Oregon man arraigned on fifth murder charge

An Oregon man accused of killing women and leaving their bodies across the Portland region pleaded not guilty through his attorney Wednesday to a fifth murder charge, as relatives of the victims watched from a Portland courtroom.

Jesse Calhoun, 41, was arraigned on a new second-degree murder charge in the death of Ashley Real, 22, whose body was found in May 2023 in a pond in Clackamas County southeast of Portland. Calhoun remained silent during the brief hearing. His defense attorney entered the plea on his behalf.

Calhoun now faces five counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Real, Kristin Smith, 22; Charity Perry, 24; Bridget Webster, 31; and Joanna Speaks, 32. He also faces four counts of abuse of a corpse. A trial date has not been set, and Calhoun remains in custody at the Multnomah County Detention Center. His defense attorneys declined to comment, CBS News reported.

The women’s bodies were discovered over multiple months in 2022 and 2023, raising public concern at the time that a serial killer might be targeting young women in the area. Real, Perry, Webster and Smith were found in northwestern Oregon, while Speaks was found near an abandoned barn in southwestern Washington. The bodies were found within roughly a 100-mile radius, including wooded areas and a culvert.

Prosecutors told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing that they intend to try Calhoun for all five killings in the same proceedings next year rather than holding separate trials, The Guardian reported, citing ABC4 News.

Real’s family has said she previously accused Calhoun of choking her. Her father, Jose Real, told the Associated Press last year that he called police in November 2022 after his daughter arrived at his Portland home crying, with marks on her throat. He said she told him Calhoun had choked her. Jose Real said he took her to a hospital and that an initial police report was taken, but the case was transferred to another jurisdiction, where it became difficult to reach those overseeing it.

After Wednesday’s arraignment, Real’s relatives described the pain of seeing Calhoun in court. Jose Real spoke through a Spanish interpreter, according to CBS affiliate KOIN.

“I never thought or imagined that my family would experience something like this,” he said. “I’m still really grateful with God because now there’s someone responsible. He’s named for what happened to my daughter.”

Masciell Real, Ashley Real’s sister, also spoke through tears.

“My sister isn’t here anymore and he’s allowed to be behind bars, maybe with still a life,” she said, according to KOIN. “But my sister doesn’t have a life anymore. And she was… her dignity was taken away from this.”

She also told NBC News that seeing Calhoun in custody brought some relief. “I think being in that courtroom today and being able to see him, and know that he is behind bars now, it takes the weight off my shoulders knowing that he isn’t around and free to cause any harm to any other women out there,” she said.

Relatives of other victims also attended the hearing. Melissa Smith, the mother of Kristin Smith, told NBC News, “We’ve all experienced the worst thing that could ever happen to you, and it’s incredibly hard to see one of the other families hurt the way we do.”

Diana Allen, Charity Perry’s mother, told KOIN it was the first time she had been in the same room as Calhoun.

“So the strong part is that I’m here for the other families, and that gets to release me from the emotional attachment,” Allen said. “The other side is, do you have any idea, as a parent, what it is not to fly across that room and show him what a woman can do?”

Calhoun was arrested in June 2023 on unrelated parole warrants. He was later indicted in 2024 and 2025 in the women’s deaths. The initial indictment came weeks before he was due to be released from state prison, where he had been returned to finish a four-year term for assaulting a police officer, trying to strangle a police dog, burglary and other charges.

He had been released in 2021, one year early, after helping fight wildfires in 2020 through a prison firefighting program. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek revoked the commutation in 2023 after police began investigating him in connection with the deaths.