An Oregon man already accused of killing five women has now been indicted in the murder of a sixth, potentially putting him among the country's most prolific alleged serial killers.

Jesse Calhoun, 41, of Portland, has been indicted for first-degree manslaughter in the November 2022 death of 32-year-old Elizabeth 'Libby' Gibson, prosecutors announced on Wednesday. 

He had already pleaded not guilty to five counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of five other women: Ashley Real, Charity Lynn Perry, Bridget Webster, JoAnna Speaks and Kristin Smith. 

'Behind every one of these counts is a young woman - someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s friend,' said Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez.

'The loss of life here is immense,' he added.

Investigators believe Gibson was killed on or around November 18, 2022, which would make her Calhoun's first alleged victim, according to the indictment. 

Her body has never been found. A friend reported her missing in March 2023, but officials have yet to reveal how they believe she died or what led investigators to connect Calhoun to her disappearance. 

Lisa Shaw, who had known Gibson since childhood, said she always possessed a 'childlike wonder' until around 2020, when 'things had started getting hard' in her life, according to OregonLive.

She recalled Gibson struggling to get her life back on track, but having a hard time figuring out how.

'I felt terrible for her, but I didn't know how to help,' Shaw told the outlet. 'It truly breaks my heart that this is how her life ended.'

Another friend, Loren Diaz, said Gibson eventually ended up living on the streets and experiencing homelessness, despite efforts by Diaz and her family to intervene. Gibson, she said, told them she wasn't ready. 

On Wednesday, a grand jury officially indicted Calhoun on first-degree manslaughter for allegedly 'unlawfully and recklessly' causing Gibson's death 'under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.' 

'Our family is grateful that a definitive step toward justice is finally being taken for our sister, Libby,' Gibson's siblings said in a statement, thanking law enforcement for their dedication.

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

Meanwhile, authorities said the investigation into Calhoun remains ongoing, with Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero warning: 'The scope of this investigation is 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 added. 

The explosive development comes years after a string of mysterious deaths sparked fears that an active serial killer was hunting women across the Pacific Northwest.

In May 2023, OregonLive first reported that five women under 40 had been found dead within 100 miles of one another across Oregon and Washington over a span of just three months, most in wooded or secluded areas.

That same year, investigators in Clackamas and Multnomah counties began probing Calhoun’s potential connection to the women’s deaths, setting off a sprawling investigation that has continued ever since. 

Smith, 22, was reported missing on December 22, 2022. Three months later, police discovered her remains in a wooded area of Portland's Pleasant Valley neighborhood, but have never disclosed her cause of death. 

'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,' her mother, Melissa Smith, told The Associated Press in June.

The body of 24-year-old Perry, of Longview, was discovered on April 24, 2023, in a culvert at the intersection of East Historic Columbia River Highway and Northeast Tumult Road, near Ainsworth State Park.

Her cause of death has never been disclosed, though the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said her death was considered 'suspicious.'

Her mother, Diana Allen, told OregonLive at the time that police believed Perry's body had been in the drain for up to two weeks before it was found. 

Perry, who had struggled with homelessness, was frequently seen near an area known as an open-air fentanyl market, according to OregonLive.

Just weeks before her remains were discovered, investigators told Allen that her daughter had been rushed to the hospital after overdosing on an unknown drug.

She was treated with Narcan and released, leaving the hospital on foot. Her whereabouts and what happened to her in the weeks before her death remain unclear.

Allen spent months dropping off clothes, food and other necessities at her daughter's tent, hoping to persuade her to seek treatment. Then one of Perry's friends told her that she had stopped returning.

'I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't find her during March and April,' she told OregonLive at the time. 

She said Perry suffered from schizophrenia and did not drive, making it unlikely she could have traveled alone to the remote culvert where her body was found. 

'She did not get where she was on her own. Somebody put her there,' Allen said. 'One hundred percent there is a murderer out there.' 

Speaks, 32, was found dead on April 8, 2023, inside an abandoned barn in Ridgefield, Washington, though authorities believe she died nearly three weeks earlier, on March 18. She was a mother-of-three.

The medical examiner who identified her remains determined that she died by blunt force head trauma and neck injuries, according to OregonLive.

Ariel Hamby, Speaks’ stepsister, recalled in a 2023 interview that Speaks had been staying in the Portland area and had no reason to make the trip across the river to Ridgefield.

‘She didn’t have any contacts out there, any business,’ she told OregonLive. ‘All the leads that we’ve gotten so far have been over there.’

The outlet also reported that she had struggled with addiction.

The 22-year-old's body was found on May 7, 2023, months after she was last seen leaving a fast-food restaurant in the 12000 block of Southeast Division Street in Portland, according to the outlet.

A man fishing at a nearby pond called 911 on May 7 after discovering human remains in the heavily wooded area. Authorities never disclosed her cause of death, though investigators deemed the circumstances 'suspicious.'

She was later linked to Calhoun by both her father, Jose Real, and Calhoun's ex-girlfriend, according to an indictment obtained by OregonLive. 

Jose previously recalled calling police in November 2022 after his daughter turned up at his home in tears, claiming Calhoun had choked her. She had marks around her throat, he said, and he rushed her to the hospital. 

He said a report was taken at the time, but the case was later handed over to another jurisdiction, making it increasingly difficult for him to reach those investigating it. 

'I never thought or imagined that my family would experience something like this,' Jose Real told the court in June, according to the AP. 'She had a heart of gold.'

Investigators found the remains of Webster, 31, of Milwaukie, on April 30, 2023, along Harmony Road near Mill Creek in northwest Polk County, where her death was deemed 'suspicious.' 

It is believed she died four days earlier, but authorities, as with several of the other women, have not disclosed her manner of death.

According to a source close to the investigation, police believed Speaks, Perry and Webster had all frequented the area where an open-air fentanyl market was known to operate. 

When the women’s bodies began to emerge, Calhoun was already locked up at Snake River Correctional Institution in Malheur County after pleading guilty to entirely separate charges. 

In 2019, after choking a police dog during an incident, Calhoun was sentenced on charges of burglary, assaulting a public safety officer and interfering with a law enforcement animal.

However, then-Oregon Governor Kate Brown commuted his four-year sentence in 2021 after Calhoun helped battle wildfires in 2020 through a prison firefighting program and maintained a record of good conduct behind bars. 

He was just weeks away from walking free when Governor Tina Kotek revoked his commutation, after a shocking indictment linked him to the deaths of the five women. 

The sparse two-page document shows that 16 witnesses, mostly police detectives, forensic investigators and Oregon medical examiner’s office staff, testified during three days of closed-door grand jury proceedings in May 2024. 

He was indicted shortly afterward in connection with the deaths of Perry, Webster and Speaks, as well as three counts of second-degree abuse of a corpse, with police alleging he had moved their bodies. He pleaded not guilty.

In August 2025, a Multnomah County grand jury added charges in connection with the death of Kristin Smith, to which Calhoun also pleaded not guilty.

Then, in May, prosecutors announced a fifth murder charge in the death of Ashley Real. This week, Calhoun was indicted on a manslaughter charge in connection with Gibson’s death.

'We will not stop,' District Attorney Vasquez said in Wednesday's press release.

'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,' he added. 'We remain committed to these families for as long as it takes.'

Calhoun’s lengthy criminal record stretches back more than two decades and is packed with allegations of assault, harassment and kidnapping, among other offenses. 

The sheriff’s office has branded him a 'prolific thief and career criminal,' with his criminal history dating back to the age of 18. 

Calhoun is due to appear in Multnomah Circuit Court on Monday, September 21, for his arraignment on the manslaughter charge.

The latest charges could further derail his trial, Marrero said, after a planned September 2027 jury trial was already canceled. 

Police are urging anyone with information about Gibson’s death or other cases that may be linked to Calhoun to come forward and email homicidetips@police.portlandoregon.gov.