland on March 27, 2023, and was reported missing on April 4. Her father, speaking through an interpreter in 2026, said she had "a heart of gold." Her mother, also through an interpreter, said that "Finally, we are here, to know that now there is someone being named for taking the life of my daughter."
The first of the women to be found was Kristin Smith. Her remains were found on February 19, 2023, in a wooded part of Portland's Pleasant Valley neighborhood, Portland police said. Charity Lynn Perry was found on April 24 in east Multnomah County, near Ainsworth State Park in the Columbia River Gorge. Joanna Speaks was found on April 8 near Ridgefield, in Clark County, Washington; the Clark County Medical Examiner ruled her death a homicide. Bridget Leanne Webster was found on April 30 in rural northwest Polk County, southwest of Portland. Ashley Real was found on May 7 in a forested area near Eagle Creek in Clackamas County.
The Associated Press reported that the bodies were found in wooded areas, a culvert and under a bridge, within a radius of roughly 100 miles. As the number of deaths grew, people online began to speculate that one person was responsible. On June 4, 2023, the Portland Police Bureau said the speculation was not supported by the facts it had at that time, and that the deaths did not appear to be connected. Its statement followed a June 1 report in The Oregonian that counted six women found dead in the area in under three months.
On June 6, 2023, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office arrested Calhoun on a Multnomah County warrant for a parole violation, according to KOIN. KATU later reported the same date for his arrest.
On June 30, Todd Jackson, then a senior deputy district attorney in Multnomah County, wrote to Governor Tina Kotek's office asking her to revoke the commutation. The letter, sent with the county's Department of Community Justice, said that "Mr. Calhoun has been involved in criminal activity currently under investigation by Oregon law enforcement" (Associated Press). Kotek revoked the commutation on July 3. Her spokesperson told the Oregon Capital Chronicle that she had acted on the district attorney's recommendation, that the governor can overturn a commutation only when its terms are violated, and that those who violate them "must be held accountable." Calhoun was returned to Snake River Correctional Institution, on July 6 according to KOIN and July 7 according to the Associated Press, to serve the rest of his original sentence. KOIN gave his earliest release date as June 9, 2024.
On July 17, 2023, the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office reversed the police position of the month before. It said there were links between four cases, those of Kristin Smith, Charity Perry, Bridget Webster and Ashley Real, and that investigators had identified at least one person of interest linked to all four. It did not say what the links were. Prosecutors said the community was not in danger. A law enforcement official, speaking without being named, told the Associated Press that the person of interest was Calhoun. He had not been charged with any crime connected to the deaths.
Nine law enforcement agencies were working together on the cases, including prosecutors' offices in three Oregon counties and the Oregon State Police, the Associated Press reported. The state medical examiner had not determined a cause or manner of death for any of the four women. Calhoun did not respond to a message the Associated Press sent through the prison's inmate email system, and a court-appointed lawyer who had represented him in the 2019 case said he no longer did so.
The families said they were left with little information. Kristin Smith's mother told the Associated Press she had faith that police would "piece this together." Charity Perry's mother said, "I'm in the dark about a lot." Bridget Webster's mother asked anyone with information to call detectives, writing, "We just want answers."
At that stage, Joanna Speaks's death was not part of the announced link. In September 2023 KPTV reported that her case was being handled by detectives in Clark County, Washington, and was not connected to the person of interest.
The revelation that a man named as a person of interest had been released early by a governor's commutation set off a political argument. Former Governor Brown said in a statement to the Associated Press that she was "absolutely horrified for the victims, their families, and all those who have experienced these losses."
On July 20, 2023, U.S. Representatives Cliff Bentz and Lori Chavez-DeRemer wrote to Kotek asking her to review Brown's commutations and to create a clear and transparent clemency process. Their letter, as KPTV quoted it, urged her "to review every single conditional commutation granted by governor brown." All 25 members of the Oregon House Republican Caucus followed with their own letter, arguing that Brown's commutations had "bypassed many of the existing safeguards" in the parole and probation system, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported. Brown had granted commutations or clemency to more than 1,000 people while in office, more than other governors, the Capital Chronicle said. Kotek's office later declined to give KPTV an exact number of revocations, saying only that she had reviewed requests from district attorneys and that a number of revocations had been issued.
In June 2026, after Calhoun was charged in her death, Ashley Real's father described an earlier encounter to reporters. He said that in November 2022 his daughter came to his home crying and told him Calhoun had choked her, and that she had marks on her throat, so he took her to a hospital. A police report was filed, he said, but the case was transferred to another jurisdiction and the family found it hard to reach the officials handling it. The Associated Press, reporting his account, said the details were first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive. No charge arising from that police report has been reported.
In September 2023, the families of four of the women held an end-of-summer barbecue in Happy Valley, Oregon, to raise money for funeral costs and to share information for people dealing with addiction, homelessness or sex trafficking, KPTV reported. They called it a celebration of life. Charity Perry's mother said the families were "not going anywhere" and were "not letting it go." Joanna Speaks's stepsister said the women "couldn't have died for nothing" and that the families wanted to make a positive impact.
The families have since attended hearings together. Kristin Smith's mother said in 2026 that the families were grateful not to face the process alone. Speaks's stepsister said the families had become one another's support system, adding that "Very rarely for something like this do you have someone else who 100% understands your emotions."
On May 16, 2024, a Multnomah County grand jury indicted Calhoun, then 39, on three counts of murder in the second degree and three counts of abuse of a corpse in the second degree, in the deaths of Charity Lynn Perry, Bridget Leanne Webster and Joanna Speaks. District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced the charges the next day. The release said all three women had been found dead under suspicious circumstances in 2023, and it thanked agencies in both states, among them the Portland Police Bureau, the Multnomah, Clackamas, Polk and Clark County sheriff's offices, the Gresham Police Department, the Oregon State Police, the Washington State Patrol crime laboratory, medical examiners' offices in both states and the FBI. It ended with the office's standard statement: "A charging instrument is only an accusation of a crime. Calhoun is innocent unless and until proven guilty."
The indictment came weeks before Calhoun was due to leave prison on his earlier sentence. When it was returned he was still at Snake River Correctional Institution, and the district attorney's office said he would be moved to Multnomah County custody for arraignment. KPTV reported that Perry's mother had been told she could amend her daughter's death certificate to reflect the charge without having her daughter's body exhumed for a second autopsy, which she had feared a defense might demand. Speaks's stepsister said the families were happy to have a name and some sort of answer, but still had no timeline of what had happened.
The district attorney's office said the cases of Kristin Smith and Ashley Real remained under active investigation. Smith's mother said her family was still waiting for police to gather what they needed.
Calhoun was arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court on June 6, 2024, and pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, KATU reported. According to KATU, the two-page indictment rested on testimony from 16 grand jury witnesses, including detectives, medical examiners and forensic scientists. Prosecutors allege that Perry died on March 8, 2023, Speaks on March 18 and Webster on April 26; KATU reported that police had determined Speaks died in Portland, and ABC News later reported that Portland police believe her death occurred in Oregon.
The Oregonian's report on the hearing, printed by The Chronicle of Centralia, Washington, named the judge as Thomas Ryan, the prosecutor as Adam Gibbs, and Calhoun's lawyer as Cameron Taylor. In a written statement Taylor said Calhoun "adamantly denies the allegations against him." A later hearing was to decide whether he would be held without bail. Speaks's mother said after the hearing, "We're one step closer."
On August 5, 2025, District Attorney Nathan Vasquez's office announced that a grand jury had indicted Calhoun on one count of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree abuse of a corpse in the death of Kristin Smith. Prosecutors allege that she died in November 2022; ABC News described hers as the first of the deaths then charged. They did not say what new evidence had led to the charges, ABC News reported. Smith's mother, wearing a "Justice for Kristin Smith" shirt, said she had always stayed hopeful she would get justice for her daughter, and she thanked "every single person who didn't give up on this case." She said she hoped a trial would give the families an explanation.
Calhoun was arraigned on the new charges on August 11, 2025, and pleaded not guilty through his lawyer, invoking his right to remain silent, KPTV reported. A trial was expected to be set for 2027. Ashley Real's case was still under investigation, and the Multnomah County office was working on it with the Clackamas County District Attorney.
On May 26, 2026, a Multnomah County grand jury indicted Calhoun, then 41, on one count of murder in the second degree in the death of Ashley Real, in a new case, 26CR28448. Prosecutors allege that she died on or about March 27, 2023. In the same announcement the district attorney's office set out the alleged dates of death in the earlier case, 24CR26797: on or about November 20, 2022, for Kristin Smith; March 8, 2023, for Charity Perry; March 18, 2023, for Joanna Speaks; and April 26, 2023, for Bridget Webster. No abuse of a corpse count was brought in Real's case.
At a news conference Vasquez said, "We are dealing with five distinct tragedies tied to one individual." He added that ethical rules limited what he could say about the evidence, but "the scope of this case is massive," and that prosecutors believed there were reasons that "warrant and justify these cases being tried jointly." Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero said the investigation was continuing and that she was "not confirming that there are any additional victims at this point."
Calhoun was arraigned on June 3, 2026, and his lawyer entered a not guilty plea for him; he did not speak during the hearing, the Associated Press reported. The families of all five women attended. For Charity Perry's mother it was the first time she had been in the same room as Calhoun. Ashley Real's sister said that seeing him in custody took weight off her shoulders, "But it also doesn't take away the fact that my sister isn't here anymore." KOIN reported that he had been held since June 2023 and remained jailed without bail.
The new indictment led the court to cancel the trial date that had been set for 2027. The district attorney's office told KPTV that all five murder cases were likely to be tried together.
On September 16, 2026, Vasquez, Marrero and acting Portland Police Chief Brian Hughes announced that a grand jury had indicted Calhoun on one count of first-degree manslaughter in the death of Elizabeth "Libby" Gibson. Prosecutors allege that she died on November 18, 2022, which would make her death the earliest of the six charged. Her remains have not been found. Investigators had known of her disappearance early in the multi-agency inquiry, prosecutors said, but had gathered evidence connecting Calhoun to her death only recently. They declined to say how Gibson knew Calhoun or how she disappeared, citing the ongoing investigation, OPB reported. Marrero said tips from the public, however small, had helped lead to the charge, and that prosecutors had "sufficient evidence" to proceed without Gibson's body.
Prosecutors allege that he caused her death "under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life," Newsweek reported. They did not explain publicly why they chose manslaughter rather than murder. A former Washington County chief deputy district attorney, Bracken McKay, told KATU that the charge "could very well be a placeholder," since second-degree murder requires proof of a conscious intent to cause death, which can be hard to show when no body has been found. He said his view came only from public records.
"The loss of life here is immense," Vasquez said. Asked whether the case should carry a particular label, he said that how people chose to describe it "will be up to the media and others." Speaks's stepsister said the families were relieved that detectives had gathered enough to bring the charge, and that Gibson's name had been on a list of women the families had long looked into themselves. Gibson's siblings, in their statement, said the family was "grateful that a definitive step towards justice is finally being taken for our sister, Libby."
On September 21, 2026, Calhoun pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge, KPTV reported. The arraignment had been scheduled before Multnomah County Circuit Judge Celia Howes. The manslaughter charge was added to the indictment in Ashley Real's case, and Marrero confirmed that the two deaths were believed to be connected. She said the district attorney's office did not believe there were additional victims, though the investigation remained open.
As of the latest court report, on September 21, 2026, Calhoun was charged in Multnomah County with five counts of second-degree murder, four counts of second-degree abuse of a corpse and one count of first-degree manslaughter, and he had pleaded not guilty to all of them. A jury trial that had been planned for September 2027 had already been canceled, OPB reported, and prosecutors said the new charge could delay matters further. No trial date had been set. Both sides were due back in court on November 2, 2026. Reports in May and June 2026 said he was held at the Multnomah County Detention Center without bail. His lawyers have declined to comment to reporters. He is presumed innocent of every charge.
Whether the deaths were connected. Portland police said in June 2023 that the deaths did not appear to be connected; prosecutors said in July 2023 that four were linked. Neither the links nor the evidence has been made public, and none of it has been tested at trial.
How the women died. Prosecutors have not said. The four abuse of a corpse counts and the alleged dates of death are allegations in indictments, not findings.
Why manslaughter for Gibson. Prosecutors have not explained the choice of charge; the "placeholder" view is a former prosecutor's outside opinion.
Other cases. The Oregonian reported in 2024 that he had been described as a person of interest in at least five cases of missing or dead women, at a time when he was charged in three. In 2026 prosecutors said they did not believe there were further victims. No other case has been charged.
The November 2022 report. Ashley Real's father's account of an assault that month has not been the subject of any charge and is unproven.
Online labels. Much coverage, including headlines, has called Calhoun a suspected serial killer. That is a description used by the media, not a legal finding; the district attorney has left labels to others.
2003: Third-degree assault conviction, Baker County, Oregon (KOIN).
2019: Convicted of assaulting a public safety officer, interfering with a law enforcement animal, burglary and unauthorized use of a vehicle; sentenced to 50 months (reported by KOIN as four years and two months).
2020: Works on a prison wildfire crew.
June or July 2021: Sentence commuted by Governor Kate Brown, with 40 others; released about a year early.
November 18, 2022: Elizabeth "Libby" Gibson's alleged date of death.
November 19, 2022: Kristin Smith last seen in Portland.
November 20, 2022: Smith's alleged date of death.
December 22, 2022: Smith reported missing.
February 19, 2023: Smith's remains found in Portland.
March 8, 2023: Charity Lynn Perry's alleged date of death.
March 18, 2023: Joanna Speaks's alleged date of death.
March 27, 2023: Ashley Real last seen; her alleged date of death.
March 2023: A friend reports Gibson missing.
April 4, 2023: Real reported missing.
April 8, 2023: Speaks found near Ridgefield, Washington.
April 24, 2023: Perry found in east Multnomah County.
April 26, 2023: Bridget Leanne Webster's alleged date of death.
April 30, 2023: Webster found in Polk County.
May 7, 2023: Real found in Clackamas County.
June 4, 2023: Portland police say the deaths do not appear to be connected.
June 6, 2023: Calhoun arrested on a parole violation warrant.
June 30, 2023: Multnomah County prosecutors ask the governor to revoke his commutation.
July 3, 2023: Governor Tina Kotek revokes the commutation.
July 6 or 7, 2023: Returned to Snake River Correctional Institution.
July 17, 2023: Prosecutors say four deaths are linked; Calhoun named as a person of interest.
May 16, 2024: Indicted on three counts each of second-degree murder and second-degree abuse of a corpse (Perry, Webster, Speaks).
June 6, 2024: Pleads not guilty.
August 5, 2025: Indicted on second-degree murder and second-degree abuse of a corpse (Smith).
August 11, 2025: Pleads not guilty.
May 26, 2026: Indicted on second-degree murder (Real).
June 3, 2026: Not guilty plea entered; 2027 trial date later canceled.
September 16, 2026: Indictment for first-degree manslaughter (Gibson) announced.
September 21, 2026: Pleads not guilty to manslaughter.
November 2, 2026: Next scheduled court date (as of September 21, 2026).