A man charged with killing five women in the Portland area in 2023 is now accused of killing a sixth victim, allegations that if proven would place Jesse Calhoun among the Pacific Northwest’s most prolific serial killers.
Multnomah County prosecutors revealed the explosive development Wednesday.
Officials identified the woman as Elizabeth “Libby” Gibson, 32, of Portland. Her body has not been found, said Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez, who called the case a “profound and horrific tragedy.” Authorities said Gibson’s name emerged early in the investigation into Calhoun.
Officials said they believe Gibson was killed Nov. 18, 2022. A friend reported her missing in March 2023, officials said. They declined to describe the circumstances of her disappearance or how they tied Calhoun to the case.
A grand jury returned a single-count indictment for first-degree manslaughter in Gibson’s death, Vasquez said.
“Behind every one of these counts is a young woman — someone’s daughter, someone’s sister, someone’s friend,” Vazquez said Wednesday. “The loss of life here is immense.”
Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Melissa Marrero read a statement from Gibson’s siblings, who remembered her as “kind, creative, and silly” and said her future was “tragically taken.”
Marrero said the families of the other victims “wanted us to pass on that they stand with Libby’s family, that they stand with the prosecution, and that they will continue to support each other as this case works its way through the system.”
Vazquez said that authorities do not have information on possible additional victims.
Gibson’s friends said she had fallen on hard times in recent years and experienced homelessness.
Lisa Shaw, who met Gibson when the two were in middle school in Molalla, said her friend possessed “this childlike wonder pretty much all of the time.” Shaw, who lives in Canby now, said she used to call her friend by the nickname, Libby Lou.
The two remained close until about 2020 “when things had started getting hard” in Gibson’s life, she said.
“It truly breaks my heart that this is how her life ended,” she wrote in a message to The Oregonian/OregonLive. She said her friend had a “beautiful light.”
Shaw said she recalled Gibson saying she was struggling “but wanted to get her life together” and “just didn’t know how.”
“I felt terrible for her, but I didn’t know how to help,” Shaw said.
Loren Diaz, of Molalla, said she and Gibson graduated from Molalla High School within years of each other. She said Gibson came from a big family and her siblings still live in Clackamas County.
Diaz said Gibson was an upbeat person and “really down to earth.”
“She loved her family,” she said. “She loved her nieces and nephews.”
Diaz said Gibson was living on the street and her family at one point had tried to intervene to help but she told them she wasn’t ready.
Calhoun, 41, is in the Multnomah County Detention Center and so far has been charged with second-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the deaths of five previously named victims: Ashley Real, 22; Charity Lynn Perry, 24; Bridget Webster, 31; JoAnna Speaks, 32; and Kristin Smith, 22.
Calhoun had long been linked to Real’s killing, but he was not charged with her death until earlier this year.
Calhoun’s record stretches back more than two decades and includes allegations of assault, harassment and kidnapping, among other crimes. In 2019, he was convicted of assaulting a public safety officer.
In 2023, investigators in Clackamas and Multnomah counties zeroed in on his potential role in the killing of women whose bodies turned up within 100 miles of each other in and around the Portland area.
Calhoun’s lawyers, Shelley Aschenbrenner and Cameron Taylor, declined to comment.
His trial date is set for 2027.
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