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OREGON CITY, Or. -- A 78-year-old Sandy man with a history of murder and sexual assault pled guilty in Clackamas County Circuit Court on Nov. 14 to sexually abusing a homeless woman he solicited in Portland.
Dennis Dean Kersting pled guilty to Sodomy in the First Degree and Sexual Penetration in the First Degree. Other charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Kersting will be sentenced on Feb. 10, 2026. As part of the agreement, Kersting will serve 116 months in prison without early release.
In July, Kersting met the then 41-year-old victim on Southeast 82nd Avenue in Portland and offered her pizza and a shower and drove the woman to his Sandy home. As the woman showered, Kersting hid her clothes and refused to return them.
Kersting then forced the woman to engage in sexual activity and sexually assaulted her. The woman escaped after Kersting allowed her to go outside to smoke a cigarette.
A 911 caller reported a naked woman running down the street. The woman knocked on neighbors’ doors seeking help. Kersting was taken into police custody a short time later after Sandy Police Officer Boyes observed Kersting driving away from his house. When Kersting was stopped, he was found armed with a knife that he had taken from the woman.
At the time of his arrest, Kersting was on probation for a 2022 conviction for Strangulation and Commercial Sexual Solicitation. Kersting offered a female co-worker money for sex and during their encounter he unexpectedly began strangling her. That woman also had to flee his home in order to save herself from his attack. Kersting also recently served time in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Kersting served 15 years in an Oregon prison for murdering a 19-year-old prostitute on Thanksgiving Day 1978. Kersting was working as a tow truck driver when he picked her up. He dumped her body near a North Portland railyard.
Deputy District Attorneys Rachel Erickson and Torrey McConnell prosecuted the case.
County Circuit Court case 25CR45528
