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’
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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.
Police initially rejected serial killer theory
Initially, amid rumours of a possible serial killer, police in Portland denied the four women were connected to a group of six deaths that all appeared to be similar.
However, the Multnomah County District Attorney later contradicted this, announcing in a statement on Monday that police now had reason to believe four of the deaths were linked.
They did not specify how they were connected other than identifying one person of interest. Authorities said they were able to determine the link after talking with multiple people who were connected to some of the victims.
Calhoun has been in trouble with authorities multiple times
Court records indicated Calhoun has been in trouble with authorities multiple times.
In 2019, Calhoun was sentenced to four years and two months in prison after being convicted of first-degree and second-degree burglary.
The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office accused him of breaking into homes in the neighbourhoods of Troutdale, Fairview and Gresham. Investigators had linked him to a “handful” of other cases in Clackamas and Clark Counties as well.
When a SWAT team arrived that year to arrest Calhoun on outstanding warrants, he choked a police dog and kicked an officer, according to court records viewed by KOIN.
During his arrest, authorities found modified firearms, more than 500 rounds of ammunition and six grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle.
After his arrest, residents of the neighbourhoods and surrounding areas reported a “significant” drop in property crimes and burglaries.
Calhoun was taken back to prison on 7 July
Calhoun was originally set to be released in 2022 but served a shortened version of his 2019 sentence. In July of 2021, he was granted a “conditional commutation” by the then-governor of Oregon, Kate Brown, due to his service as an inmate wildland firefighter the previous year.
Multnomah County senior deputy district attorney Todd Jackson asked Governor Tina Kotek last month to lift Calhoun’s commutation so he could serve out the rest of his sentence.
In a letter, obtained by The Associated Press, Mr Jackson wrote: “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 continued: “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.”
Calhoun was taken back to prison on 7 July and is currently in custody at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Oregon, on unrelated charges, according to state records.
‘My first thought is that maybe a fentanyl overdose and he freaked out'
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.
Ms Sinor said Calhoun was connected to two of the victims, Ashley Real, 22, from Portland, and Bridget Leann Ramsey Webster, 31, from Milwaukie.
The other two victims are Charity Perry and Kristin Smith – police said on Monday 17 July that their deaths are connected and that a person of interest had been identified.
Ms Sinor said in the YouTube interview that Calhoun and Ms Real had been seeing each other on and off for about a year and that he would provide Ms Webster with drugs in exchange for sex, but Ms Sinor added that she didn’t know how Calhoun was linked to Ms Perry or Ms Smith.
When Ms Sinor was asked if Calhoun is a serial killer, Ms Sinor said “My first thought is that maybe a fentanyl overdose and he freaked out”.
“He’s a family guy. He seems like a family guy. He’s really close with his family and he would do anything for them and stuff but like my kids ... he loves my kids and my kids love him,” she added in the YouTube interview, according to KGW.
‘I don’t know how he made it through the 10 officers'
A man who saw Calhoun being arrested told KGW that “There’s craziness in the world. You hope it doesn’t happen too often. It was pretty nuts to see it happen in my backyard”.
Calhoun was arrested on 6 June as he and his girlfriend were at a gas station in Milwaukie. The arrest didn’t occur without incident.
“I don’t know how he made it through the 10 officers but he made it through and across traffic and down to the river and hopped in,” the witness told KGW.
“I was like, ‘I wonder what this guy did,’” the witness added. “It seems whatever he did was really important — or required that much law enforcement, I should say.
“I don’t want to see him come out from bars ever again.”
Mothers of women in Portland ‘serial killer’ case cling to hope of accountability
The mothers of four women found dead in suspicious circumstances around the Portland metro area are hoping for accountability after police identified a person of interest in the case.
Between February and May this year, the bodies of six women were found in roadsides and woods in a 100-mile area of the city, sparking fears of a serial killer in the area.
Jesse Calhoun, a former convict who is currently behind bars for a parole violation in connection to another case, was identified on Monday as a person of interest in the deaths of four of the women, according to law enforcement sources.
The four women are: Ashley Real, 22, Bridget Leann Ramsey Webster, 31, Charity Lynn Perry, 24, and Kristin Smith, 22.
Calhoun, 38, hasn’t been charged with a crime and officials haven’t shared any information about what led to the sudden development in the case.
Read more:
Mothers of women in Portland ‘serial killer’ case cling to hope of accountability
‘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,’ one grieving mother said
‘My daughter had such bad mental health issues, and any hope of her getting better is gone'
Diana Allen is the mother of Perry, who was found dead in a state park along the Columbia River Gorge.
Ms Allen said on Tuesday that she found out about the person of interest via the media, but added that she’s in communication with a detective working on the case.
“I’m in the dark about a lot,” Ms Allen told The Associated Press. “But the detective and I understand why this is required. We don’t need anything messing up this investigation.”
She added that she knows that her daughter died in April, but not the precise date or how she died.
The state medical examiner hasn’t been able to determine the cause or manner of death for any of the four women as of yet.
“This hurts so bad. My daughter had such bad mental health issues, and any hope of her getting better is gone. It’s gone now, and a horrid ache replaced it,” Ms Allen said.
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'
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.
‘I am absolutely horrified for the victims, their families, and all those who have experienced these losses'
The fourth woman – 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.”
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.
Read more:
Governor under fire after person of interest in deaths released to fight wildfires
‘Oregonians shouldn’t have to die because Democrats followed a failed policy of letting criminals out of prison,’ GOP state senate leader says
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