Lara changed his plea in January and was sentenced to life in prison.ĭeschutes County District Attorney John Hummel told NewsChannel 21 that his office is still investigating whether anyone else was involved in the events after Sawyer was killed.Ĭurrently, Lara has begun serving his life sentence at Snake River Correctional Facility in Ontario.ĭateline NBC is set to film here in Central Oregon soon and air a special report on the case in May. (KOIN) Edwin Lara tried to sexually abuse Kaylee Sawyer before he killed her, court documents revealed. “It just doesn’t make sense to me because, Im like, how can somebody do that? Especially you? It doesn’t make sense,” Ponce-Lara said, in tears.

While Lara was being interviewed by detectives, his wife was also being questioned, as she tried to figure out what kind of man she had married. Lara said, “I want to tell you where the body is, but I want to go home first.” Hours later, investigators from Deschutes County were interviewing Lara, asking him to tell them where Sawyer’s body was. He then carjacked a car with a man’s family inside and led police on a high-speed chase before being arrested. Lara then headed south to Northern California, where authorities said he shot a man at a Yreka, California, motel. He also writes he killed her in the COCC parking lot and ended the note by writing that he would forever love his wife. He ditched his vehicle but left a note apologizing to Sawyer’s father and mother and stating he had only wanted to silence Sawyer, but not forever. There, Ponce-Lara found Sawyer’s green purse and black shoes and the large rock with blood on it that was used in the crime.Īuthorities said Lara fled Central Oregon and carjacked Aundrea Maes, of Salem. Lara, in a panic, grabbed his wife’s gun from her purse and, getting ready to take off, he told his wife that Sawyer’s belongings were in their shed. Edwin kidnapped Aundreah several days later.

The horrific details of her case are such that they continue to baffle the community that surrounded her. She had spent the past 12 hours with Edwin Lara, the man who told her he had the 'urge to kill' when he raped and killed Kaylee Sawyer in Bend, Oregon. After celebrating a friend’s bachelorette party in downtown Bend, Oregon, Kaylee disappeared in the middle of the night, never to return again. Former Central Oregon Community College campus security officer Edwin Lara pleaded guilty to aggravated murder at a tense, emotional hearing Monday and was sentenced to life in prison without. However, just before he was sentenced to life in prison he stood up and addressed the court, even saying “may Kaylee rest in peace” - a line that didn't sit well with Sawyer’s family.Lara originally told his wife that he had hit Sawyer with a Central Oregon Community College vehicle, but evidence showed the campus patrol vehicle Lara was driving didn’t have any scratches or marks on it. NBC’s ‘Dateline: Into the Night’ follows the July 2016 murder of 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer. 'To this day, I have never gotten closure of seeing or touching my daughter one last time,' Sawyer said.Īll morning, Lara answered the judge’s questions with simple yes or no answers. (AP) A man accused of killing a woman during his shift as a campus safety officer at an Oregon community college pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated murder. Kaylee's father Jamie Sawyer took the stand, saying that without her loving spirit his life will never be the same. Lara pleaded guilty to the murder charge before appearing in court on Monday. Sawyer's purse was found in a shed at Lara's home, along with bloody clothes. Documents say Lara told his wife he panicked when he accidentally struck her and disposed of her body, but the District Attorney's office says they do not believe Sawyer's death was an accident. From the Daily Mail: A woman was murdered as she walked home alone from a bachelorette party in Bend, Oregon, after she got into an argument with her boyfriend. Lara, a security officer at COCC, intentionally hit and killed Sawyer while he was out on patrol, police said. Investigators say Edwin Lara kidnapped Sawyer in 2016 while working as a campus safety officer.

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