Fears of a serial killer targeting women under age 40 around Portland, Oregon, are rising after authorities recovered the remains of six female victims in just three months.

The bodies of Kristin Smith, Joanna Speaks, Bridget Webster, Charity Perry, Ashley Real, and a woman yet to be identified were discovered between February 19 and May 7 within the same 75-mile radius.

Many have speculated that the cases could be connected. For instance, Nancy Grace suggested on her podcast Crime Stories that the victims share several physical characteristics.

Yet the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) issued a statement on June 4 aiming to dispel growing rumors that the six deaths are connected.

Noting that PPB has “no reason to believe these 6 cases are connected,” the statement urged the public to “be aware of the facts about these cases before sharing speculation.”

PPB went on to explain that several of the women’s deaths had not been ruled homicides by the medical examiner.

Smith, 22, was found in February in a wooded area of the Pleasant Valley neighborhood after having been reported missing by her family in late December.

PPB explained that “the cause and manner of her death is so far undetermined.”

The death of Real, 22, has been ruled suspicious but not as a homicide. Her body was recovered in a wooded area south of Portland almost a week after she was reported missing.

Moreover, the woman who has not yet been identified by police was found dead inside a tent, but foul play is not suspected in this case.

While the details of the cases are not being disclosed due to the ongoing investigations being conducted by local law enforcement agencies, PPB insisted that “if we learn of an articulable danger, we will notify the public about it.”

The three remaining deaths were not touched on in the PPB statement.

Perry, 24, was found in a culvert at Ainsworth State Park, 35 miles away from where her mother, Diana Allen, said she was living in a tent, according to Fox 4 KDFW.

“I know that she didn’t get where she was found on her own,” Allen said, according to Fox 4. “And the person or persons that put her there tried very hard to keep her from being found.”

Webster’s body was found near Mill Creek in Polk Count. While her death was described as suspicious, no other information has been released by the authorities.

The death of Joanna Speaks, 32, was ruled a potential homicide by the authorities. Her body, found in an abandoned barn north of Portland, showed evidence of blunt head trauma and neck injuries.

“There are indications the body was moved to this location,” the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement, according to Fox 4.

Crimes involving female victims have seen an uptick in Dallas as well, which hosted a recent national conference downtown on the subject in late May.

Around that same time, a string of sexual assaults were reported to Dallas PD on the popular Katy Trail, as The Dallas Express reported.

Officers were allocated to the recreational spot as a preventative measure, despite the department facing a chronic staffing shortage, as covered by The Dallas Express.

Executive Assistant Chief David Pughes told reporters in 2020, “I think the ideal number [for Dallas PD] would be somewhere where we were at previously, 3,500, 3,600 officers,” according to NBC 5.

In January, Mike Mata, president of the Dallas Police Association, told reporters that Dallas PD was about 500 officers short of this, according to the Dallas Observer.

“There is a direct correlation between the number of officers you have and the ability to control violent crime,” Pughes added. “You can put together specific groups of people to go out and target these locations.”

The Metroplex Civic and Business Association recently found that crime is considerably lower in downtown Fort Worth compared to downtown Dallas. This includes both violent and property crimes, such as car theft. Downtown Fort Worth is patrolled by Fort Worth PD bike units and private uniformed security guards.