Inset: Judson Defir (KPTV/YouTube). The Oregon neighborhood where authorities say Judson C. Defir entered a home and attacked a mother who was inside with her two children, ages 3 and 10 months, while her husband worked outside in the yard (KGW/YouTube).
An Oregon man has been sentenced to prison after authorities said he walked into a Portland family’s home and attacked a mother as she held her 10-month-old baby, reportedly telling her, “honey, I’m here,” while her husband was outside doing yard work.
“This was absolutely a nightmare scenario by every account,” Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez said during Judson Defir’s sentencing last week, according to The Oregonian.
Defir, 43, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and entered no-contest pleas to kidnapping, attempted rape, attempted sexual abuse and public indecency stemming from the March incident. Police said he was smiling when he confronted the woman, who was playing with her 3-year-old daughter while holding her infant at their Portland home. A judge sentenced Defir to 22 years in prison.
“The male grabbed [the mother] while she was holding the baby and pulled her out of the room, across the hallway and into the guest bedroom,” an arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime said of Defir’s actions.
Inside the bedroom, the affidavit said, Defir forced the woman onto the bed by her hips, then “pressed down on her back and hips” as he attempted to sexually assault her. “[The mother] was face-down on the bed and held the baby in her arms. The pressure from the male was pressing on her back and causing her to press on the baby,” the document stated.
The woman, who lived in Portland’s South Tabor neighborhood, pleaded with Defir to let her put the baby in a crib so the child would not be hurt, according to the affidavit.
Defir paused the attack and allowed the mother to take the infant to a crib in another bedroom. Police said the woman then returned to a room with her 3-year-old daughter and used a bookshelf to barricade the door “in hopes of keeping the male out of the bedroom.”
“The male attempted to force his way into the room,” the affidavit recounted. “[The mother] walked onto the balcony and started yelling for help, alerting her husband.”
The woman told police that her husband was outside “doing yard work” while she was in an upstairs bedroom with her two children, holding the baby while playing with the 3-year-old. She heard Defir walk in through the front door and heard footsteps coming up the stairs, but thought it was her husband.
“She heard a male voice say, ‘Honey, I’m here,'” the affidavit said. “She realized it was not her husband’s voice and then saw an unknown male [Defir] at the threshold of the bedroom door.”
The mother told police that Defir had “messy hair, a messy beard, messed up teeth” and was wearing a black hoodie and dark-colored pants. “She reported he smelled dirty, like unwashed body odor,” according to the affidavit.
After alerting her husband to what was going on, police say he and multiple people from a nearby church ran over to help, but Defir had already fled the residence. Portland police were called and dispatched to the family’s home, where they found the mother “sobbing uncontrollably,” per the affidavit. She was yelling out repeatedly that Defir “tried to rape her,” according to cops.
Defir claimed he smoked methamphetamine before the attack. His defense lawyer said at his sentencing that the incident was a wake-up call for his drug use.
“This incident was horrifying and extremely sobering for him,” attorney Elizabeth Wolozin said. “Mr. Defir is extremely motivated to never touch methamphetamine again.”
Police said Defir attacked at least three other women before targeting the mother, including one in the nearby church and two strangers he passed by on the street.
“Responding officers determined that minutes before this attack [on the mother], the suspect entered a nearby church where he touched a woman inappropriately before fleeing,” a police press release said. “In addition to these two incidents, the male is suspected of grabbing two other women who were walking in the neighborhood.”
According to The Oregonian, Defir was arrested in 2024 for screaming at two girls at a park and lying naked in a driveway while intoxicated.
“I wish I could change the past, but I can’t,” Defir said at his sentencing. “I can only change the future and do better in the future. That’s all I can do.”
