Lara trial set for October 2017 in Kaylee Sawyer killing

A trial date of Oct. 10, 2017 has been set for the Redmond man and former COCC campus security officer accused of four counts of aggravated murder in the July killing of Kaylee Sawyer.

Eight weeks have been set aside for the trial of Edwin Enoc Lara, who was arrested after a Salem abduction and an assault and pursuit in Northern California, later extradited back to Bend to face charges. The 23-year-old Bend woman’s body was found in a small canyon off Highway 126 west of Redmond.

“This is a very firm trial date,” Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Adler said in a brief memo late last week to attorneys in the case. “You may anticipate that requests to continue the trial date will be denied.”

Adler also set a Nov. 3 scheduling hearing to set initial deadlines for motions “and to set any hearings that need to be scheduled at this time.”

Authorities said Lara abducted and attempted to sexually assault Sawyer on a late-night walk near the Bend campus. Lara allegedly told his wife, a Bend police officer recruit, he’d struck and killed the woman with his security vehicle, then took and disposed of the body.