An accused serial killer in Oregon was arraigned on Wednesday for the murder of a fifth woman, as prosecutors announced plans to consolidate all five cases into a single trial next year.
Court proceedings
Jesse Calhoun, 41, appeared in a Portland courtroom where his lawyer entered a not guilty plea to the second-degree murder of Ashley Real, a 22-year-old woman who had previously alleged that Calhoun choked her. Calhoun did not speak during the brief hearing.
Real's body was discovered in a pond in Clackamas County in May 2023, within a 100-mile radius of where the other four victims were found. The other victims are Kristin Smith, 22; Charity Perry, 24; Bridget Webster, 31; and Joanna Speaks, 32. Speaks was found in an abandoned barn in southwestern Washington, while the others were located in Oregon.
Prosecution strategy
Following the arraignment, prosecutors told reporters that they intend to try Calhoun for all five murders in a single proceeding next year, rather than conducting separate trials. Calhoun, who was until recently only considered a person of interest in Real's death, now faces five counts of second-degree murder and four counts of abuse of a corpse.
Family reactions
Members of Real's family attended the hearing and spoke to reporters afterward. Masciell Real, the victim's sister, said, "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."
Her father, Jose Real, told the Associated Press last year that he had called police in November 2022 after his daughter showed up crying at his Portland home and said Calhoun had choked her. He noted she had marks on her throat and that he took her to a hospital.
Melissa Smith, the mother of Kristin Smith, was also present at Wednesday's hearing. She said, "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."
Background
Calhoun was arrested in June 2023 on unrelated parole warrants and indicted in May 2024 in the deaths of three of the women. He was charged in August last year with the murder of Smith, two and a half years after her remains were found. At the time, Calhoun was nearing the end of a four-year prison sentence for assaulting a police officer, attempting to strangle a police dog, burglary, and other charges. He was released in 2021, a year early, because he had helped fight wildfires in 2020 under a prison firefighting program. Oregon's Democratic Governor Tina Kotek revoked that commutation in 2023 when police began investigating him over the deaths.
