Jeffrey Paul Cutlip, convicted of killing three Portland-area women, dies while serving life without parole

Death reported in custody

Jeffrey Paul Cutlip, a convicted killer tied to three Portland-area homicides spanning nearly two decades, has died while incarcerated. Cutlip was 76. Prison records and published case histories list his date of death as March 29, 2026.

Crimes spanning 1975 to 1993

Cutlip was convicted in Multnomah County for the murders of three women in cases that long remained unresolved before being consolidated through his later admissions and guilty pleas. Court accounts and sentencing summaries identify the victims as:

• Marlene Carlson, killed in 1975
• Julie Bennett, killed in 1993
• Candace Doll, killed in the period between those two cases

The killings were treated as cold cases for years, with investigators revisiting evidence as forensic methods advanced and as older case files were re-examined. Cutlip ultimately pleaded guilty in 2013.

2013 guilty plea and sentence

In 2013, Cutlip entered guilty pleas to two counts of murder and one count of aggravated murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The resolution closed a set of investigations that had stretched across multiple eras of Portland policing, from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s.

Cutlip’s convictions connected homicide investigations separated by years, different investigative teams, and evolving forensic standards.

Background and investigative context

Cutlip was also known under the name Jesse Andre D’Breeze in some criminal-justice records and reporting. The three cases attributed to him highlighted the challenges of solving stranger-on-stranger crimes with limited early physical evidence, as well as the role later confessions and plea negotiations can play in concluding long-running investigations.

What is known and what remains limited

Authorities have not released a detailed public accounting of the circumstances of Cutlip’s death beyond confirming he died while incarcerated. Likewise, while the guilty pleas established responsibility and secured a life-without-parole sentence, many investigative details—such as the complete evidentiary timeline and any additional leads assessed during the cold-case reviews—have remained only partially public.

Cutlip’s death ends the prison term imposed for three killings that left enduring impacts on victims’ families and on the region’s cold-case work across decades.