Sawyer died of blunt force trauma, according to Bend Police Lt. Brian Kindel.
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Since the arrest, Maes has been released without charges, as it is alleged she was a kidnapping victim of Lara. Lara was charged with murder Tuesday in the death of Sawyer, of Bend, Ore.
Edwin Enoc Lara, 31, of Redmond, Ore., and Aundrea Elizabeth Maes, 19, of Salem, Ore., were taken into custody after they fled from the California Highway Patrol southbound on the freeway at speeds reaching 100 miles per hour in a silver Honda Accord over a 10-mile distance. They say Lara’s auto was having problems, so he was looking to find a new vehicle.
All charges have been dropped against an OR woman arrested in Northern California after a man was shot and a family was kidnapped and taken on a harrowing ride. Ponce-Lara is reportedly not suspected to have involvement with the Sawyer case.
The medical examiner’s office is working to confirm the identity of a body found matching Sawyer’s description.
Lara had worked as a part-time public safety officer at Central Oregon Community College since December 2014, said Ron Paradis, executive director of college relations. Sawyer was last seen around 1 a.m. Sunday near her apartment, located close to the college where Lara worked.
A motive was unclear in the case against Lara, whose judicial record consists of 10 traffic citations and a fish and game violation. Ponce-Lara told police her husband admitted to running over Sawyer in his patrol vehicle. The woman’s family told the station that Lara had kidnapped her.
Court documents said evidence showed Lara had committed crimes of vehicular homicide, assault and hit-and-run. Lara then left the house with his 9mm Glock pistol.
The mayhem in the former gold-mining town of Yreka started near dawn when a man was shot in the stomach at the Super 8 Motel.
Five minutes after police got the call about the shooting, a man called from a gas station, saying his auto had been taken with his family still inside.
She was wearing a black dress and brown boots, and was carrying a green purse, police said. The mother and two sons were later dropped off at a rest stop along the interstate about 30 miles south of Yreka, near the town of Weed.
“She’ll be on leave, not because of presumptive misconduct or policy violation”, Bend Police Chief Jim Porter said at a Tuesday news conference. Police tell KOIN they believe Lara was behind the shooting.
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Shortly after the shooting, police received reports about a carjacking at a nearby gas station, where video surveillance footage again ties Lara to the scene.
