Jesse Calhoun Is Indicted in the Death of a Sixth Woman, Libby Gibson
A Multnomah County grand jury charged Calhoun with first-degree manslaughter in the 2022 death of Elizabeth "Libby" Gibson, 32, whose body has never been found.
Published
Elizabeth Gibson was last seen in 2022. A friend reported her missing in March 2023, in the same spring that the bodies of young women were turning up in the woods and back roads around Portland. On September 16, 2026, Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez announced that a grand jury had indicted Jesse Lee Calhoun on one count of first-degree manslaughter in her death.
Prosecutors believe Gibson, a 32-year-old Portland woman known to her family as Libby, died on or about November 18, 2022. Her remains have never been recovered. If the date holds, her death came before those of the five women Calhoun was already charged with killing, which would make her the first.
The charge is manslaughter, not murder. Calhoun already faces five counts of second-degree murder and counts of abuse of a corpse in the deaths of Kristin Smith, Charity Lynn Perry, Joanna Speaks, Bridget Leanne Webster and Ashley Real, whose bodies were found in rural and wooded areas of northwest Oregon and southwest Washington. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and has not been tried.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero said investigators had known about Gibson's disappearance early in the multi-agency investigation, but gathered the evidence needed to connect Calhoun to her death only recently. Prosecutors would not say what that evidence was, how Gibson knew Calhoun, or how she disappeared, citing the ongoing investigation, and they asked anyone with information about her to come forward.
"The loss of life here is immense," Vasquez said. "The scope is difficult to really even comprehend."
Gibson's siblings did not attend the news conference. Prosecutors read their statement. "Libby was kind, creative, and silly," it said. "She welcomed everyone with love and acceptance." Her family called the indictment a definitive step toward justice. Lisa Shaw, a childhood friend, said afterward that hearing it confirmed was heartbreaking. "She was a true light in this world," she said.
Ariel Hamby, the sister of Joanna Speaks, said Gibson's name had long been on the list of women the families had been looking into. "We thought that might never happen," she said of the charge.
Calhoun's arraignment on the new indictment was set for September 21 before Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Celia Howes. A jury trial that had been planned for September 2027 had already been canceled, and Marrero said the new charge could push the case back further.
Calhoun is charged, not convicted, and is presumed innocent. The grand jury's charge in Gibson's death is first-degree manslaughter, and prosecutors have not made public the evidence behind it or the indictment itself. Ages and dates are as the district attorney's office gave them at the September 16 announcement.
Sources
- Jesse Lee Calhoun now accused of killing a 6th woman in the Portland area, OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
- Suspected Oregon serial killer indicted in death of 6th woman, KPTV FOX 12 Oregon