Suspected serial killer Jesse Lee Calhoun is accused of killing three women in Multnomah County and moving their bodies over a 50-day period last spring. The new details are included in a Multnomah County grand jury indictment that was filed on May 24. The charges prevent Calhoun from being released from an Oregon prison after completing a parole violation sentence on June 7.
Calhoun has also been publicly identified as a person of interest in the deaths of two other Portland area, but has not been charged with them.
Law enforcement officials originally dismissed speculation that the deaths were connected when their bodies began to be found last year. They denied speculation the deaths were the work of a serial killer at the time.
The two-page court document names 16 witnesses who testified before the grand jury. Most are law enforcement officers and medical examiners. There is no evidence in the indictment connecting Calhoun to any of the deaths.
The indictment charges the 39-year-old Calhoun with three charges of second-degree murder and three charges of second-degree abuse of a corpse in the deaths of Charity Lynn Perry, Joanna Speaks, and Bridget Leanne Webster.
According to the indictment, Calhoun killed Perry and moved her corpse on or about March 8, 2023. The 24-year-old woman’s body was found on April 24 in a culvert near Ainsworth State Park.
Calhoun is accused of murdering 32-year-old Speaks ten days later on March 18 and moving her corpse. Her body was found on April 8 at an abandoned barn in Ridgefield, Wash. The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Speaks died of blunt injuries to her head and neck. Authorities later announced they believe she was killed in Portland.
The indictment also charges that Calhoun murdered Webster on April 26, and moved her corpse the same day. Webster, 31, was a Milwaukie resident, and her body was discovered on Harmony Road near Mill Creek in Polk County on April 30.
Before he was officially charged, Calhoun was also identified as a person of interest in the deaths of 22-year-old Kristin Smith and 22-year-old Ashley Real.
Smith was reported missing in late December 2022, but her body wasn’t found until Feb. 19, 2023, in a wooded area near Southeast Deardorff Road and Southeast Flavel Street. Real’s body was discovered in the Eagle Creek area on May 7.
Calhoun has not been indicted in connection with the deaths of Smith or Real. He is currently being held in the Snake River Correctional Institution for parole violations, but will be transported to Multnomah County to be arraigned.
After media reports identified Calhoun as a person of interest in the five deaths, they became an issue in the Multnomah County District Attorney’s race. Former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown had released Calhoun from prison early on a previous conviction because he had helped fight Oregon wildfire. Multnomah County DA Mike Schmidt had not opposed or even reviewed the proposed release, drawing criticism from his opponent, Deputy Multnomah County DA Nathan Vasquez, who defeated Schmidt at the May 21 primary election.
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