Deaths of 4 women in Oregon are linked, person of interest ID’d: DA

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The deaths of four women in Oregon that were previously said to have been unrelated have now been linked to a person of interest, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.

Working together, investigators from several local law enforcement agencies said they uncovered information that links Kristin Smith, Charity Lynn Perry, Bridget Webster and Ashley Real.

Through interviews, authorities said they discovered at least one person who connects the four women, however, no charges have been filed in the investigation.

Multiple sources at different agencies confirmed to Nexstar’s KOIN that the person of interest is Jesse Lee Calhoun, which was first reported by Willamette Week.

According to the Department of Corrections, in 2019 Calhoun was charged with three counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle, one count of assaulting a public safety officer and one count of first-degree burglary.

His original projected release date was in June 2022.

However, in 2021, then-governor Kate Brown signed a commutation order providing clemency to certain prisoners who met the criteria. Calhoun was one of those prisoners and was released on Jul 22, 2021.

“I am absolutely horrified for the victims, their families, and all those who have experienced these losses,” Brown said in a statement.

The information that links the four women is not being released, police said, and the causes and manner of death remain undetermined.

The first of the four women to be found, Smith, 22, was found on Feb. 19 in a wooded area in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood.

She had been reported missing a few months earlier on Dec. 22, 2022.

Perry, 24, was found on April 24 in a culvert near Ainsworth State Park, and according to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, she was last seen in downtown Portland in early March.

Just six days later, Webster, 31, was found on Harmony Road in northwest Polk County, the Sheriff’s Office said she was also known to frequent the downtown Portland area.

Real, 22, was the last to be found on May 7, in a wooded area near Eagle Creek in Clackamas County.

Authorities said she was last seen on Southeast Division Street on March 27.

A previous report by the Portland police said online rumors connecting the deaths of six women were “unfounded.”

This is a developing story.