Edwin Lara waives extradition, due back to C.O. next week

The Redmond man accused of abducting assaulting and killing Kaylee Sawyer of Bend waived extradition during a California court appearance Tuesday afternoon and could be back in Deschutes County by next week to face four counts of aggravated murder.

Edwin Lara, 31, was scheduled for a pretrial conference on five felony counts in a Yreka, California courtroom, but he decided to waive extradition.

Lara signed the court documents at 1:42 p.m. agreeing to return to Central Oregon to face the charges.

Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus said the judge overseeing the hearing asked Lara it was his signature on a court document, to confirm his identity, and he said yes.

“So Deschutes County will collect him some time within the next week in our county jail,” Andrus told NewsChannel 21.

“We consulted with the DA’s office in Deschutes County, and I agreed they can go first, since with their case its a homicide case,” Andrus said.

The sheriff’s office will need to arrange the pick-up with the Siskiyou County Jail later this week.

Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel told NewsChannel 21’s Pedro Quintana he’ll contact the sheriff’s office to travel south in a secure vehicle and bring Lara back to the county.

“Once he arrives in the Deschutes County Jail, the next day he’ll be brought before a judge for arraignment on these charges,” Hummel said.

Lara, a Central Oregon Community College campus public safety officer, was indicted Friday on the four aggravated murder charges, accused of abducting and trying to sexually assault the 23-year-old, then killing her on and disposing of her body — not once, but twice, authorities said.

All parties in the case had been under a judge’s order not to comment. But that was lifted Monday after Lara was indicted on four counts of aggravated murder, and Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel was able to provide more details.

“Kaylee was abducted on the campus of COCC by a campus safety officer who then attempted to sexually assault her,” Hummel said. “Mr. Lara then killed Kaylee in an effort to conceal the crimes he committed.”

Hummel also revealed to NewsChannel 21 his office believes Lara abducted, attempted to sexually assault and then killed Kaylee Sawyer on the COCC campus.

Hummel said he was not disclosing how Sawyer was killed but that Lara allegedly moved Sawyer’s body twice, disposing of her first in one spot, then moving her body to another location, a dry canyon west of Redmond off Highway 126 where her body was found later that week.

While an aggravated murder charge carries a maximum death penalty, Hummel said he had not decided if they will seek a death sentence.

“The decision whether to try to kill someone is the most sobering and important decision our government officials are called upon to make,” Hummel said in a statement.

“Over the next one to two months I will meet with Kaylee’s family, compare Mr. Lara’s actions to the actions of all the other suspects ever charged in Deschutes County with aggravated murder, consult with my deputies, and then sit by myself and make the decision that is fair, just, and dictated by law,” the DA said.

Oregon has not executed any prisoners sentenced to death since 1997. Five years ago, then-Gov. John Kitzhaber declared a moratorium on executions, and current Gov. Kate Brown has not lifted that moratorium, pending recommendations from her staff.

Local defense attorney Brian Donahue said Oregon has a complicated history when it comes to the death penalty.

Donahue said the jury will need to review the evidence, and the more heinous those facts, the more likely the jury will choose the death penalty, should that be an option presented to them.

The indictment returned Friday by a grand jury follows an initial one-count murder charge.

Filing separate murder allegations in a single crime is a common step by prosecutors as they lay out to a grand jury, and potentially to a jury, the various scenarios under which the crime was committed.

In this case, the first count alleges Lara committed second-degree kidnapping “and in the course of an in furtherance of the crime … (he) personally and intentionally caused” Sawyer’s death.

The second count accuses him of attempting to commit first-degree sexual abuse and in the course of that crime, causing Sawyer’s death.

The third aggravated murder count alleges that Lara caused Sawyer’s death in an effort to conceal the woman’s abduction. The fourth count accuses Lara of killing her in an effort to conceal his identity.

Kaylee Sawyer went for a walk from the parking lot of her apartment near the COCC campus shortly after midnight on July 24 after attending a bachelorette party and getting into an argument with her boyfriend, whom she had called for a ride home. She was never seen alive again, and her disappearance prompted a widespread search.

Meanwhile, court documents show that Lara’s wife, a Bend police officer recruit, asked her husband the next day about his odd behavior. Lara told her he’d struck Sawyer with his campus patrol car and then disposed of her body, authorities said.

Lara and his wife live in Redmond, and Bend police said she immediately went to Redmond police with what she’d learned.

That prompted a regionwide manhunt for Lara, who is accused of traveling to Salem and abducting another woman, then heading south to California, where he is accused of shooting a man and carjacking a car with three people inside, later releasing them. He was arrested after a high-speed chase down I-5.

Sawyer’s body was found later in a small canyon off state Highway 126 between Redmond and Sisters. An autopsy determined she died of blunt-force trauma.

Lara is due back in a California courtroom on Tuesday. Last week he refused to waive extradition, delaying his return to Oregon to face the murder charges first.

Meanwhile, Sawyer’s family issued a statement Monday through a representative, thanking the community for its support since her death and saying that an online fundraising page and bank account are being closed.

The statement, issued by the Destiny Search Project:

“Over the past weeks, since Kaylee first went missing, the community, near and far, have come together to show support to her family. From being on the ground searching in the early days, the candlelight vigil the night we learned of her passing, to the incredible turnout for her memorial.

“The family continues to thank everyone for the support, blessings and prayers. They have been unimaginably helpful in this difficult time.

“The community also came together to provide food, donations and other items to help in support of Kaylee’s family. We know that many are still willing and wanting to help. At this time, though, the best way is to continue to share stories, memories and love with her family.

“The family at this time will be closing the GoFundMe account and also the account through the bank. There may come a time in the future where support again may be needed as things progress and the family also looks at ways to best celebrate Kaylee’s memory.

“Again, the family would like to thank everyone that has been a part of this in any way.”