Portland ‘serial killer’: Ex-governor under fire over Jesse Calhoun’s early prison release as ‘girlfriend’ reveals ties to victims

Police connect career criminal to deaths of four women in Oregon but consider him only a ‘person of interest’

Murdered Oregon woman’s sister says cops avoiding serial killer theory

Oregon officials have identified Jesse Lee Calhoun of Portland, as a person of interest in the mystery deaths of four women that police say are linked, law enforcement sources told The Associated Press.

The 38-year-old has not been charged with any crimes related to the investigation. He is currently in prison on unrelated charges after being arrested on 6 June for a parole violation.

Court records show that Calhoun has an extensive criminal history including 2003 and 2008 convictions for assault. He was also sentenced to four years in 2019 for burglary.

He was released early in July 2021 after being granted a “conditional commutation” by then-Oregon governor Kate Brown, due to his service as an inmate firefighter during the wildfires and the fear of Covid-19 spreading in prisons.

Meanwhile, a woman saying that she’s Calhoun’s girlfriend has said that he had links to two of the four victims, revealing that Calhoun and Ashley Real had been seeing each other on and off for about a year and that he would provide Bridget Webster with drugs in exchange for sex.

Key Points

• Jesse Calhoun identified as person of interest in suspicious deaths of four women in Portland
• Woman claiming to be Calhoun’s girlfriend reveals alleged links to victims
• Who are the Oregon murder victims?
• Mothers of women in Portland ‘serial killer’ case cling to hope of accountability
• Did a governor’s pardon let out the possible Oregon killer?

[21 July 2023 11:00 · Gustaf Kilander]

‘I’m just really hoping that this is it'

Kristin Smith’s mother said she hopes that the identification of a person of interest can lead to some resolution.

“I’m just really hoping that this is it. I don’t know – I guess I’m still kind of in shock by it all, but I’m just hoping that we got him,” Melissa Smith told KATU-TV.

Smith was reported missing in December and her body was located in a wooded area south of Portland in February. Her mother said that no parent should have to accept that their “child was killed and in a very disturbing, morbid, traumatizing way,” according to a GoFundMe fundraising page.

Darcie Byers-Ramsey, Webster’s mother of Ms Webster, took to Facebook to ask anyone who knew anything about the case to contact law enforcement.

“They aren’t looking to bust anyone if you have warrants or partake in drugs etc. We do not care about that. We just want answers,” she wrote. “Please help my boys, my family and I to get closure.”

Webster was found dead on 30 April in Polk County.

[21 July 2023 12:00 · Gustaf Kilander]

‘I am absolutely horrified for the victims, their families, and all those who have experienced these losses,’ ex-governor says

Ashley Real was last spotted at a fast food restaurant in Portland on 27 March and was reported as missing on 4 April. Her body was located more than a month later, on 7 May, in a Clackamas County forest by a man fishing in a pond in the area.

Calhoun was returned to state prison on 7 July after Oregon Governor Tina Kotek reinstated his sentence after it was previously commuted by her predecessor Kate Brown, a law enforcement official told the AP.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said in a Monday statement that the investigators have “interviewed multiple people,” adding they don’t think there’s an active threat to the public.

Calhoun was convicted in 2019 on charges of burglary and vehicle theft.

His sentence was commuted in 2021 – a key factor being that he had helped fight wildfires as a volunteer inmate firefighter. Calhoun had been set to be released in June of last year.

“I am absolutely horrified for the victims, their families, and all those who have experienced these losses,” Ms Brown told The AP on Tuesday.

Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson asked Ms Kotek last month that Calhoun be returned to prison and serve the rest of his sentence.

“Since his release from custody pursuant to this commutation, Mr Calhoun has been involved in criminal activity currently under investigation by Oregon law enforcement,” he said in a letter sent on 30 June. “In light of this, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and Multnomah County Department of Community Justice recommends Mr Calhoun’s commutation be revoked.”

[21 July 2023 13:00 · Gustaf Kilander]

Governor under fire after it emerges person of interest released to fight wildfires before deaths

The person of interest in the Oregon deaths of four women was let out early from prison because of concerns that Covid-19 was spreading in prisons.

Jesse Lee Calhoun, 38, was arrested on 6 June. The four women have been found dead in the Portland Metro Area since February.

He was released among around 1,000 other inmates who were granted clemency by former Oregon Governor Kate Brown in 2021 as Covid-19 was spreading among inmates, according to the Willamette Week.

Calhoun was jailed in 2019 following a number of burglaries, in addition to possessing a stolen vehicle, injuring a police officer, and choking a police dog. He was set to remain behind bars until June 2022. A key factor in his early release was his work fighting wildfires.

He has been named as a person of interest in the deaths of Ashley Real, Bridget Webster, Kristin Smith, and Charity Lynn Perry.

[21 July 2023 14:00 · Gustaf Kilander]

Woman claiming to be girlfriend of person of interest in Oregon deaths reveals alleged links to victims

A woman who says that the recently detained person of interest in the suspected Oregon serial killer case Jesse Lee Calhoun lived with her and her children for a year and a half, has shared allegations that there may have been connections between the 38-year-old and some of the victims.

In a video interview shared on YouTube, Krista Senor said Calhoun was linked to at least two of the four women found dead and that he had sex and sold fentanyl to other women during their relationship, according to Oregon Live.

“I’m still in shock over this. It’s just surreal,” Ms Sinor, 43 told The Oregonian on Wednesday. “It’s very strange. I can’t wrap my mind around any of it. Neither can his family or friends.”

Police spent three days searching her apartment in Milwaukie, Oregon after they arrested Calhoun on 6 June.

Former Oregon Governor Kate Brown commuted Calhoun’s sentence for several burglaries on 23 June 2021, about a year before he was set to be released, for his work fighting wildfires.

[21 July 2023 15:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Who are the Oregon murder victims?

Two months after the discovery of Kristin Smith, police reported finding the body of JoAnna Speaks, a 32-year-old mother-of-two, near an abandoned barn in rural Clark County near Ridgefield, Washington, on 8 April, with investigators concluding she had suffered fatal blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

Then, on 24 April, the body of Charity Lynn Perry, 24, from Longview, Washington, was found near a culvert by the East Historic Columbia River Highway close to Ainsworth State Park in Multnomah County, as was that of another unidentified woman near Interstate 205 in the same county, whom a medical examiner said was between 25 and 40 years old and could possibly be Native American or Native Alaskan.

Later that week, Milwaukee woman Bridget Leann (Ramsey) Webster, 31, was found dead on Harmony Road near Mill Creek in northwest Polk County on 30 April.

Then, on 7 May, Clackamas County Sheriff’s deputies found the body of Ashley Real, 22, in a wooded area near Eagle Creek, about 23 miles southeast of Portland.

In all five cases, investigating officers declined to speculate about the possible cause of their deaths but said each was being treated as suspicious.

They now believe the cases of Smith, Perry, Webster and Real could be linked.

Sources previously told Oregon Live in June that at least three of the victims were known to frequent the same areas of downtown Portland in the months before their deaths, a clue to at least one direction the investigation could take.

[21 July 2023 16:00 · Joe Sommerlad]

Who is ‘person of interest’ Jesse Calhoun in the Oregon murders case?

Oregon police have identified Jesse Lee Calhoun of Portland as a person of interest in the recent deaths of four area women that officials say are linked, according to the Associated Press, citing law enforcement sources.

On Monday, a group of nine Washington police agencies announced they had identified a person of interest in the deaths of Kristin Smith, 22; Charity Lynn Perry, 24; Bridget Leann (Ramsay) Webster, 31; and Ashely Real, 22.

Police previously said the deaths, which took place between February and May, were unconnected.

Police have not publicly named Calhoun as a person of interest or charged him with any crimes related to the investigation.

Calhoun, whose last address was in Portland, is currently in custody at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Oregon, on unrelated charges, according to state records.

The 38-year-old entered custody on 6 July and is scheduled to be released.

Josh Marcus has this report.