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Man arrested in California kidnap, charged in Oregon death

All charges have been dropped against a young OR woman arrested in Northern California with a wanted OR man after a shooting and kidnapping rocked a small town, authorities said Wednesday.

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Edwin Lara of Redmond was arrested Tuesday morning in Yreka, California, after he and a woman allegedly shot an elderly man in a motel, and then stole a vehicle at gunpoint with three people inside.

Lara was fleeing his home state after being implicated Monday in the disappearance a day earlier of 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer, of Bend. Isabel Ponce-Lara, reported him Monday as possibly connected to Sawyer’s disappearance, after her husband said he accidently struck Kaylee with his vehicle, but hid her body and belongings to cover up the crime.

Just before midnight on Monday, Bend police said they were changing their investigation from a missing person to a homicide and described Lara, from Redmond, as likely armed and risky.

The medical examiner’s office is working to confirm the identity of a body found matching Sawyer’s description. She was initially taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder and kidnapping in relation to the mayhem in Yreka but was later released and all charges were dropped. Lara was charged with murder Tuesday in her death after a body was found.

Lara then took police on a high-speed chase down Interstate 5 across three California counties. The woman’s family told the station that Lara had kidnapped her.

Bowles said Lara forced one of the man’s sons to drive at gunpoint. Police from the nearby town of Corning joined in before Lara pulled over and was arrested. At 5:41 a.m., a call was received by the family members who said they had been dropped off on I-5 north of the Weed rest area and were unharmed.

Early Sunday, Sawyer had gotten into a quarrel with her boyfriend, her uncle told CNN affiliate KTVZ.

The CHP arrested Lara Tuesday in southern Tehama County, after police say they got a ping on his phone on Gibson Road.

Ponce-Lara contacted authorities immediately, relaying the information she’d heard and reporting that Lara may be suicidal. The carjacking occurred at a Mobil gas station across the street from the motel where the shooting occurred.

“We’re feeling good about where we are in the investigation”, Hummel said.

On a side note, Lara’s wife, is an officer with the Bend Police Department. Ponce-Lara reported to Redmond Police that her husband may have been involved in the Saywer case.

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Ponce-Lara said she didn’t know where her husband put the body, but that he told her some of Sawyer’s belongings were inside a shed at their home.

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