Oregon man accused of killing five Portland-area women faces new charge in sixth death

An Oregon man accused of killing five women and dumping their bodies in the Portland-area has been indicted in the death of a sixth.

Jesse Lee Calhoun, 41, was indicted by a Multnomah County grand jury Wednesday on a charge of first-degree manslaughter in the death of Elizabeth ‘Libby’ Gibson, who died on or about November 18, 2022, prosecutors announced. Gibson was 32.

Gibson’s body has not been found, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.

“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,” District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said. “We remain committed to these families for as long as it takes.”

The DA’s office did not provide more details linking Calhoun to Gibson’s death and did not immediately return a request for comment. But in the same release, Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero called the scope of the investigation “enormous.”

“And to the extent that individuals have been willing to come forward in the past and provide information to us, no matter how small, that information has led us to where we are here today,” she said.

Jesse Calhoun has been charged in the deaths of six women.Jenny Kane / AP file

Calhoun was arrested in June 2023 on unrelated parole warrants before being indicted in four of the six deaths in 2024 and 2025. He has been charged with five counts of second-degree murder and four counts of abuse of a corpse. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

A court-appointed attorney for Calhoun, Cameron Taylor, did not immediately return a request for comment.

The bodies of the five other women, all in their twenties and thirties, were found in early 2023, sparking fears that a serial killer was on the loose in the city.

Calhoun was serving a four-year sentence for a 2019 conviction on charges including assaulting a police officer, attempting to strangle a police dog, and burglary. He was released about a year early, in 2021, after his sentence was commuted for helping fight Oregon wildfires in 2020 under a prison firefighting program.

Gov. Tina Kotek revoked his commutation in 2023 after authorities began investigating him in the deaths of the Portland-area women.

Gibson’s siblings, in a statement released through the district attorney’s office, said they were “grateful that a definitive step toward justice is finally being taken for our sister, Libby.”

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

They asked for “privacy as we process this heartbreaking development and continue to honor Libby’s memory.”

Calhoun is scheduled to be arraigned on the new indictment next week.

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