PORTLAND, Ore. A man accused of killing three women last year in the Portland, Oregon, area and dumping their bodies has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Jesse Lee Calhoun’s attorney entered pleas Thursday to three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of abuse of a corpse in the deaths of Charity Lynn Perry, 24; Bridget Leanne Webster, 31; and Joanna Speaks, 32, news outlets reported. He did not speak during the arraignment in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Perry and Webster were found in Oregon, while Speaks was found in an abandoned barn in southwestern Washington.
Their bodies were found over several months starting in February 2023 – in wooded areas, in a culvert and under a bridge – within a radius of approximately 100 miles, sparking concerns that a serial killer may have targeted women young people in the country. region. Speaks’ body was found in Southwest Washington in April 2023, but investigators said they believe she was killed in the Portland area.
Police and prosecutors have not said what evidence they have linking Calhoun to the deaths. The deaths of two other women during that time period are still being investigated, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said.
The families of the three women told reporters they struggled with addiction or mental health issues.
Calhoun, 39, was arrested in June 2023 on unrelated parole warrants and incarcerated at Snake River Correctional Center in eastern Oregon. He was indicted in May for the women’s deaths. The Multnomah County Jail listed Calhoun on its roster Wednesday, indicating he had been transferred to Portland.
The accusation came weeks before Calhoun was to be released from state prison, where he was returned last year to finish serving a four-year sentence for assaulting a police officer, trying to strangle a police dog, robbery and other charges.
He was initially released in 2021, a year early, because he was among a group of people in custody who helped fight devastating wildfires in 2020. Governor Tina Kotek revoked the commutationwhich was issued by his predecessor, Kate Brown, last year as police began investigating him over the deaths.
Even if Brown had not commuted Calhoun’s sentence, he would have been released before the deaths occurred.
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