PORTLAND, Ore. A Multnomah County grand jury has indicted Jesse Lee Calhoun on a charge of first degree manslaughter in the 2022 death of Elizabeth “Libby” Gibson, prosecutors announced Sept. 16, 2026. Calhoun, 41, already faces five counts of second degree murder and four counts of second degree abuse of a corpse in the deaths of other women found in the Portland area and nearby parts of Oregon and Washington.

The new indictment alleges that Calhoun unlawfully and recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life caused Gibson’s death on or about Nov. 18, 2022. Gibson, 32, lived in Portland. Prosecutors say she was last seen in 2022 and was reported missing in March 2023.

District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said her body has not been found. If the alleged date is correct, prosecutors have described her death as the earliest among the cases now tied to Calhoun. Gibson’s siblings released a statement through the district attorney’s office. “Our family is grateful that a definitive step toward justice is finally being taken for our sister, Libby,” they said.

“Libby was kind, creative, and silly. She welcomed everyone with love and acceptance. Her future was tragically taken from her way too soon.” They asked for privacy.

Calhoun has not been convicted in any of the deaths. Media outlets have described him as a suspected or accused serial killer. That label is an investigative and journalistic characterization, not a legal finding. He remains presumed innocent.

Who Calhoun is and what he faces Calhoun is a convicted felon with a criminal record in Oregon dating to the early 2000s. Court reporting documents assault convictions in Baker County, including cases involving a former girlfriend in 2007 and 2008. In those cases he pleaded guilty to assault. Other charges, including strangulation and kidnapping allegations, were dismissed under plea agreements.

In 2019, a Multnomah County judge sentenced him to four years and two months after he pleaded guilty to burglary and unauthorized use of a vehicle. He also pleaded guilty that year to assaulting a public safety officer and interfering with a law enforcement animal after a 2019 arrest in which, according to a probable cause affidavit reported by The Oregonian, he squeezed a police dog’s throat and kicked an officer. Then Gov.

Kate Brown granted him a conditional commutation in June 2021 as part of a group of inmates who had worked on 2020 wildfire crews. He was released July 22, 2021, about a year earlier than his projected June 2022 release. Police arrested him June 6, 2023, on a parole violation after he fled into the Willamette River near a Milwaukie boat launch. Gov.

Tina Kotek later revoked the commutation at prosecutors’ request. He has remained in custody since and is held at the Multnomah County Detention Center. The other women named in charges Calhoun has been criminally charged in connection with six women’s deaths. Five of those cases are second degree murder charges.

The sixth, Gibson’s, is first degree manslaughter. Kristin Smith, 22, of Gresham, was reported missing Dec. 22, 2022. Prosecutors allege she was killed on or about Nov.

20, 2022. Her remains were found Feb. 19, 2023, in a wooded area of Southeast Portland’s Pleasant Valley neighborhood. Calhoun was indicted in her death in August 2025. Charity Lynn Perry, 24, of the Longview, Washington, area, was last known to frequent downtown Portland in early March 2023.

An indictment alleges she was killed March 8, 2023. Deputies found her body April 24, 2023, in a culvert near Ainsworth State Park in east Multnomah County. Joanna Speaks, 32, was found April 8, 2023, near an abandoned property in Ridgefield, Washington. Investigators said they believed she had been killed in Portland and that her body was later moved.

Public reporting has said she died of blunt force trauma to the head. An indictment has alleged a mid March 2023 date of death. Bridget Leanne Webster, 31, of Milwaukie, was found April 30, 2023, on Harmony Road near Mill Creek in Polk County, well outside Portland. An indictment has alleged she was killed April 26, 2023.

Ashley Real, 22, of Portland, disappeared March 27, 2023, after last being seen leaving a restaurant on Southeast Division Street. A man fishing found her remains May 7, 2023, in a pond off Southeast Judd Road near Eagle Creek in Clackamas County. She was identified later that month. Prosecutors allege Calhoun killed her on or about March 27, 2023.

He was indicted in her death in May 2026. In November 2022, months before she disappeared, Real’s father told The Oregonian that she reported to Portland police that Calhoun had assaulted her, tried to strangle her, and taken her phone. He said she arrived at his home crying and that the family took her to a hospital. Reporting said Portland police took an initial domestic violence and strangulation report and referred it because the alleged assault occurred outside city jurisdiction.

Prosecutors have not publicly detailed what role that report played in the later murder charge. Calhoun was first indicted in May 2024 in the deaths of Perry, Webster, and Speaks. The Smith charge followed in August 2025. The Real charge followed in May 2026.

He has pleaded not guilty to the five second degree murder counts and the four abuse of a corpse counts. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the Gibson indictment Sept. 21, 2026, at 1:30 p.m. Why investigators linked the cases In the winter and spring of 2023, several women were found dead in secluded, wooded, or rural locations across the Portland metro region, from Multnomah and Clackamas counties to Polk County and Clark County, Washington. Some remains appeared to have been moved after death.

The clustering of discoveries led to public speculation that the cases might be connected. In June 2023, the Portland Police Bureau said it had no reason to believe six then discussed cases were linked. On July 17, 2023, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said investigators from multiple agencies had determined links among the deaths of Smith, Perry, Webster, and Real, and Calhoun was identified as a person of interest. Joanna Speaks was later included in the charged cases.

Another woman’s death discussed in early coverage was later determined not to be a homicide connected to the group. Prosecutors have disclosed little about specific forensic evidence. Vasquez has said ethical rules limit what he can say and has described the investigation as massive. Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero said information from people who came forward, no matter how small, helped bring the cases to this point.

Publicly confirmed points include the geographic pattern of dumped remains, the compressed time period of the alleged deaths, the later charging decisions after a multi agency review, and Real’s earlier police report naming Calhoun. What prosecutors say happens next “We will not stop. We will do everything in our power to hold him accountable and see that justice is done for each and every one of these victims,” Vasquez said. “We remain committed to these families for as long as it takes.”

He has also said prosecutors want the murder cases tried together. A trial had been discussed for 2027. Officials have said the new charge may affect that schedule. An indictment is an accusation, not a conviction.

Calhoun is presumed innocent unless a jury finds otherwise. Anyone with information about Gibson or the other cases has been asked to contact Portland police homicide investigators.