An Oregon man has been charged with the murder of three women found dead under “suspicious circumstances” last year, officials announced Friday.
Authorities have identified a suspect in the deaths of the three women – Charity Lynn Perry, 24, Bridget Leanne Webster, 31, and Joanna Speaks, 32 – the Multnomah County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday.
Bridget Leanne Webster, Charity Lynn Perry and Joanna Speaks.
Multnomah County DA/Clark County Sheriff’s Office
Jesse Lee Calhoun, 39, was charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree abuse of a corpse in connection with the women’s deaths, the prosecutor’s office said, after a grand jury returned all six counts. arraignment Thursday.
At a press briefing Friday, Multnomah County Prosecutor Mike Schmidt called the case “complex” and said it required a “significant investigation” involving multiple law enforcement agencies .
“There is still work to be done, investigations are ongoing,” Schmidt said.
Calhoun has been held at the Snake River Correctional Facility since July 2023 on unrelated charges and was scheduled to be released next month, according to online Oregon Department of Corrections records. He is expected to be transferred to Multnomah County authorities for arraignment, prosecutors said. It is unclear whether Calhoun has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Multnomah County authorities, citing the ongoing investigation, have released few details about the case, including the alleged evidence that led them to the suspect and how the women died.
Speaks’ body was found at an abandoned property in Ridgefield, Washington, on April 8, 2023, authorities said. Police in Portland, Oregon said in November 2023 that the homicide was believed to have occurred in Portland.
The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said in July 2023 that it was investigating whether the deaths of four women — including Perry and Webster — who were found dead across Oregon were related. The announcement came weeks after Portland police spoke out against online speculation about a possible serial killer in the Pacific Northwest.
This undated photo provided by the Oregon Department of Corrections shows Jesse Lee Calhoun, who is under investigation in the deaths of four women whose bodies were found scattered across northwest Oregon l ‘last year.
Oregon Department of Corrections via AP
Perry’s body was found in a culvert near Ainsworth State Park in eastern Multnomah County on April 24, 2023, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said. The Polk County, Oregon, Sheriff’s Office said Webster’s body was found six days later on April 30, 2023.
Perry’s mother, Diana Allen, told reporters Friday that it was “very, very frustrating” for the victims’ families to not have answers amid the ongoing investigation, but that she had respect for the prosecutor’s office process.
“Even though they didn’t want to give me answers, I knew they had answers,” she said.
The deaths of two other women – Kristin Smith and Ashley Real, both 22 – initially believed to be related, remain under investigation, the Multnomah County Prosecutor’s Office announced Friday.
Smith’s body, reported missing in December 2022, was found Feb. 19, 2023, in a wooded area of Portland, police said. Real’s body was found in a wooded area in Clackamas County, Oregon, in May 2023, a month after she was reported missing to Portland police, authorities said.
“We continue to wait, we continue to pray and remain hopeful,” Melissa Smith, Kristin Smith’s mother, said during Friday’s press briefing. “We remain hopeful that we can soon get justice for them too.”
ABC News
