A woman in Oregon was enjoying a weekend afternoon with her two young children when something terrifying happened. A man named Judson Defir came into her home uninvited. He called up to her, and for maybe a split second she believed it was her husband who was outside. But she quickly learned that it wasn’t. When Defir appeared in her home, she barely had enough time to ensure her children’s safety before he began to attack her.
Thankfully, she was able to get away and keep her family safe while Defir left her home. But as police looked into what happened, they learned she may not have been the only one to experience an attack.
Police moved quickly.
Officers from the Portland Police Department responded to a report of an assault at a home about 11:30 a.m. on March 15, 2026, a news release announced. When they arrived, they learned that a man had entered the home and forced a woman inside into a bedroom before assaulting her. She was able to get away from him, and he fled the scene.
After canvassing the neighborhood, the man, identified as 43-year-old Defir, was found.
Police discovered that minutes before attacking the woman, Defir had reportedly entered a nearby church and “touched a woman inappropriately before fleeing,” the news release shared. Defir also is suspected of grabbing two additional women who were walking in the neighborhood.
“Our thoughts are with the women who experienced these frightening incidents,” Chief Bob Day expressed in the release. “We are grateful for their courage in coming forward.”
The mom was caught completely off guard by what happened.
In the probable cause affidavit filed on March 16, obtained by People, the woman “heard someone walk into the front door and heard footsteps coming up the stairs” while she was holding her 10-month-old baby. Her husband was outside doing yard work at the time, she told police.
The woman heard Defir call out “Honey, I’m here” and attempted to move her 3-year-old child “into a corner” as he approached her.
According to the affidavit, Defir grabbed the woman and pulled her into the guest bedroom while she was still holding her baby, People reported. He then forced her to lay face down on the bed, the baby still in her arms. She begged him to let her put the baby in another room, and he agreed.
She took that opportunity to barricade herself and her children in the room with a bookcase. That’s when she yelled out to her husband and neighbors for help and Defir left.
It was a terrifying and traumatic experience for the mom.
The mother was “sobbing uncontrollably” when police arrived at the home, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Law & Crime. She repeatedly claimed that Defir “tried to rape her,” police said. He allegedly “pressed down on her back and hips” in an attempt to sexually assault her while holding her baby.
The woman told police Defir had “messy hair, a messy beard, messed up teeth” and was wearing a black hoodie and dark pants. “She reported he smelled dirty, like unwashed body odor,” police noted in the affadavit.
When he was found by police, Defir was being followed by about 15 people who were pointing at him and shouting. After being taken into police custody, he allegedly told them he “smoked meth that morning and then went to church and had pancakes.” He then admitted that he went into the house and found the woman with her kids, Law & Crime reported.
“Defir said the woman screamed and that as he tried to get past the woman, she dropped one of the babies,” the affidavit read. “He said that he accidentally bumped into the woman and almost considered jumping from the second floor to get out of there.”
Defir is facing charges of first-degree attempted rape and first-degree kidnapping, as well as additional warrants. As the investigation continues, other charges may be added.
