The suspected serial killer was initially set to be released in early June
(Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An indictment recently filed against suspected serial killer Jesse Lee Calhoun accuses him of murdering three local women and moving the bodies from early March to late April 2023.
Multnomah County Deputy District Attorney Todd Jackson filed the indictment on Friday, May 24. The two-page document names 16 witnesses who testified before the grand jury.
The 39-year-old Calhoun is facing three charges of second-degree murder and three charges of second-degree abuse of the corpse in connection to the deaths of Charity Lynn Perry, Joanna Speaks and Bridget Leanne Webster.
According to the court documents, Calhoun killed Perry and moved her corpse around Wednesday, March 8, 2023. The 24-year-old woman’s body was found on Monday, Apr. 24 in a culvert near Ainsworth State Park.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office and Crime Stoppers of Oregon ruled it as a “suspicious” death.
Calhoun is accused of murdering 32-year-old Joanna Speaks 10 days later on Saturday, March 18, and moving her corpse. Authorities found the woman at an abandoned barn in Ridgefield, Wash., on Saturday, Apr. 8 — but they later announced she was thought to have been killed in Portland.
The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office determined Speaks died of blunt injuries to her head and neck.
The indictment also alleged Calhoun murdered Bridget Webster on Wednesday, Apr. 26, and moved the corpse the same day. Webster, 31, was a Milwaukie resident, and her body was discovered on Harmony Road near Mill Creek in Polk County on Sunday, Apr. 30.
Before he was officially charged, Calhoun was identified as a person of interest in the deaths of Perry, Webster, 22-year-old Kristin Smith and 22-year-old Ashley Real.
Smith was reported missing in late December 2022, and she wasn’t located until Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. Portland Police Bureau reported the Gresham resident was found dead in a wooded area near Southeast Deardorff Road and Southeast Flavel Street.
Real’s body was discovered in the Eagle Creek area on Sunday, May 7.
Calhoun hasn’t been indicted in connection with the deaths of Smith or Real. He is currently being held in the Snake River Correctional Institution for parole violations. Before the recent charges were filed, he was set to be released on Wednesday, June 7.
