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Police have recovered the remains of six women in and around Portland since February, raising fears that a serial killer is prowling the region.
Police found the remains of Kristin Smith on February 19, Joanna Speaks on April 8, Bridget Webster on April 30, Charity Perry on April 24, Ashley Real on May 7, and a sixth, unknown woman on April 24.
All were discovered within 75 miles of the Pacific Northwest city. However, the Portland Police Department bounced back the idea that the cases may be related.
“While any premature death is a cause for concern and we will closely investigate deaths occurring in our jurisdiction in conjunction with the Multnomah County and Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Offices, PPB has no reason to believe that these six cases are related,” he said. police in a statement. .
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The remains of Kristin Smith, Joanna Speaks, Bridget Webster, Charity Perry, Ashley Real and a sixth, unidentified woman have all been discovered within 75 miles of Portland, Oregon, in the past five months. (Fox News Digital/Google Maps)
Perry’s disappearance and death prompted her mother to publicize her case and the others.
“I know she didn’t just get where she was found,” Diana Allen told Fox News Digital. “And the person or persons who put her there did their utmost to prevent her from being found.”
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Charity Perry was found on April 24 in a state park. She lived in Vancouver, Washington before her disappearance. (Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)
Perry was homeless and last lived in a tent in Vancouver, Washington, her mother said, about ten miles north of Portland. But her remains were discovered in a culvert in Ainsworth State Park – 35 miles to the east.
Kristin Smith, 22, went missing on December 22, 2022. Police found her remains on February 19 in the woods in the Pleasant Valley neighborhood. Her cause and manner of death have not yet been determined.
Ashley Real, 22, was last seen at a fast food restaurant in Portland on March 27. Police found her remains on May 7 in Eagle Creek, about 25 miles southeast of Portland. Authorities in Clackamas County, also involved in the investigation, are considering her death suspicious, but it has not been officially ruled a homicide, the Portland Police Department noted.
Kristin Smith, left, and Ashley Real were found dead in February and May, respectively. Portland police are investigating both cases, but say they have “no reason to believe” they are related. (Portland Police Station)
Multnomah County authorities declined to give Fox News Digital Monday the autopsy reports on both women, citing ongoing investigations. Toxicology reports for both victims were also pending.
The death of a third, unknown woman found in Portland is not being investigated as a homicide, police said.
“There is no indication that a crime was suspected by the (medical) counselor at the scene, or the officers who were present to help, and the PPB Homicide is not involved in the investigation,” the police said.
An artist sketch of an unidentified woman found near Interstate 205 and Southeast Flavel Street in Multnomah County on April 24. (Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)
They’re still trying to identify her. Police described her as “possibly Native American” or Native Alaskan with musical note tattoos on her chest and a seated Buddha on her right shoulder blade.
Joanna Speaks, 32, was found dead on April 8 in an abandoned barn in Ridgefield, Washington, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. That’s about 23 miles north of Portland.
Deputies in Clark County, Washington, say they are investigating Joanna Speaks’ death as a homicide after her remains were found in an abandoned barn in Ridgefield, Washington. (Clark County Sheriff’s Office)
“There is evidence that the body was moved to this location,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “This is being investigated as homicide and no further details about the body’s circumstances are being released at this time.”
The Clark County Medical Examination Bureau ruled Speaks’ cause and manner of death as homicide by blunt head and neck injuries.
A search of the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) database revealed that at least four other Jane Does were discovered in the region in 2022: a woman in Lowell, Oregon, in May; another in Salem, Oregon, in November; and two more women in Woodland, Washington, in March and April.
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Bridget Webster of Milwaukie, Oregon, was found dead in Polk County on April 30. Her age was not immediately available. (Polk County Sheriff’s Office)
One of them had been hit by a train. Two were found on the side of rural roads and the fourth was found floating in the Columbia River.
“In police parlance, it takes two to create a pattern,” said Joseph Giacalone, a former NYPD sergeant and cold-case investigator who now teaches at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “So look at this and see what might connect them.”
He said the investigation is in its early stages and police, who have access to more information than the public, will be able to determine the nature of the deaths.
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“You have at least six sets of human remains, and you just take it from there and shut down all the noise, so the internet and the bloggers and anyone who wants to make it more than it is,” he said.
Fox News’ Haley Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to michael.ruiz@fox.com and on Twitter: @mikerreports
