A Multnomah County grand jury has charged a man for three separate murders, in cases investigators had long believed could have been the work of a serial killer.
On Thursday, grand jurors indicted 39-year-old Jesse Lee Calhoun on second-degree murder charges for the deaths of 24-year-old Charity Lynn Perry, 31-year-old Bridget Leann Webster and 32-year-old Joanna Speaks.
He’s also facing three charges of second-degree abuse of a corpse.
Law enforcement officials from the Multnomah County District Attorneys Office, the county's sheriff office and the Portland Police Bureau announced Friday, May 17, 2024, that a grand jury charged Jesse Lee Calhoun on second-degree murder charges for the deaths of 24-year-old Charity Lynn Perry, 31-year-old Bridget Leann Webster and 32-year-old Joanna Speaks. He’s also facing three charges of second-degree abuse of a corpse.
Conrad Wilson / OPB
All three women were found dead under suspicious circumstances in wooded or secluded areas around Portland last year.
“It’s been very, very frustrating for us families to not have answers,” said Diane Allen, Perry’s mother, who spoke at a news conference with law enforcement in downtown Portland on Friday. “I’ve also had to put back in my mind that these people cared more about justice for Charity than they did for my feelings. I have to have a level of respect for that, I do.”
The body of Perry, 24 when she died, was found in the Columbia River Gorge on April 24, 2023.
“A lot of the public has felt that nothing has been happening this whole time,” her mother said. “And I want to tell you that these detectives have worked so hard.”
Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced the indictment Friday.
“I want to acknowledge the families of these women, who I got a chance to talk with today, and the deep pain and the grief they’re experiencing in this process,” Schmidt said. “This community holds you in our hearts and is here to support you. We’re all here to offer our condolences and to share our commitment to bringing justice in these tragic murders.”
Calhoun is currently being held at Snake River Correctional Institution in Eastern Oregon, on charges unrelated to the women’s deaths.
Last summer, investigators described Calhoun as a person of interest in four deaths, and he’s been connected to as many as six. On Friday, investigators said they were still working on two cases as potential murders, though the death of a sixth woman had been ruled out as a homicide.
“We are still very much investigating the deaths of Kristin Smith and Ashley Real, with our partners here as well as the Clackamas County DA’s office, and other investigators,” said Melissa Marrero, Multnomah County senior deputy district attorney.
Calhoun was identified as a person of interest in the deaths of four women, Charity Perry, Ashley Real, Kristin Smith and Bridget Webster, all found in wooded areas in the Portland area, between February and May 2023.
Photos courtesy of family and Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles
Joanna Speaks, in this undated provided photo. The body of Joanna Speaks, 32, was found April 8, 2023 at an abandoned property in Ridgefield, Wash. On Thursday, grand jurors indicted 39-year-old Jesse Lee Calhoun on second-degree murder charges for the deaths of 24-year-old Charity Lynn Perry, 31-year-old Bridget Leann Webster and 32-year-old Joanna Speaks.
Courtesy of the family
Marrero would not answer many questions during Friday’s news conference because the investigation was still on-going. She declined to say whether there could be any federal charges against Calhoun or what lead investigators to believe Calhoun was connected in the three cases charged, thus far.
“We’ve done a lot of investigating all year,” Melissa Smith “Since it’s still an active investigation for my daughter Kristin Smith and Ashley Real, we just keeping going, we keep waiting, we keep praying ... We stay hopeful that we can still get justice for them as well.”
Smith was reported missing in Gresham, Oregon on Dec. 22, 2022. Her body was found in a wooded area of Portland on Feb. 19, 2023. Speaks’ body was found in Ridgefield, Washington, on April 8, 2023; Webster’s remains were found in Polk County on April 30, 2023. The fifth body found, in Clackamas County on May 7, 2023, belonged to Real, who had been reported missing in Portland a month earlier.
“We recognize that until today there have been many questions and that their deaths have caused fear and anxiety across our area,” Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell said during Friday’s news conference. “We want our community to know that all of us in public safety have been working tirelessly to achieve this result and that public safety, your safety, was and continues to be our highest priority.”
Portland Police Chief Bob Day, who was emotional during his remarks Friday, said it was a highly collaborative and on-going investigation.
“It’s a tremendous responsibility that we have in the area of the public safety to constantly be advocating for the sanctity of life in all that we do,” Day said. “It’s a gratifying day to acknowledge these inducements, but it’s also a very somber day. A day to remember the days lost and the sacrifice that these families are experiencing in that loss.”
Calhoun had been serving time for a 2019 conviction on stolen vehicle and burglary charges when then-Gov. Kate Brown commuted his sentence in June 2021. He and 40 other people were released from prison after participating in firefighting efforts.
The commutation shaved about a year off Calhoun’s sentence. Even if he had served his entire prison term, he still would have been out in December 2022, when the first woman in the suspected string of killings was reported missing.
Last year, prosecutors asked Gov. Tina Kotek to revoke Calhoun’s commutation so he could be returned to prison. Prosecutors noted at the time that Calhoun was under investigation for more recent criminal activity.
Kotek agreed, and Calhoun was imprisoned again.
The case has also come up as part of this spring’s race for Multnomah County District Attorney, in which Schmidt is seeking reelection against a colleague.
Challenger Nathan Vasquez, a senior deputy district attorney in the office, has criticized Schmidt’s handing of Calhoun’s commutation. Vasquez went so far as to call Calhoun a murderer in the state’s voters guide before he was charged. At the time, Schmidt called it “desperate.”
During Friday’s news conference, reporters asked about the timing of the indictment, just days before Tuesday’s election.
“The timing of the grand jury convening was set last year,” Marrero said. “The date of this specific indictment was based the date we concluded testimony. The grand jury voted yesterday. We met with the families and informed them of the decision and immediately released that here. From our perspective, the election had nothing to do with why we chose to do it at the time we did or the speed with which the investigation went forward. The collection and development of evidence is what controlled that.”
Calhoun will be brought from the prison in Snake River to Multnomah County for a yet-to-be scheduled arraignment.