Prosecutors in Oregon have charged Jesse Calhoun with killing five women. Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.Show Caption
Murder charges keep stacking up against an Oregon man, but authorities say they aren't done investigating.Jesse Lee Calhoun, 41, has now been accused of killing five women between 2022 and 2023. The latest indictment comes about two years after the first murder charges were filed against Calhoun."We are dealing with five distinct tragedies tied to one individual," Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez told reporters on May 26. "While the ethical rules limit what I can say about the evidence, I can say the scope of this case is massive."When asked if there may be more victims linked to Calhoun, Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero said only that prosecutors are "leaving no stone unturned.""I am not confirming that there are additional victims at this point," she said. "The investigation is still very much ongoing, however."Calhoun's alleged victims, all women under 35, were found dead in various outdoor locations in and around northwestern Oregon between February and May 2023. Some remains were located nearly 100 miles apart.Who is Jesse Lee Calhoun accused of killing?The most recent charge involves the death of 22-year-old Ashley Real. She was last seen at a fast food restaurant in Portland on March 27, 2023, weeks before her body was found in a heavily wooded area in Eagle Creek, police have said.Charges have brought some relief to her family, who appeared alongside Multnomah County prosecutors at an emotional news conference on May 26. Masciell Real said seeking justice for her sister has been "an extremely long, painful and traumatic journey.""Three years is a very long time to wait," she said. "There was many days where I completely lost hope, and I woke up with grief consuming me. But every time I felt myself falling apart, I reminded myself that Ashley would want me to stay strong for her."Calhoun is also facing murder and other charges in connection with the deaths of Charity Lynn Perry, 24; Kristin Smith, 22; Joanna Speaks, 32; and Bridget Leann Webster, 31. He has pleaded not guilty, his attorney confirmed to USA TODAY.As reports emerged about the women's deaths, Portland police initially dismissed concerns that the cases were connected in June 2023. Officials appeared to reverse course a month later, saying law enforcement had determined there were links between four of the cases.In 2024, Calhoun was charged with the murder of Perry, Speaks and Webster. In August 2025, he was charged with killing Smith.What do authorities say happened?Prior to the alleged killings, Calhoun was serving time in prison on charges including unauthorized use of a vehicle and burglary. Then-Gov. Kate Brown commuted his sentence, along with 40 other prisoners who had helped fight wildfires, and he was released in 2021 about a year early.Jose Real previously told the Oregonian/Oregon Live and the Associated Press that his daughter reported being strangled and assaulted by Calhoun in November 2022, about a week before prosecutors say Calhoun killed Smith.Spokesperson John Plock confirmed to USA TODAY that the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office received a referral report from the Portland Police Bureau in November 2022 regarding a "cold domestic violence strangulation allegation" involving Real that named Calhoun as the suspect.Smith was reported missing the following month, according to police, but it wasn't until February 2023 that her remains were found in a wooded area near the Portland neighborhood of Pleasant Valley.Officials believe Real, Speaks and Perry were all killed in March 2023.Speaks was later found near an abandoned barn, and police said her body appeared to have been moved to that location. The Clark County Medical Examiner determined she died of blunt head and neck injuries.Perry was found dead "under suspicious circumstances in a culvert near Ainsworth State Park," the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said. Police said she frequently visited downtown Portland and Vancouver, Washington.Calhoun is accused of killing Webster in April 2023, according to the indictment. The Polk County Sheriff's Office said she was last known to frequent Portland, Oregon City and Milwaukie. A sixth woman was found dead in a tent on the same day Perry was located in a neighborhood not far from where Smith's body was recovered. But Portland police said at the time there was "no indication that foul play was suspected by the ME responder on scene."As the jurisdiction-spanning criminal investigations continued, a Multnomah County prosecutor asked Gov. Tina Kotek to revoke Calhoun's commutation and he returned to prison on July 7, 2023, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.The district attorney's office subsequently announced it had been working for months with investigators and prosecutors across the state and a "person of interest" had been identified in four of the killings.
