Upon searching the Ponce-Lara and Lara home, police found a white bag with Sawyer’s high-heel shoes, a purse containing her black wallet, a blood-stained rock and a clump of hair, according to testimony given Monday. Ponce-Lara, at the time an officer in training for the Bend Police Department, went to the Redmond Police Department to report the crime. Lara told her he hit a woman with his car and discarded the body, according to statements she made to Redmond Police Department Sgt. Lara fled to Salem after his then-wife, Isabel Ponce-Lara, confronted him the day after the killing, accusing him of acting weird. He said a person could see Sawyer’s shoulder from the road side of the guardrail. Brian Kindel testified that the body was dumped just off the side of the road and wasn’t covered with rocks or brush.
Police used the Deschutes County property information database to run the number, which turned up an address on Highway 126 between Sisters and Redmond.īend Police Lt. The note three times had the number 18700, though there was no context. Police discovered it after Lara alerted them to a note he left in a car he abandoned in Salem. Police believe Lara put Sawyer in the trunk of his car - where blood was also found -and transported her body to the location on state Highway 126 where it was found two days later. However, this is not where Sawyer’s body was found. The drag marks led up the hill to a location in the brush where a significant amount of blood was found. Investigators from the Central Oregon Major Crimes Team - made up of officers from various local law enforcement agencies - found drag marks and blood in the parking lot, Gunnels said. Gunnels said the scene of the killing was parking lot B12, a gravel lot high up on the hilly campus surrounded by juniper and sagebrush. Friends and family never saw her again.Īt Monday’s hearing, Deschutes County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Gunnels said in his opening statement that Lara was at work that night as a security officer for the college. After getting in an argument with her boyfriend during the ride home, Sawyer walked off from her house near Central Oregon Community College. Sawyer disappeared in the early morning hours of July 24 after a night in downtown Bend. A group huddled across the courtroom’s pew-like benches and prayed in anticipation of graphic testimony, which included a 15-minute 911 recording where Lara discussed Sawyer’s death. Still to be discussed is an apparent confession he gave to Bend Police Department officers, and whether he was read his Miranda rights beforehand, or was denied an attorney after asking for one.Īs with nearly all hearings in the case, a number of Sawyer’s friends and family were present in the courtroom Monday.
Monday’s hearing centered around Lara’s alleged California crime spree following the death of Sawyer. Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel is seeking the death penalty. 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, 32, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder in the death of Sawyer, 23, on July 24.
"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. 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. 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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