PORTLAND, Ore. — Jesse Calhoun, the man charged with the murder of three women around the Portland metro area in the first half of 2023, made his first Multnomah County court appearance Thursday morning and entered a plea of not guilty. Calhoun did not speak during the brief arraignment; his attorney notified the court of the plea.
Calhoun, 39, was arrested in June 2023 on unrelated parole warrants and incarcerated at the Snake River Correctional Center in eastern Oregon. He was indicted for murder on May 17, just a few weeks before he was scheduled to be released. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Multnomah County jail listed Calhoun on its roster, indicating he had been transferred to Portland.
Calhoun was charged with three counts each of second-degree murder and second-degree abuse of a corpse in connection with the deaths of 24-year-old Charity Lynn Perry, 31-year-old Bridget Leanne Webster and 32-year-old Joanna Speaks. The bodies of the three women were found in wooded or secluded areas near Portland in April 2023.
Police and prosecutors still haven't said how they linked Calhoun to the string of crimes or how he knew the women. Two other women were also found dead under suspicious circumstance in the same time period: Kristin Smith and Ashley Real. Calhoun has not been charged with any crimes in connection with those two deaths.
Kristin Smith's mother, Melissa Smith, attended Thursday's arraignment and spoke after about how the families are responding to the new charges and unanswered questions.
"It's killing us families; this is a living nightmare to go through this," Smith said. "I support [the other families] and I am here for all of them through all of it, and they're there for me and Ashley's family as we keep fighting to get the truth and the answers we deserve."
The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said last summer that it had uncovered a person of interest in the deaths of Smith, Real, Webster and Perry. Media reports at the time identified the person as Calhoun, although officials never publicly confirmed the person of interest's identity.
After seeing Calhoun in person for the first time, Smith said the arraignment was a step in the right direction for the grieving families.
"It's hard to look him in the face, and there's a lot I would like to say, and one day when I get all my answers I will say — but for now, it's gut-wrenching," she said.