Between February and May this year, the bodies of six women were found in roadsides and woods in a 100-mile area of the city, sparking fears of a serial killer in the area.

Jesse Calhoun, a former convict who is currently behind bars for a parole violation in connection to another case, was identified on Monday as a person of interest in the deaths of four of the women, according to law enforcement sources.

The four women are: Ashley Real, 22, Bridget Leann Ramsey Webster, 31, Charity Lynn Perry, 24, and Kristin Smith, 22.

Calhoun, 38, hasn’t been charged with a crime and officials haven’t shared any information about what led to the sudden development in the case.

A man who saw Calhoun being arrested told KGW that “There’s craziness in the world. You hope it doesn’t happen too often. It was pretty nuts to see it happen in my backyard”.

Calhoun was arrested on 6 June as he and his girlfriend were at a gas station in Milwaukie. The arrest didn’t occur without incident.

“I don’t know how he made it through the 10 officers but he made it through and across traffic and down to the river and hopped in,” the witness told KGW.

“I was like, ‘I wonder what this guy did,’” the witness added. “It seems whatever he did was really important — or required that much law enforcement, I should say.

“I don’t want to see him come out from bars ever again.”

In a video interview shared on YouTube, Krista Senor said Calhoun was linked to at least two of the four women found dead and that he had sex and sold fentanyl to other women during their relationship, according to Oregon Live.

Ms Sinor said Calhoun was connected to two of the victims, Ashley Real, 22, from Portland, and Bridget Leann Ramsey Webster, 31, from Milwaukie.

The other two victims are Charity Perry and Kristin Smith – police said on Monday 17 July that their deaths are connected and that a person of interest had been identified.

Ms Sinor said in the YouTube interview that Calhoun and Ms Real had been seeing each other on and off for about a year and that he would provide Ms Webster with drugs in exchange for sex, but Ms Sinor added that she didn’t know how Calhoun was linked to Ms Perry or Ms Smith.

When Ms Sinor was asked if Calhoun is a serial killer, Ms Sinor said “My first thought is that maybe a fentanyl overdose and he freaked out”.

“He’s a family guy. He seems like a family guy. He’s really close with his family and he would do anything for them and stuff but like my kids ... he loves my kids and my kids love him,” she added in the YouTube interview, according to KGW.

Calhoun was originally set to be released in 2022 but served a shortened version of his 2019 sentence. In July of 2021, he was granted a “conditional commutation” by the then-governor of Oregon, Kate Brown, due to his service as an inmate wildland firefighter the previous year.

Multnomah County senior deputy district attorney Todd Jackson asked Governor Tina Kotek last month to lift Calhoun’s commutation so he could serve out the rest of his sentence.

In a letter, obtained by The Associated Press, Mr Jackson wrote: “Since his release from custody pursuant to this commutation, Mr. Calhoun has been involved in criminal activity currently under investigation by Oregon law enforcement.”

He continued: “In light of this, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office and Multnomah County Department of Community Justice recommends Mr. Calhoun’s commutation be revoked.”

Calhoun was taken back to prison on 7 July and is currently in custody at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Oregon, on unrelated charges, according to state records.

Court records indicated Calhoun has been in trouble with authorities multiple times.

In 2019, Calhoun was sentenced to four years and two months in prison after being convicted of first-degree and second-degree burglary.

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office accused him of breaking into homes in the neighbourhoods of Troutdale, Fairview and Gresham. Investigators had linked him to a “handful” of other cases in Clackamas and Clark Counties as well.

During his arrest, authorities found modified firearms, more than 500 rounds of ammunition and six grams of methamphetamine in his vehicle.

After his arrest, residents of the neighbourhoods and surrounding areas reported a “significant” drop in property crimes and burglaries.

Initially, amid rumours of a possible serial killer, police in Portland denied the four women were connected to a group of six deaths that all appeared to be similar.

However, the Multnomah County District Attorney later contradicted this, announcing in a statement on Monday that police now had reason to believe four of the deaths were linked.

They did not specify how they were connected other than identifying one person of interest. Authorities said they were able to determine the link after talking with multiple people who were connected to some of the victims.

Police have not officially named a person of interest in the case or announced any charges but several news outlets, including the Associated Press, have identified him as Jesse Lee Calhoun.

Officials believe the person of interest has some link to the deaths of Kristin Smith, 22; Charity Lynn Perry, 24; Bridget Leann (Ramsay) Webster, 31; and Ashely Real, 22.

All four women were found dead within 100 miles of one another either near or on the sides of roads between February and May of this year.

Police have not been able to determine the manners or cause of deaths.

Between February and May this year, the bodies of six women were found in roadsides and woods in a 100-mile area of the city, sparking fears of a serial killer in the area.

Jesse Calhoun, a former convict who is currently behind bars for a parole violation in connection to another case, was identified on Monday as a person of interest in the deaths of four of the women, according to law enforcement sources.

The four women are: Ashley Real, 22, Bridget Leann Ramsey Webster, 31, Charity Lynn Perry, 24, and Kristin Smith, 22.

Calhoun, 38, hasn’t been charged with a crime and officials haven’t shared any information about what led to the sudden development in the case.

Monday’s statement from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office read: “Investigators and prosecutors from multiple law enforcement agencies have been working collaboratively on numerous death investigations in northwest Oregon, and they have determined that there are links between four cases: Kristin Smith, Charity Perry, Bridget Webster, and Ashley Real.

“No charges have been filed against anyone in connection with any of these four death investigations. Investigators have interviewed multiple people in connection with these cases and have identified at least one person of interest that is linked to all four of the decedents. Based on the available information to investigators, there is not believed to be any active danger to the community at this time.

“No additional information, including the nature of the information that links these four cases together is being released at this time, as these are ongoing death investigations. The cause and manner of death in each case remains undetermined by the Oregon state medical examiner.”

In early June, the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) had appealed for calm and denied online rumours that the deaths might be linked.

“PPB has no reason to believe these six cases are connected,” it said in a statement.

“We ask that our community be aware of the facts about these cases before sharing speculation. PPB is assuring our community that if we learn of an articulable danger, we will notify the public about it. PPB will continue to coordinate with other law enforcement agencies to ensure we are doing all we can to pursue justice for any and all crime victims.”

Two months after the discovery of Kristin Smith, police reported finding the body of JoAnna Speaks, a 32-year-old mother-of-two, near an abandoned barn in rural Clark County near Ridgefield, Washington, on 8 April, with investigators concluding she had suffered fatal blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

Then, on 24 April, the body of Charity Lynn Perry, 24, from Longview, Washington, was found near a culvert by the East Historic Columbia River Highway close to Ainsworth State Park in Multnomah County, as was that of another unidentified woman near Interstate 205 in the same county, whom a medical examiner said was between 25 and 40 years old and could possibly be Native American or Native Alaskan.

Later that week, Milwaukee woman Bridget Leann (Ramsey) Webster, 31, was found dead on Harmony Road near Mill Creek in northwest Polk County on 30 April.

Then, on 7 May, Clackamas County Sheriff’s deputies found the body of Ashley Real, 22, in a wooded area near Eagle Creek, about 23 miles southeast of Portland.

In all five cases, investigating officers declined to speculate about the possible cause of their deaths but said each was being treated as suspicious.

They now believe the cases of Smith, Perry, Webster and Real could be linked.

Sources previously told Oregon Live in June that at least three of the victims were known to frequent the same areas of downtown Portland in the months before their deaths, a clue to at least one direction the investigation could take.