CLACKAMAS, Ore. (KOIN) — After 7 months together, Jeff Hesterley had to say goodbye to his girlfriend, Leisa Holt, the woman he called the love of his life.
“She just meant too much to me,” Hesterley said. “It was her kindness that touched the world… melted my heart.”
Hesterley said he and Holt met while working at the Hilton in downtown Portland. They shared a bond over caring for their families: Hesterley looking after his parents, and Holt caring for her son, Kenneth Moore.
But on Friday, Vancouver SWAT officers found 60-year-old Holt dead inside her home.
Her 45-year-old son was taken into custody and charged with her murder.
Hesterley told KOIN 6 News Moore had been living with his mother since he was injured in a car crash 6 or 7 years ago.
“Leisa believed him to be almost crippled, and I took her at her word,” he said.
In the time he dated Holt, Hesterley said he never saw Moore. He said the 45-year-old would slip his mother notes under his door, asking for her to bring him things.
That’s why Hesterley said he was surprised to find the man out of his room and standing upright when he showed up for a visit at his girlfriend’s home on Friday.
“He just ran to me with his fist raised and told me to get out,” Hesterley said.
Officers who came to the home reportedly found cutting instruments and bleach next to Holt’s body. They said it appeared Moore was trying to conceal the crime.
To Hesterley’s dismay, Moore showed up to his first court appearance sitting in a wheelchair. He showed little emotion as a judge set his bail at $5 million.
“To see him sitting in a wheelchair just made me so mad,” he said.
Hesterley said he didn’t know of any problems between the mother and son before this. Now, he said, comes the difficult process of healing the loss of a great love.
“I’ve never had anything like that before,” he said. “It was loving and laughing every day… We laughed all the time. We had such a great time.”