Detectives in Oregon are working the cases of six women who died under suspicious circumstances, stirring up speculation that a serial killer may be operating in the Pacific Northwest.
The worried conjecture prompted the Portland Police Bureau to issue a statement earlier this month. “These discussions have led to some anxiety and fear in our community, and we want to provide reassurance that the speculation is not supported by the facts available at this point,” the PPB said. “While any premature death is concerning, and we will diligently investigate deaths that happen in our jurisdiction in collaboration with the Multnomah County and Oregon State Medical Examiner’s offices, PPB has no reason to believe these 6 cases are connected.”
The statement said the PPB is working with other law enforcement agencies to search for any links among the cases.
Here are the six women who have been found dead in and around Portland since February.
Kristin Smith
The 22-year-old was reported missing by family members a few days before Christmas 2022. Family members told local media that calling her phone went straight to voicemail. They believe she was last seen at Mall 205 in Southeast Portland.
On Feb. 19, her remains were found in a wooded area off Southeast Deardorff Road and Southeast Flavel Street in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood of Portland. Her cause of death has not been publicly disclosed. Her mother, Melissa Smith, wrote on a GoFundMe page that she believes her daughter was killed. “She was murdered I’m sure of it,” she wrote, “but its not going to be easy to prove this.”
JoAnna Speaks
Law enforcement has released the most information about the death of 32-year-old JoAnna Speaks. The mother of three went missing in late March; on April 11, her body was found on an abandoned property on South Fifth Street in Ridgefield, Washington. Ridgefield is about 20 miles north of Portland.
The Clark County medical examiner’s office has ruled her death a homicide due to blunt force trauma. It appears she was killed elsewhere and dumped outside a barn on the property. Family members say Speaks was seeking help for substance use issues at the time of her death. They believe she lived primarily in the Gladstone and Milwaukie areas of Oregon.
“Thanks to the help of the community, we were able to bring to light that JoAnna is now 1 of 6 women found dead in the Portland Metro Area within a 4 month time frame— all of which died of suspicious causes not related to gun violence or overdose,” stepsister Ariel Hamby wrote on GoFundMe. “Our family’s heart continues to break with the loss of each woman— and though detectives have not been able to confirm a connection, we can’t help but wonder.”
Charity Perry
Two weeks after the discovery of Speaks, the body of Charity Perry, 24, was discovered in a culvert in Ainsworth State Park. Family members say she had recently begun showing signs of severe mental illness. Ainsworth State Park is 34 miles down Interstate 84 from Portland.
Perry’s mother, Diana Allen, told the Sun that her daughter was unhoused and often lost touch with loved ones. Allen said Perry was known to live in Vancouver, Washington; Portland; and Clackamas, Oregon.
“The hardest part is not having all the answers,” Allen told the Sun, adding that detectives told her Perry wasn’t shot or stabbed. “Her brother is having a hard time because his friends at school are asking him what happened and he doesn’t know what to tell them.”
Jane Doe
The body of an unknown Native American or Alaska Native woman was also discovered on April 24. The woman was dead in a tent in Lents, a Portland neighborhood, with no clear signs of foul play. She is believed to have been between 25 and 40 years old with “two large scars on her left lower leg and two tattoos: a black music note with the letter V on her left upper chest and the Buddha on her right upper back, on her shoulder blade,” according to the Multnomah County medical examiner’s office.
A sketch, left, shows a Jane Doe found dead in the Lents neighborhood of Portland, Ore. Bridget Webster, right, was found dead on Harmony and Mill Creek roads in Polk County, Ore.
Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office, Polk County Sheriff’s Office/HandoutsBridget Webster
On the afternoon of April 30, the 31-year-old was found dead on Harmony and Mill Creek roads in Polk County, Oregon. Although Bridget Webster’s body was found about 50 miles from Portland, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said she lived in Milwaukie, a town about 6 miles south of Portland. Her last known location was the Portland metro area, sheriff’s office investigators said. Her death has been classified as suspicious.
Ashley Real
Ashley Real, 22, was last seen buying fast food on the 12000 block of Southeast Division Street in Portland on March 27. On May 7, a man who was fishing in Eagle Creek stumbled upon her body in a “heavily wooded area,” the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said. Her death has also been classified as suspicious.