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Online sleuths have speculated for months that the deaths of six young women in the Portland metro area were connected. Over the weekend, WW learned that law enforcement officials indeed suspect a single man in four of those killings.
On July 17, WW revealed that Jesse Lee Calhoun, 38, is suspected by law enforcement of being Oregon’s first serial killer in more than a decade. That alone would be unusual, but WW also learned that Calhoun had been released from prison 11 months early, thanks to a 2021 conditional commutation of his sentence by Gov. Kate Brown.
Much remains unclear, including whether the time shaved off Calhoun’s sentence factored into the killings. Bodies of young women were discovered in the metro area beginning 19 months after Calhoun left state prison.
Here is what we know of his history, and how it overlaps with the four women’s deaths:
JUNE 2004: Calhoun is first convicted of a felony, an assault in Baker County.
LATE 2018: Law enforcement in east Multnomah County begins to suspect Calhoun’s involvement in a series of car prowls and other property crimes. In a traffic stop, cops find him with meth, several guns, and more than 500 rounds of ammunition.
FEB. 13, 2019: A SWAT team executes a search warrant at Calhoun’s residence in Troutdale. During the search, Calhoun attacks and injures an officer and a police dog named Basco. He’s eventually subdued.
NOV. 18, 2019: Calhoun pleads guilty in four cases to burglary and car theft and is sentenced to 50 months in prison. (He had already served nine of those months in jail, and an additional 10 months were eventually knocked off his sentence due to good behavior.) The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office calls Calhoun a “prolific thief and career criminal.”
JUNE 23, 2021: Gov. Brown issues a “conditional commutation” for 41 inmates that helped fight the 2020 Labor Day megafires, including Calhoun. During the pandemic, Brown began a process of granting mass commutations—early release to prisoners who were well behaved, nearing the end of their sentences, and particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.
In Oregon, the governor has broad latitude to either release prisoners early—that’s called conditional commutation—or pardon them outright, which entails both releasing them and scrubbing their criminal records. Brown made wide use of the governor’s clemency powers—far more so than her predecessors.
This commutation knocks the last 11 months off Calhoun’s sentence.
JULY 22, 2021: Calhoun is released from custody. He returns to Multnomah County. His last address is listed as Portland in a traffic ticket.
JUNE 30, 2022: Calhoun would have been released on this date had the governor not commuted his sentence, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.
FEB. 19, 2023: The body of Kristin Smith is discovered in Southeast Portland. In the next three months, five more bodies of young women are discovered in the greater Portland metro area. They include Charity Perry, found April 24 at Ainsworth State Park in east Multnomah County; Bridget Webster, found April 30 in Polk County; and Ashley Real, found May 7 in Clackamas County.
JUNE 1, 2023: The Oregonian reports the discovery of the bodies of six young women.
JUNE 4: The Portland Police Bureau issues a statement in response to widespread speculation, saying, “PPB has no reason to believe these 6 cases are connected.” (It is unclear whether the Police Bureau was deliberately withholding information or new information has emerged since then.)
JUNE 6: Law enforcement arrests Calhoun after he tries to escape by plunging into the Willamette River at a park in Milwaukie. Officers subdue him and initially book him into jail in Clackamas County (where one of the six women’s bodies was found) on a parole violation. They transfer him shortly thereafter to Multnomah County.
That same day, The Oregonian reports that three of the victims “shared similar circumstances and had frequented the same places in the months before their deaths, according to a source close to the investigations.” The story does not say whether law enforcement has identified a suspect.
JULY 3: The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office requests that Gov. Tina Kotek revoke Calhoun’s commutation. She does.
JULY 6: Calhoun is transferred to Snake River Correctional Institution. (The lawyer who most recently represented Calhoun says he no longer does. It is unclear whether Calhoun now has an attorney.)
JULY 17, 9 AM: Gov. Kotek and the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office decline WW’s request for comment on Calhoun’s ties to multiple killings, citing the ongoing investigations.
JULY 17, 9:52 AM: The DA’s office issues a press release saying a “person of interest” has been linked to the deaths of four women, although the “cause and manner of death in each case remains undetermined by the Oregon State Medical Examiner.” The statement says the linked cases are the deaths of Kristin Smith, Charity Perry, Bridget Webster, and Ashley Real.
JULY 17, 10:07 AM: WW first identifies Calhoun as the suspected serial killer in a story published online.
Brown, who left office in January, reacts strongly to news of Calhoun’s arrest. “I’m absolutely horrified for the victims, their families, and all those who have experienced this loss,” she says in a statement to WW.
Lee Vankipuram contributed reporting to this story.