Jesse Lee Calhoun Indicted for Murders of Three Women in Portland
Links to Additional Victims Ashley Real and Kristin Smith Under Investigation
According to the published article of True Crime Daily, in Portland, Oregon, a grand jury has charged 39-year-old Jesse Lee Calhoun with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree abuse of a corpse. These charges are related to the deaths of three women found under suspicious circumstances. The women are Charity Lynn Perry, 24, found dead on April 24, 2023, Bridget Leanne Webster, 31, found dead on April 30, 2023, and Joanna Speaks, 32, found dead in an abandoned barn on April 8, 2023. The District Attorney, Mike Schmidt, also mentioned that Calhoun is linked to two more cases involving victims Ashley Real and Kristin Smith, which are still being investigated.
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3 Women Murdered: 39-Year-Old Jesse Lee Calhoun Indicted on Multiple Charges in Portland, Oregon (PHOTO: People)
Jesse Lee Calhoun Arrested After Sentence Commutation and Linked to Multiple Portland Murders
Kristin Smith, 22, was reported missing in December 2022 and was found dead in Portland on February 19, 2023. The other victims were found over a two-week period, which made the investigation very urgent. Calhoun was previously sentenced to four years in prison for burglary in 2019, but his sentence was shortened in 2021 because he worked as a volunteer firefighter. In July 2023, after these murders, District Attorney Schmidt asked Governor Tina Kotek to cancel Calhoun’s shortened sentence, and Calhoun was arrested again after trying to escape by jumping into a river. According to The Oregonian/Oregon Live, Joanna Speaks died from a blow to the head, but the causes of death for the other victims have not been released yet. These tragic events have deeply affected the Portland community, and authorities are working hard to find all the connections between the cases and bring justice for the victims.
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