She had been arrested with Edwin Lara, of Redmond, Oregon, after he led police on a chase exceeding 100 miles per hour (160.93 kph) on Interstate 5.
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Lara, a 31-year-old part-time security officer at Central Oregon Community College, was arrested in California almost two days after the fatal crash on campus.
Lara faces charges of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, carjacking, and burglary.
Bend Police Chief Jim Porter told a news conference that a body has been found that is believed to be Sawyer’s.
Sawyer, described as having blonde hair and blue-green eyes, was last seen around 1am on Sunday near her apartment, located near Central Oregon Community College where Lara worked as a campus security guard.
Kaylee Sawyer was walking alone in the middle of the night on the edge of the picturesque town of Bend, Oregon, after getting into an argument with her boyfriend. The woman’s family told the station that Lara had kidnapped her. Corning police joined in the pursuit for the last few miles before Lara voluntarily stopped on the right shoulder of the freeway near Sour Grass Road.
The next morning, she questioned him about his behavior. Officers told KOIN they have video surveillance evidence that shows Lara at the hotel. Lara also reportedly confessed that he panicked after the accident and hid Sawyer’s body in an undisclosed location, putting some of her belongings in their shed. Lara then left the house with his 9mm Glock pistol. His wife said that he may have been suicidal.
Lara’s wife, Bend police officer Isabel Ponce-Lara, told Redmond police he was acting strangely Sunday after work and that she questioned him the next morning, according to court records.
No other information about Sawyer’s disappearance has been released and a vigil was being held on Tuesday evening to honor her in Bend. “I think we can all appreciate when someone you know so closely is accused of a travesty and a crime like this that you want to give that person room to respond and come back to some state of normalcy”. The victim, an elderly man, was shot in the stomach and is reported to be in unstable critical condition, Bowles said. Then, five minutes after the shooting, another man reported to police that his auto had been stolen with three of his family members inside across the street from the motel. His crimes there include a shooting and a carjacking. They had been dropped on Interstate 5 north of Weed, Calif. The family was not harmed.
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Police began tracking a cell phone ping on the suspect. Yreka police said Maes is 19 and from Salem, Oregon.
