The “Portland 5” Murders: Could There Be More Victims? | Forensic Files

It is not often you hear about a modern-day serial killer case because between DNA and digital forensics, it is
so much harder to get away with a string of homicides and not get caught. But officials say a man in Oregon did just
that, leading to one of the most complicated investigations they have ever been a part of. And it is nowhere
near over. The victims are known as the Portland 5 after a fifth indictment was just recently announced. But the reality
is that number has the potential to grow as the open investigation continues to unfold. This is something that we are
quite literally watching happen in real time. So let me tell you what you need to know through the eyes of the victim's
families. I'm Brianna Whitney and this is Crime Junkie in the headlines about the alleged serial killer Jesse Lee
Calhoun. Let me take you back to just before Christmas 2022. What should have been a
time of holiday joy and celebration for the Smith family was abruptly cut short.
It was Melissa Smith's worst nightmare. Her 22-year-old daughter Kristen had seemingly just vanished. And by that
point, it had been weeks since they gotten a hold of her. And as they inched closer and closer to Christmas, they
knew something was wrong. So on December 22nd, they finally reported her missing
to Gresham police in Oregon. That's just east of Portland. And there was an important detail Kristine's mom shared
when she made the report. Kristen had been in an abusive relationship in the past, so they worried maybe that had
something to do with her absence. Maybe she was missing but alive, just being prevented from contacting them. And
police were helping, too. They were putting out press releases and flyers about her disappearance. They kept her
name and the case in the spotlight. But the real boots on the ground searching was done by Melissa herself, who
dedicated the next couple months to searching for her daughter. She went total boots on the ground detective
style. literally made the calls herself, researched anything and everything she could and organized ground searches. But
no matter where she turned or who she turned to, there just seemed to be no answers at all until February 19th,
2023. That's when Melissa got a call from police, but it wasn't from Gresham PD. It was Portland PD on the other end
because they had found her daughter's remains in the woods of a South Portland neighborhood. Kristen's mom had no idea
how she'd ended up where she did, and police had little info at that point to share. They knew enough to tell her it
was a homicide investigation, but they had no leads on who killed her. What Kristen's mom was completely unprepared
for, while she was grieving, no less, was what happened next. April 24th, just 2 months after Kristen's body was found,
the remains of 24year-old Charity Perry were found in a culvert near Ainssworth State Park. that was about 30 mi east of
where Kristen's body was discovered. Now, it was highly possible these two cases were completely unrelated, but it
was emotionally triggering for Kristen's family. They still had no answers on what actually happened or how Kristen
died. And these victims were similar in ages, so it was easy to think maybe they
were connected. Except officials shut that down. As far as they were concerned, these were two separate cases
and they had two separate investigations. Then just one week later, the unraveling of discoveries
began that could not be described as coincidental, at least not the Kristen Smith's family. April 30th, another
woman's body is found about 70 mi southwest of Portland. She was 31-year-old Bridget Webster. And then
one week after that, on May 7th, 22-year-old Ashley Rial was found by a fisherman at a pond south of Portland.
So, you had four women in their 20s and 30s found in the course of just over two
months. That's enough to warrant some serious concern in and of itself. But there's something I haven't told you yet
that was adding to the mystery and fear. Another investigation into the death of
32-year-old Joanna Speaks had been unfolding at the exact same time in Ridgefield, Washington, which was the
southernmost part of the state and not far from Portland. And though none of the women seemingly had known
connections to one another, by early June 2023, there was so much speculation, so much fear in the
community that police were prompted to make a pretty definitive statement. These deaths were not connected. The
Portland Police Bureau told Fox 12 Oregon they had no reason to believe these cases were related. In fact, they
said they were in contact with the other agencies, but said they were not participating in those investigations. I
don't know if that made people feel better or worse, but these families wanted answers. So, just like Kristen
Smith's family had taken to social media and public advocacy, the families of Charity Perry, Ashley Realel, Bridget
Webster, and Joanna Speaks were trying to put any pieces together for themselves. And Joanna's sister Ariel
Hamby actually did uncover some connections. She and her friend recognized Bridget Webster from a local
gas station. And as she dug in more, she learned that Joanna and Bridget had actually gone to grade school together
and had recently reconnected. That didn't feel coincidental, but it didn't explain who or how or why they were
killed. Then just weeks later, officials completely changed their tune on the entire investigation and finally a major
crack in the case. In July 2023, a bunch of law enforcement agencies came together and put out a new
press release. The headline alone had two major bombshells in it. It read, "Information links four victims in
ongoing death investigations. Person of interest identified." Talk about whiplash. The police had literally just
said a few weeks ago they were not connected. So, what changed? And officials didn't really say. They just
wrote in their press release they had been doing interviews in all of these cases and that led to a person of
interest linked to four victims, but they didn't say how. And before I get to the person of interest, something else
stuck out to all of the families here. Investigators were not linking Joanna Speaks' homicide in Washington. Her
killer still had not been identified, but it seemed that detectives kind of ruled her out as being part of this. So
that means police had some sort of evidence or link that pointed to the same person being involved in the deaths
of Kristen Smith, Charity Perry, Bridget Webster, and Ashley Rial. And while in the official press release, they didn't
come out and say who it was, it took news stations in Portland approximately 0 minutes to contact their sources and
immediately get a name. Jesse Lee Calhoun. Jesse Lee Calhoun was not really a known entity for those
involved, and the investigators were putting out very little info at all. I mean, no mention of what evidence led to
Calhoun, no mention of the cause of deaths of the four women, no mention of really any details. And it wasn't just
the public who wasn't getting info. The victim's families weren't either. Charity Perry's mom told the Associated
Press that she was in the dark about a lot, just trying to trust the police were doing their jobs. And Kristen
Smith's mom told Katu she was in shock just hoping they got the right person. Well, they might not have known who
Calhoun was, but he was no stranger to police. In fact, his rap sheet in Oregon is extensive. It dates back all the way
to 2003 with felony after felony. Stolen cars, burglaries, and multiple violent assaults. So, let's call this what it
is. This is a documented dangerous guy. So, that's going to make what I'm about to tell you even more infuriating.
According to court records and media reports, in 2019, Jesse Calhoun was arrested after he tried to choke a K-9
police officer and then assaulted a human officer who were there to serve an arrest warrant for him. Now, he ended up
being convicted in that case for a slew of charges, including the assaults. And his sentence was 50 months. So, for
those of you like me, bad at quick math, just over four years. And his release date was set for June 30th, 2022.
except that's not when he was released. I know it's hard to remember anything else that happened in 2020 because of
the pandemic. But you might remember or at least have heard about these horrific
wildfires in Oregon that happened that year, too. They were the worst in state history. So to help fight those, some
inmates were put on the firefighting crews. Calhoun was one of them. And then came a pretty wild media announcement in
2021. Governor Kate Brown was commuting the sentences of 41 inmates for helping with those fires, which knocked about a
year off all of their sentences. You guessed it, Calhoun was one of them. Now, I don't know how fighting fires was
enough to look at Calhoun and say, "This person deserves to be out early when he
has a history of super violent offenses, but that's what happened." So, he was released July 22nd, 2021, which was a
year before he should have been. And to absolutely no one's surprise, Cahoun was
arrested yet again in June of 2023 for parole violation. According to media reports, they reported he actually
jumped into the Wamit River to try and escape. That of course did not work out well for him. So once he was back in
custody, the governor's office received a request to revoke his commutation. Thank God. And that's when he was named
an official person of interest in the deaths of the four women. It is pretty perplexing in the worst way how that all
unfolded. Kristen Smith's mom was publicly very upset and rightfully so. In a Fox News article, she said she had
a lot of questions and concerns about the governor's decision to let Calhoun out early and basically called for
police to take things much more seriously when it comes to missing person's cases. What Chris's mom said
about being taken seriously only seemed to raise more concern when someone else came forward with pretty shocking info.
The public was about to learn the first major clue in the case, but not from any
law enforcement officer or any detective, but from victim Ashley Rial's father. Not long after Calhoun was named a
person of interest, Joseé Rial, Ashley's dad, revealed something to the Associated Press. Remember, Ashley's
remains had been found by a fisherman in May 2023? Well, when Jesse Calhoun was named a person of interest, Jose Riel
was beside himself. He absolutely knew that name. He told the AP that he actually called police in November 2022
after his daughter Ashley came to his house crying and said she had been choked by Jesse Calhoun. And Jose could
actually see the marks on her throat. So, he took her to the hospital and they filed a police report. He said Portland
police wanted Ashley's help in actually finding Calhoun, but she told him she was scared to do that. The case ended up
being transferred to the Molten Noma County Sheriff's Office, and Jose said that's when everything went radio
silent. Jose told the AP he never heard back from the sheriff's office at all, even though he and his wife kept calling
over and over again. 6 months later, his daughter was found dead. It was incredibly haunting for the Real family.
I mean, they tried. Ashley tried before her death and it didn't work. So, the public now knew there was at least some
kind of previous connection and contact with Ashley Rial and Jesse Calhoun, but there were still a lot of questions
about the other victims. And that's when an unexpected person shares a whole lot
more. While the victim's families were talking to local and national media about the case that summer, someone with
a lot of info went on a Portland YouTuber's channel. That someone was Jesse Calhoun's girlfriend who was with
him at the time of his arrest. The arrest where he tried to jump in the river and escape. Her name was Christa
Hines Siner. She went on Ray's channel and talked for more than an hour about everything she allegedly saw and knew.
So, we knew from Ashley's dad that Calhoun had reportedly choked her. But Christa said Ashley Realal and Jesse
Calhoun had actually been in an on andoff again sexual relationship for about a year from December 2021 to 2022.
So that means that would have ended 1 month after the choking incident and just a couple months before police
believed she was killed. But it wasn't just Ashley that Christrista knew something about. Remember I said police
haven't revealed any evidence at all in this case so far? Well, it seems if Chris's account of things is correct,
there may be some digital evidence that exists. Christa claimed she had seen an explicit video of a woman on Jesse
Calhoun's phone. Now, at the time when she saw it, she had no clue who this person was, but she said once she
actually saw the victim's pictures on the news, she realized it was Bridget Webster in that video. She was the one
found nearly 70 m away from Portland. But she had no idea how Calhoun was connected to Kristen Smith or Charity
Perry. We still don't know this three years later and police have not confirmed any of Christ's claims. This
all kind of felt like a hurry up and wait situation to the families because they knew Calhoun was in custody, but
this whole time he still wasn't being charged and they weren't being given much info as to what was actually
happening behind the scenes. So things just went quiet for a while until November 2023. Remember how detectives
had excluded Joanna Speaks' case from the rest? She was the one found dead in Washington. Well, in November,
authorities publicly announced her case was being transferred to Portland because they believe she was actually
killed in Portland before her remains were taken and left by that abandoned barn in Washington. Now, that is all
officials said. There were no arrests yet, but Joanna's family told local media outlets they felt sure her case
was connected to the others. I mean, how could it not be? And then, just as fast
as that update felt like something was brewing, the investigation went dark and silent again. The back and forth was
impossible to process for these families. I mean, you get your hopes up, then nothing. Get your hopes up again.
Nope, nothing more. Holidays came and went again with five families grieving loss and having no closure. If
detectives were so sure that Jesse Calhoun was a person of interest, why was it taking so long to file any
charges? Like, was it or was it not him who killed them? That's what the families wanted to know. And then
finally, months later, in May of 2024, the major announcement they had been waiting for, an indictment. Jesse
Calhoun was indicted by a grand jury and charged with multiple counts of secondderee murder and abuse of a
corpse, but not for five victims, only for three. These charges were for the deaths of Charity Perry, Bridget
Webster, and the Washington case, Joanna Speaks. What happened to Kristen Smith and Ashley Rial? I mean, here you had
Kristen's mom, Melissa, who had been fighting since day one for her daughter, the first in the string of deaths that
police had publicly said were connected, and she wasn't included in this. I mean,
devastating is really the only word that comes to mind. Kristen's mom didn't let
that stop her, though, from supporting the other families. She actually went to Calhoun's arraignment in 2024. She stood
by the other mothers and told local media after the hearing that it was a living nightmare having to go through
all of this, but that it was super important for her to support the other families just as they had been there for
her and Ashley's family to keep fighting for their truth and justice. Talk about
strength. My god. And eventually that did pay off. More than a year later, August 2025, another indictment for
Calhoun. This time for the murder of Kristen Smith. another seconddegree murder charge and abuse of a corpse. You
can imagine the absolute relief and combo of emotions from Melissa Smith after so many years of fighting. She got
up to the podium at the press conference with her other daughter, Haley, and they
tried to put things into perspective for people. It had been 898 days since she found out her daughter
was dead. Almost 1,000 days with no answers. Absolutely unfathomable. But questions swirled. How were there still
no charges for Ashley Rial's death? I mean, at least publicly, there seemed to be the most information about how she
was connected to Calhoun in a literal documented assault case involving him from just months before she died. So,
what were investigators missing? That kind of seemed to be and continues to be a really frustrating aspect of this
case. You've got five victims, multiple indictments, a slew of some of the most serious charges, and yet no word from
detectives on evidence whatsoever. Why is that not publicly being said or available to see? I don't know. It could
be that they just don't know the extent of how many victims could be out there and they don't want to compromise the
chance of finding more. But also, how would people know what to come forward with on potential tips if they don't
even know how Calhoun was connected to these deaths in the first place? So, here we are in 2026 and finally the day
the Real family had been waiting for happened. Just recently in May of this year, officials held yet another press
conference indicted in Calhoun for Ashley Rial's murder. Her mom, dad, and sister got up to the podium and gave
such emotional and tearful accounts of finally getting to this day. They were honestly thinking this may never happen
based on the way that things were going. They said they never lost faith, but 3 years was a damn long time to wait for
their answers. Ashley's sister said the hardest part for her was watching her parents bury their own child, then
having to watch the new stories about the Portland 5, knowing Ashley was not part of that indictment until now. These
families are exceptionally resilient and not afraid. They have supported each other through thick and thin of this
case. And I want to actually play you guys a clip from Charity Perry's mom at one of the indictment press conferences
because well, you'll hear why. This is directed to one person and one person only. Jesse Calhoun.
>> You are not the smartest person in the room. You think that you are. And maybe
the day of your crime you were, but you're no longer in your room. You're in my room. And I know a lot of smart
people. And there is no way you will keep going and not be caught. It doesn't matter if it's two days, two
weeks, two months, two centuries. The world will find you. You could hear a pin drop in the room
when she said that. Now, I know what you're probably thinking. Are there more victims? You bet detectives were asked
that at the last press conference. They would not confirm if there are or aren't
more victims. But they did vow to leave no stone unturned. For the families involved in this though, they fear there
could be more. And there's something I haven't told you guys yet. I specifically left this out until you
knew everything else in this case. The Portland 5 were actually the Portland 6. Remember,
all these girls remains were found between February and May of 2023. And at the very end of May that year, the
Multma County Medical Examiner's Office put out a release basically making a plea to the public for help. It turns
out that on April 24th, so right in the same time frame as the Calhoun case was unfolding, another woman was found dead
near Interstate 205 in the Lent neighborhood of Portland. In a press release, authorities said they believed
she was either Native American or Native Alaska between the ages of 25 and 40 and
she was only 51. Now, I say her height because there's a pretty unique detail about several of the alleged Calhoun
victims. They are very small or petite. According to official press releases about both Kristen Smith and Ashley
Rial, Kristen was only 5'2 and 100 lb and Ashley was only 411 and 85 lb. But the sixth victim, no one knew who she
was. In fact, she is still unidentified to this day. I find myself saying the same thing I did earlier. It's very
possible this case is unrelated to the others, especially now that detectives have some sort of evidence connecting
the five other women, but nothing has been ruled out. Whether she's a victim of Calhoun or not, my hope is this
episode also helps with the possibility of identifying her. Authorities say she has two large scars on her lower left
leg and two tattoos. A black music note with a letter V on her upper chest and the Buddha on her upper back and
shoulder blade. She was wearing a long sleeve green shirt, a black and white jacket, blue jeans, and black and white
Adidas cleats. For now, the families of the Portland 5 are prepared for a long legal journey ahead. They all mentioned
it at these indictment press conferences. Joanna's sister told me as someone who loves true crime, she
honestly feels like she's just been living a true crime podcast. All of these parents and siblings of the
Portland 5 are now sadly a part of a family that they never wanted to be. Parents of murdered children at the
alleged hands of a serial killer, but their gratitude for each other as they tackle this together is unwavering.
Detectives are aiming for a joint trial with all of the victims in 2027, but that could get pushed back into 2028
with the recent indictment. If you have any information on any possible additional victims of Jesse Lee Calhoun,
please contact the Molten Noma County Sheriff's Office. You can also email us tips to tips@auudioche.com.
If you have any details that could help identify that sixth young woman, please contact the Multma County Medical
Examiner's Office. Crime junkies, we will keep you up to date on the investigation and trial of Jesse Lee
Calhoun. So, make sure to subscribe and hit the bell icon for additional updates
on this and other cases our team covers.

Between late 2022 and 2023, five women disappeared across the Portland, Oregon area. Months later, their remains were discovered in separate locations across Multnomah County, Clackamas County, and nearby communities. Now, prosecutors allege the deaths are connected to one man: Jesse Lee Calhoun. But with the investigation still unfolding, authorities believe there could be more victims, and many questions remain unanswered.

As Crime Junkie explores the headlines, breaking news reporter Briana Whitney examines the timeline of the alleged “Portland 5” murders through the voices of the victims’ families, court records, and public investigative updates.

You’ll hear about the disappearances of Kristin Smith, Charity Perry, Bridget Webster, Ashley Real, and Joanna Speaks, how investigators gradually connected multiple homicide investigations across Oregon and Washington, the criminal history of Jesse Lee Calhoun and the events leading to his arrest, why several victims’ families say they spent years fighting for answers, the series of grand jury indictments filed between 2024 and 2026, and why investigators believe this case may still be growing.

This investigation also explores the challenges of investigating multiple homicide cases across different jurisdictions, questions surrounding parole decisions and early release, the emotional impact on the families searching for justice, the unidentified woman whose case investigators continue to examine, and what comes next as prosecutors prepare for trial.

Authorities have also asked for the public’s help identifying an additional unidentified woman whose remains were discovered in Portland, Oregon, in April 2023. If you have any information on any possible additional victims of Jesse Lee Calhoun, please contact the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. You can also email us tips to tips@audiochuck.com.

Jesse Lee Calhoun has been indicted in multiple homicide cases. The criminal proceedings are ongoing, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court. -------- Are you apart of Ashley's Summer Watch Challenge? Text "BREAKING NEWS" to 317-733-7485 to stamp your bingo card. Not apart of Ashley's challenge and want to join? Text "WATCH IT" to 317-733-7485 to join!

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Brief Summary

The episode covers the investigation of alleged serial killer Jesse Lee Calhoun and the families of the Portland 5 victims seeking justice.

Key points

The Portland 5 Investigation. A man in Oregon is linked to multiple homicides, leading to a complex investigation.
Kristen Smith's Disappearance. Melissa Smith reports her daughter missing just before Christmas 2022, fearing the worst.
Major Breakthrough in the Case. Authorities link four victims in ongoing death investigations, raising new questions.
Emotional Indictment Announcement. Families express relief and frustration as Jesse Calhoun is indicted for multiple murders.
The Portland 6 Revelation. The investigation reveals a sixth victim, deepening the mystery surrounding the case.
Unidentified Sixth Victim. A sixth victim remains unidentified, raising questions about her connection to the other cases.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is something that we are quite literally watching happen in real time.

Introduction to the ongoing investigation

0:31WatchJul 29, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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