Main image: Jesse Lee Calhoun (Oregon Dept. of Corrections). Insets, from top to bottom: Charity Lynn Perry (via Multnomah County DA’s office), Bridget Leanne Webster (via Polk County Sheriff’s Office), and Joanna Speaks (via Clark County Sheriff’s Office).
A 39-year-old in Oregon accused of killing at least three women last year was arraigned on three murder charges in a Portland court on Thursday. The suspected serial killer, Jesse Calhoun, has since been indicted for the slayings of Charity Lynn Perry, 24, Bridget Leanne Webster, 31, and Joanna Speaks, 32.
Calhoun on Wednesday was transferred from the Snake River Correctional Institution, part of the Oregon Department of Corrections, where he was being held on a parole violation to the Multnomah County Jail. During his arraignment on Thursday, he pleaded not guilty to three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree abuse of a corpse in connection with the women’s deaths. A grand jury indicted Calhoun on the charges last month.
Prosecutors from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release that all three victims were found dead “under suspicious circumstances” during a three-month span in 2023. The deaths of two other women found dead within that same time frame — Kristin Smith and Ashley Real, both 22 — are still under investigation, prosecutors said during a news conference last month. The death of a sixth woman who was initially linked to the case was ruled out after the medical examiner determined it was not a homicide.
Speaks’ body was discovered inside of an abandoned home about 25 miles north of Portland on April 8. Perry was found in a heavily wooded area next to Ainsworth State Park, about 35 miles east of Portland on April 24, and Webster was found alongside a creek about 75 miles southwest of Portland April 30. Authorities said that at least one of the bodies appeared to have been killed elsewhere and dumped at the location where it was discovered.
Webster died of blunt force trauma to the head, while the other two victims’ causes of death have not been revealed, local ABC affiliate KATU reported. Calhoun’s alleged connection to them and possible motives have not yet been released by authorities as the investigations remain ongoing.
“As with the majority of homicides, these cases are complex, and it requires a significant investigation involving many different law enforcement agencies,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero said at last month’s press conference. “There’s still more work to be done. Investigations are ongoing,”
Adding additional controversy to the macabre ordeal is the fact that former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown granted clemency to Calhoun that saw him get out of prison on unrelated burglary and theft charges in 2021.
According to a report from Portland CBS affiliate KOIN, Brown granted clemency to Calhoun due in part to good behavior and because Calhoun worked as a prison firefighter to help combat the 2020 wildfires that engulfed large portions of the state.
The Guardian reported that Brown removed one year from the sentence of 41 inmates who worked on the wildfire crews, noting that the 2020 wildfire season was the most destructive in the state’s history.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report
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