Background: Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez speaks at a press conference on Aug. 5 (KGW). Inset (left): Jesse Lee Calhoun (Oregon Department of Corrections). Inset (right): Kristin Smith (Portland Police Bureau).
An Oregon man who was charged last year with murdering three women and dumping their bodies is now charged with the killing of a fourth woman.
Jesse Lee Calhoun, 40, pleaded not guilty to the murders of 24-year-old Charity Lynn Perry, 31-year-old Bridget Leanne Webster, and 32-year-old Joanna Speaks in June 2024 and has been in custody at Multnomah County”s Inverness Jail ever since. On Tuesday, Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez announced at a press conference that Calhoun was indicted for a fourth murder in connection to the homicide of 22-year-old Kristin Smith.
Smith was reported missing in December 2022 and her remains were found in February 2023.
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At the time of Calhoun’s May 2024 indictment, prosecutors mentioned that Smith’s homicide was being investigated in connection to the charges since she had gone missing during the same time frame as Perry, Webster, and Speaks. The death of a fifth woman, 22-year-old Ashley Real, was also being investigated in connection to Calhoun’s charges. Calhoun is not currently charged with anything in connection to Ashley Real’s death.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Vasquez stated that Calhoun was being charged with Smith’s murder, which he said allegedly took place on or around Nov. 22, 2022. He declined to provide any details about the evidence that led to the indictment on second-degree murder and second-degree abuse of a corpse, but he noted that it was a “very important and visible step” in the case towards justice for the alleged victims.
Prosecutor Melissa Moreno also called the reindictment a “significant milestone in this case.” She added, “I want to be clear: We have a very long road ahead.” Moreno stated that a trial is expected to begin in 2027.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the bodies of five women were found in different locations in Oregon and Washington state over a three-month period in 2023. The three women named in Calhoun’s May 2024 indictment were all found in April 2023; Smith was found in February 2023 and Real was found in May 2023. All five were found dead “under suspicious circumstances,” according to prosecutors.
Authorities believed that at least one of the alleged victims was killed in a different location before being dumped. While causes of death have not been released for most of the women, the Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office cited Speaks’ cause of death as blunt head and neck injuries.
At the time he was indicted last year, Calhoun was already in jail after being arrested in June 2023 on unrelated parole warrants. Law&Crime reported that Calhoun had been granted clemency by former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown after he volunteered as a firefighter during the 2020 wildfires that engulfed the state. Calhoun had been serving time for burglary and theft charges and was released from prison in 2021.
Calhoun is now charged with four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of abuse of a corpse.
