A Frightening Crime Spree- The Murder Of Kaylee Sawyer
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FunTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:26 This case takes us to the scenic city of Bend, which sits on the Deschutes River in Oregon.
00:32 Home to 23-year-old Kaylee Ann Sawyer, who lived with her boyfriend of a couple of years, Cameron.
00:43 Kaylee worked as a dental assistant and she was also busy studying at Central Oregon Community College.
00:50 She was creative, enjoying photography, drawing and writing poetry.
00:56 She was also very sporty, loving snowboarding, golfing, fishing and wakeboarding.
01:05 With so many other outdoor activities and beautiful sights to see and photograph in Bend, it really was the perfect place for Kaylee to live.
01:15 Her parents had divorced and remarried when she was young, but she had a great relationship with both of them and her step-parents, and she was also close to her four brothers.
01:25 Friends and family said she was one of the happiest people they knew.
01:29 She was giving, popular, always smiling and entertaining everyone, and she was often out and about socialising.
01:37 Her mother said everybody was a friend to Kaylee, even if they were a stranger.
01:44 On the evening of July 23rd 2016, Kaylee had plans to celebrate a friend's bachelorette party.
01:51 She got ready and left home to go and meet everyone in downtown Bend, very close to her college campus.
01:57 After she parked her car at her friend's house, they all headed out for the evening.
02:03 Over the next couple of hours, Kaylee and her friends moved around various bars.
02:11 Everybody was in good spirits. The drinks were flowing, everyone was dancing, singing, playing games and enjoying the celebrations.
02:20 At one point, Kaylee started dancing with a man at the bar, and one of Cameron's friends who happened to be there too, saw her and texted Cameron to tell him.
02:30 Just after midnight, on what was now July 24th, the night out was coming to an end.
02:37 Everybody had had a lot to drink, and Kaylee called Cameron asking for a ride home.
02:42 As he was on the way to get her, Kaylee texted Cameron's friend to apologise about dancing with the other man and how the situation might have looked.
02:51 A short while later, Cameron arrived and picked Kaylee up.
02:55 An argument started right away, which carried on the entire ride home.
03:00 They parked up outside of their apartment complex, and Cameron said he stormed out of the car as the argument got more heated.
03:07 Kaylee stayed inside, crying and saying she needed some space to calm down.
03:13 Ten minutes later, Cameron went back outside to try and coax her in.
03:19 It was too late to be arguing, and if they just went to sleep, everything would be fine the next day.
03:25 But as he approached the vehicle, he realised the passenger door was wide open, and she was no longer inside.
03:33 In fact, Kaylee Sawyer was nowhere to be seen.
03:37 Cameron started searching and sent Kaylee several texts.
03:41 "Where are you? Kaylee, please just come home to be with me. I don't want to play this game. I'll start searching but please help me out."
03:50 Kaylee replied saying, "My phone's about to die."
03:54 Cameron said, "Please don't do this to me. I apologise for being upset when I picked you up.
03:59 I just drove up and down College Way really slow. I didn't see you and I don't know where else to go. Just come back."
04:05 Kaylee said, "Are you kidding? Because that's bullshit. Goodbye."
04:10 She then turned her phone off and stopped responding.
04:14 Cameron went to a friend's house, hoping she had walked there, but she hadn't.
04:19 He drove up and down the streets looking for her, but to no avail.
04:24 Kaylee's mother Julie and her friends were also trying to get hold of her, but Kaylee wasn't responding to any of them either.
04:31 Everybody was still holding out hope that she had turned up at someone else's house to call off,
04:36 but it was seeming less and less likely the more time that passed, and soon the police were called.
04:43 "Hi, I'm not sure if this is quite the right number to call.
04:48 Last night I got home from the bars with my girlfriend and she got upset at me and ran off.
04:53 And I chased her and wasn't able to find her and I still haven't heard from her. Her phone's off.
04:57 I called all her family and they haven't heard from her, so I'm wondering what you recommend I do?"
05:02 "We can put in a call and we can have officers and deputies look for her."
05:07 "Okay."
05:09 "Where was she last seen at?"
05:10 "Um, College Way."
05:12 "In that apartment complex?"
05:14 "Yes."
05:15 "In a specific apartment or..."
05:17 "In the parking lot. It was like one o'clock in the morning.
05:22 Yeah, she was mad at me, so I walked inside and told her to come meet me in there when she's like calmed down.
05:27 And then I went back out in ten minutes and she was gone.
05:30 And I called her a few times and she said she was walking down the street.
05:33 And then I guess she said her phone was about to die.
05:36 And then she, I couldn't get a hold of her after that.
05:39 I haven't heard from her since."
05:41 "Okay. She's just off on foot?"
05:44 "Yes."
05:45 "What's her last name?"
05:47 "Sawyer."
05:48 "First name?"
05:49 "Kaylee. K-A-Y-L-E-E."
05:53 "And she's got her phone with her?"
05:56 "Uh, she did last I saw her, but it's been dead all day and I imagine she would charge it."
06:03 "Do you know what carrier it is?"
06:05 "Um, it is Verizon.
06:07 She has a vehicle that's parked at her friend's house.
06:10 And I've been over there and talked to her friend and she hasn't heard from her either."
06:13 "And the vehicle's still there?"
06:15 "Yep."
06:16 "Any idea where she would go or?"
06:19 "I don't know.
06:20 I figured she'd go where her car was to her best friend's or her mom's.
06:24 I've been over to both.
06:26 Talked to her dad and I just haven't heard anything from anybody knowing this."
06:30 "Okay.
06:32 Alright, we'll have an officer get in contact with you.
06:35 If she gets in contact with you, they'll give us a call back."
06:38 "Okay. Will do."
06:39 "Thank you. Bye."
06:40 "Thanks. Bye."
06:43 "Yes, I need to have an officer call me.
06:46 My daughter is missing and she is over 23, but she has epilepsy and some medical issues."
06:53 "Alright. What is your name?"
06:55 "My name is Julie. J-U-L-I."
06:58 "Okay. I'm going to have the officer who spoke with her boyfriend earlier give you a call, okay?"
07:02 "That would be awesome. Thank you so much."
07:04 "You're welcome. Bye bye."
07:05 "Bye bye."
07:08 Kayleigh's name began circulating on social media and the word was spreading that she was missing,
07:13 culminating in hundreds of volunteers coming out to look for her.
07:17 Cameron was interviewed right away, but detectives had no reason to be concerned about him or anything he said,
07:27 and he was very quickly ruled out.
07:29 The friends she had been out with were also questioned, but they couldn't help either.
07:35 Their attention then turned to the man she was seen dancing with at the bar,
07:39 and they hoped this might give them a lead.
07:42 But he was just as shocked that she was missing.
07:45 He had danced with her for all of a few minutes before she had rejoined her group and then left,
07:50 and he hadn't seen her again after that.
07:52 I'm Alex Biston.
07:57 An unusual missing person case has hundreds of Central Oregonians concerned and on the lookout.
08:03 Bend police are working to find Kayleigh Sawyer, and tonight Jennifer Wade spoke with Sawyer's parents.
08:09 Jen, how long has their daughter been missing?
08:11 Alex Sawyer was last seen early Sunday morning near her West Bend apartment parking lot,
08:17 walking toward nearby Central Oregon Community College.
08:21 Her mother says her daughter is very close to her family,
08:24 and it's very unusual for them not to hear from her for two days.
08:28 They say they are worried sick and just want to get their Kayleigh back.
08:33 She has four younger brothers who desperately want their big sister home.
08:39 Missing 23-year-old Kayleigh Sawyer has much of Central Oregon on the lookout.
08:45 Thousands of concerned residents spent the day putting up flyers and sharing their concern on Facebook.
08:51 And we just contacted everybody and said, "Please get her face out there."
08:59 Everybody was definitely concerned, but Kayleigh's mother Julie was far more than that.
09:05 She said the second she heard her daughter was missing and not replying to anyone,
09:09 she felt a shift in her whole body, and something was telling her that Kayleigh was no longer alive.
09:16 Officers started trying to find the location of her phone.
09:20 Her phone was pinging all over the city of Bend.
09:23 But sadly, this was confirmed to be an old iPhone that was still registered under Kayleigh's Apple ID.
09:30 It was now Monday morning, and Kayleigh hadn't shown up to her shift at the dental clinic.
09:37 Police knew they had to pick up the pace,
09:39 and Kayleigh entered law enforcement databases as an endangered missing person.
09:50 As they approached the 24-hour mark, a new police officer called Isabelle
09:55 would report something to her colleagues that would blow the case wide open.
10:00 She told them that her husband had been acting very strangely in the last couple of days
10:06 and had said some incredibly concerning things to her.
10:10 Her husband was 31-year-old Edwin Lara,
10:14 and Isabelle said his odd behaviour had been apparent since he came home very late on Sunday
10:19 after his shift had finished.
10:21 He often worked long and late hours as a college campus security guard.
10:27 When he works at graveyard like he did on Saturday night, he starts at like 3pm.
10:31 What time, like does he work like a 12-hour shift or?
10:34 It's always changing.
10:36 It's always unpredictable, so I actually wasn't on the point that I didn't even know when he was going to be working or not.
10:42 So what time is church on Sunday?
10:46 9 in the morning.
10:48 Are you noticing anything weird at all at this point?
10:52 Oh yeah, so he was very quiet like on the way to church.
10:58 He wasn't saying much, which is unusual.
11:02 At church he was just very quiet, very withdrawn.
11:07 Like he would usually like grab my hand or something.
11:11 He wasn't doing that.
11:13 So when we get out of church, I ask them, "What's wrong with you?
11:20 What's going on?"
11:22 And they tell me, "We've been together for a very long time, I know some things out."
11:28 Because you get some clean air.
11:33 Do you want something to drink?
11:36 No, I'm good.
11:37 The couple had been having problems for a long time,
11:40 so Isabel didn't push him for answers and just assumed he was being off with her.
11:46 A few hours later, on what was now Sunday morning,
11:50 Edwin and Isabel attended church together where Edwin was in the church band,
11:54 and after this, they went to go and watch a film.
11:58 But Edwin's weird behaviour carried on into the next morning.
12:02 He comes out of the room and his eyes were all teary.
12:07 That's when I'm like, "What happened? Tell me what happened. What's wrong?"
12:15 So he sits on the sofa. I turn off the TV.
12:18 And then he just says that.
12:20 He's like, "I killed a woman." That's what he said.
12:25 "You hit her with the car. That's an accident. Why?
12:29 What do you mean you panicked? What do you mean?"
12:33 And what did he say?
12:34 He just kept saying, "I panicked." And at that point, he's already got up,
12:38 and he's already going into the room and walking back and forth.
12:42 And I'm not really quite understanding what he's telling me.
12:47 And then I'm like, "So what did you do with the body? What?"
12:51 And he's like, "I hit her."
12:53 And I'm like, and then I kept asking him,
12:55 "What has it got to do with you hitting her and now you panic and you hit the body?"
13:00 So it didn't make sense to you?
13:02 It wasn't making sense to me.
13:04 Edwin also told Isabel that some of Kaylee's things were hidden in the shed,
13:10 and after this, he fled the house armed with Isabel's gun.
13:14 It wasn't making any sense to me.
13:20 But when I saw the stuff, I'm like, "Oh, fuck."
13:25 Did he say when this happened?
13:28 So, he just said...
13:30 He was just telling the story.
13:33 He just, yeah, he just said the thing.
13:36 When he was working, he said no more. He didn't give me a damn.
13:40 Officers went straight to the home, where they found exactly what Isabel said they would.
13:46 Kaylee's person ID, her shoes, a blood-stained rock,
13:51 and a clump of what looked like it could be Kaylee's hair.
13:55 What they found pointed to far more than accidentally hitting her with his car and panicking.
14:02 Everything was pointing towards this being a violent homicide.
14:06 By this point, however, Edwin was already on the run on what would become an interstate crime spree.
14:14 After leaving his car at his parents' house, he spotted a 19-year-old called Andrea
14:21 sitting in her car in a parking lot.
14:23 She had just clocked off of a 12-hour shift and was about to head home
14:28 when Edwin opened the passenger side door, pointed a gun at her, and demanded she start driving.
14:34 As she drove, he showed her pictures of him in his campus security uniform
14:39 and spoke to her about the news reports, talking about Kaylee.
14:43 After three hours on the road, Edwin wanted to stop at a motel for the night.
14:49 As he checked in, he made Andrea pretend to be his girlfriend.
14:55 Once inside the room, he handcuffed her to the bathroom door while he showered.
15:00 He then ordered her to take a shower in front of him.
15:03 Andrea was fighting against him every step of the way and point blank refused.
15:09 After this, he handcuffed her to the bed and told her to take sleeping pills.
15:14 In this very moment, the alarm on her phone went off.
15:18 And, thinking on her feet, Andrea lied, telling Edwin she had an STD
15:24 and the alarm was to remind her to take her medication.
15:27 She hoped that this would stop him from sexually assaulting her.
15:31 And fortunately, her plan worked.
15:34 Edwin, who was becoming more paranoid by the minute,
15:37 then decided to leave the motel at half one in the morning.
15:41 The pair carried on driving until 5am, before stopping at another motel.
15:47 He walked over to a 73-year-old man near his vehicle
15:51 and tried to take it before shooting him in the stomach.
15:54 He didn't get the car and fortunately, the man survived.
15:58 Edwin then fled with Andrea on foot to a nearby gas station
16:02 where he carjacked a 76-year-old woman.
16:05 The woman and her two young grandsons were inside the car.
16:09 He forced one of the teens to drive the car at gunpoint
16:12 before letting them go and carrying on with the vehicle.
16:16 And thankfully, the family were unharmed.
16:20 Edwin ordered Andrea to start driving to California where he had family.
16:25 During the drive, Edwin used Andrea's phone to record a video of himself.
16:31 [Video plays]
16:35 Hi everybody, I just want to say that I apologize for everything I've done.
16:42 Most likely I'm going to get caught.
16:45 And I'm sorry about that girl.
16:51 About that girl in Central Oregon.
16:54 And I just want to let family members, Andrea, that she's fine and she will be fine.
17:02 So far she's been doing what I've been telling her to do.
17:09 I used to kill that other girl, you know.
17:12 I regret it. I regret killing her.
17:16 She kept screaming and I just thought I'd do it forever.
17:22 He made her posted to Facebook, titling it "Murderer on the Loose".
17:27 Edwin called his family to tell them what was going on
17:31 and at 6.40am he called 911, telling them who he was and what he was wanted for.
17:39 911 Emergency reporting.
17:45 Yes, hi, this is Edwin Lara and I'm the guy on Interstate 5 going at high speed.
17:52 I know you guys have the chopper on me already.
17:55 Yeah.
17:56 I just want to say I am going to turn myself in.
17:59 So, you know, I am wanted for murder in the state of Oregon.
18:03 Okay. Edwin, where are you at right now?
18:05 I have no idea.
18:06 Are you by yourself or?
18:08 No, I have someone with me.
18:10 I kidnapped her in Oregon.
18:12 She's innocent.
18:13 Her name is Andrea.
18:15 I'll let her give her last name so you can call her family, okay?
18:19 Okay.
18:20 Just give me a second.
18:21 Hello?
18:22 Yeah, hi, what's her name?
18:23 Andrea.
18:25 Andrea, what's your last name?
18:27 Name, M-A-E-S.
18:30 Okay, are you hurt at all, Andrea?
18:32 No.
18:33 No, okay.
18:34 Do you know where you are?
18:35 Let me talk to Edwin again.
18:37 I want to ask you a favor.
18:39 Uh-huh.
18:40 So I have asthma.
18:42 You have asthma, okay.
18:43 Yeah, so you tell him not to be too rough on me because, you know, I can't breathe right now.
18:48 Okay.
18:49 The officer sees you and are you able to safely stop?
18:54 Yeah, I can stop, but not right now.
18:57 I usually want to stop right here in the middle of the road, you know, putting myself in danger
19:02 and putting everybody else in danger, more in danger, I guess.
19:05 You know, they won't.
19:06 They're aware.
19:07 I'll let them know they won't, but if you can stop safely, they just don't want you to run.
19:11 They think you're not going to run or anything.
19:13 Okay.
19:14 Edwin, do you have any weapons with you?
19:16 Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
19:17 I do have a gun on me.
19:19 I am not going to flash the gun, so you tell him not to shoot me.
19:23 I don't want to die.
19:24 Okay, you stick by your words.
19:25 I'll let them know.
19:27 Yeah, I'm going to let them know.
19:31 You know, don't hurt Andrea.
19:33 You know, she's a nice girl.
19:35 You know, don't hurt her.
19:36 I'm actually calling my family just to say bye to them.
19:39 So once I'm done calling all my family, then I'll turn myself in.
19:46 A California Highway Patrol officer saw the car speeding on the interstate and tried to pull it over.
19:53 The chase reached more than 100 miles per hour.
19:58 [Police radio chatter]
20:03 Get your hands up!
20:05 Get in it!
20:07 Step out of the vehicle!
20:15 Step over to your right!
20:17 Before Edwin was eventually pulled over.
20:19 Before he was arrested, he recorded himself saying,
20:23 "You know I know this is being recorded, and I just want to say to the family of Kaylee that, you know, I'm sorry.
20:30 I'm sorry for what I did, and in time, I will tell them where the body is."
20:35 He then handed the phone over to Andrea, and the police placed him in handcuffs.
20:40 19-year-old Andrea was also arrested, but when they realized that she too was another innocent victim, she was released.
20:54 So Edwin, at this point in time, I do want to let you know that the room is being video recorded.
21:00 It's also being audio recorded.
21:02 When Edwin was taken into custody, he told the officers the same story he had told Isabel, that he had accidentally hit her with his car,
21:10 but said that he had then strangled her when she wouldn't stop screaming, something which everybody agreed made no sense at all.
21:18 Talking to Isabel, finding out stuff about you with your family and those kinds of things.
21:23 I know you've got a heart that's probably pretty heavy, and you wanted to tell us some stuff about the vehicle accident, and that's why we're here, okay?
21:30 We have not been able to find Kaylee's body.
21:34 Can you please help me find her body immediately before we start talking about anything else?
21:40 Oh.
21:41 The reason why I'm asking you that is, I've done this a bunch of times.
21:46 I want to tell you where the body is.
21:48 Yeah, I do.
21:49 And you know this man about to--
21:51 I know, Matt.
21:52 Okay.
21:53 What's he doing, Matt?
21:59 Can I say the story of what happened first?
22:01 Yeah, as you're drawing keys or whatever, whatever you'd like to do.
22:04 Sorry, I'm just doing that first.
22:06 You're doing good, Edwin.
22:11 You know what?
22:12 This is not easy.
22:14 I mean, you might be a little bit scared.
22:16 We're going to hear what you have to say if we really, really want to.
22:19 I'm thankful to you, I want to say that right away, that you're here with this man, has this to say, and that you've got a heart inside of you.
22:25 And I know, because I was in your house.
22:27 I saw the Bible, I know you've thumbed through it a lot.
22:29 I see that you've tithed for months consecutively.
22:33 I know you have God in your heart.
22:37 And that's just not a trick.
22:38 That's eternal, right?
22:39 You know that.
22:40 And I was going to turn south on College Way on the D4 lot.
22:48 So I was going to turn south on the do not enter area there.
22:52 And I didn't see her, she was wearing all black.
22:55 So I was in a hurry, so it was my fault.
22:59 And I wasn't expecting anybody, you know, at that time of night.
23:03 So I just turned and I mean, I didn't hit her that hard.
23:08 I just bumped her with the patrol car, bumped her with the front rack.
23:12 And she fell down.
23:16 And at first I thought, you know, first thing I was all, I killed her.
23:21 But I didn't hit her that hard.
23:23 So I got off the car and she was really drunk.
23:27 And then she looks at me and then she started screaming.
23:32 So I panic and I grab her with a towel.
23:36 She was kind of heavy, you know.
23:38 So I just grabbed her and pretty much ripped everything off her, like her clothes.
23:45 I threw her in the ditch.
23:48 And then I went back home and I was like, OK, they got to find her pretty quick.
23:52 So I got to put her, get her over and put her somewhere else.
23:55 After this, the detective told him that it was for the best that he come clean,
23:59 as he would only have to answer to God and repent his sins.
24:03 Everyone who knew Edwin said he was devout in his religion
24:07 and that it was one of the most important things to him.
24:10 So the detective decided to use this knowledge to hopefully get a confession.
24:14 Edwin finally started to tell the truth.
24:19 So a couple of things you need to understand.
24:22 We're finally getting to the real problem here. We really are.
24:25 Is you knew she was never getting out the car the moment you shut that door.
24:30 Whoa, let me finish. You need to let me finish, right?
24:33 Immediately you go to give me your purse and your phone.
24:37 Well, I knew she wasn't going to get out.
24:39 She wasn't going to survive that encounter, was she?
24:42 This is where it does not make sense.
24:45 If your intent isn't already there to do some kind of harm or some kind of evil to her,
24:51 some friggin evil that's there, bro, it's there.
24:54 You just got to face it down, man.
24:56 You can't cower away from it. You face that damn thing down right now.
25:00 If you know the only way, if you don't have intent in her head,
25:05 your thought is I got to keep that phone away from her
25:07 because she's going to call for help before anything bad's even happened.
25:10 You've already made a decision. Am I right or am I wrong? Tell me.
25:14 So I made the decision that I have to silence her, to kill her.
25:19 Let's be real. When you say silence her, you mean kill her, is that correct?
25:23 When did you make that decision?
25:26 When she started screaming because she had seen my face.
25:29 But you've already grabbed her phone.
25:31 You already kept her away from making a call for help or contacting someone.
25:36 So you're already preserving yourself.
25:37 So I'm thinking it's before when you ask for the purse.
25:40 I think you already know in your head I'm going to silence her. I'm going to kill her.
25:45 She honestly thought that I was going to do something.
25:50 You were, man.
25:51 And that's the problem. Right now you were. You absolutely were.
25:54 At first, at first I wasn't.
25:56 Yes, you were.
25:57 No.
25:58 Kaylee had left Cameron's car and walked out into the night,
26:03 and when Edwin saw her, he started following her in his patrol car.
26:07 The conversation between the pair, if there indeed was any conversation at all, remains unknown.
26:15 But somehow, Kaylee ended up in the back of the car and Edwin started driving.
26:20 Police and Kaylee's family believed that Edwin had offered her a lift,
26:24 and she had accepted under the assumption that she would be safe with a security guard in the patrol car.
26:30 Students leaving clubs or bars often received rides home from the campus security,
26:35 so this would likely not have been unusual or alarming.
26:39 But as soon as Kaylee got in, she was trapped.
26:43 The doors wouldn't open from the inside, and she would have been completely helpless.
26:49 It wasn't long before Edwin started demanding that she have sex with him,
26:55 and when she refused, he strangled her until she was unconscious.
26:59 She was then driven several miles out, where he strangled her again and smashed a rock against her head.
27:06 He then raped her.
27:08 Kaylee was still alive, and Edwin grabbed another rock and hit her in the head and left her body there.
27:15 It is unknown whether she was still alive at this point, which is a truly horrendous thing to contemplate.
27:21 After this, he drove back to the college campus where he changed cars,
27:26 and drove back later in an attempt to conceal her body.
27:30 After he told them everything, officers went to locate the first car that Edwin had been driving when he went on the run,
27:37 and inside were some handwritten notes, one of which read,
27:42 "The place I killed her is on the B12 lot. Run her over on College Way."
27:48 And another which said, "This note is to say that I am sorry for taking her life."
27:53 It was after this that near a canyon off of Highway 126, the body of Kaylee Ann Sawyer was finally found.
28:02 [Music]
28:07 A tragic update to bring to you tonight in the disappearance of Bend resident Kaylee Sawyer.
28:14 Police now say they found a body and they believe that to be Sawyer's body.
28:19 Now Edwin Lara has been arrested yesterday in connection with this.
28:24 Edwin Lara is a 31-year-old Redmond resident currently employed at COCC, working as a part-time campus public safety officer.
28:32 We've recently learned that Lara's wife, Isabel Ponce Lara, as I mentioned, is a Bend police officer,
28:38 who yesterday morning reported her husband's potential involvement in this.
28:42 Despite his confession, Edwin Lara pleaded not guilty, and the prosecution announced that they would be seeking the death penalty.
28:50 Edwin's lawyers argued that his rights had been violated in the interview room,
28:55 as he wasn't given the option to make any phone calls whilst being held in custody.
29:00 To everybody's dismay, during a pretrial hearing, a judge actually threw out his lengthy and detailed confession,
29:08 and said that it could not be used as evidence.
29:11 The prosecution were then left hoping that the forensic evidence would give them enough,
29:15 but it was undoubtedly a huge blow to their case.
29:19 Edwin's attorney called his crime spree an enigma, and said it could only be explained
29:24 by his client's genetic degenerative cognitive brain disability.
29:29 The prosecution said there was no doubt he was a potential serial killer and psychopath.
29:36 A year and a half after murdering a young woman in Bend, the killer admits to the murder.
29:42 This morning, 32-year-old Edwin Lara pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and the death of 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer.
29:48 This plea deal means he will avoid a possible death sentence.
29:52 In January 2018, in order to avoid the death penalty, Edwin changed his plea to guilty of aggravated murder and robbery.
30:02 Despite the evidence they had in Kaylee's case, the charges of sexual assault did not stick.
30:07 Although Edwin had pleaded guilty, he did not plead guilty to sexual assault.
30:12 The county district attorney spoke with Kaylee's family and told them that their main goal as prosecutors was to put Edwin away for life.
30:21 And pushing for a sexual assault conviction as well might complicate the trial and jeopardize the chances of getting a life sentence for murder.
30:29 Her family begrudgingly agreed.
30:37 Number one, to have our Kaylee back with us alive and well and pursuing her life.
30:43 Number two, I wish to have this piece of garbage, the defendant, sentenced to death for what he's done to my Kaylee.
30:50 And number three, I wish the court system and the state of Oregon would just hand him over to me and allow me to administer the death sentence.
30:59 Kaylee's mom also spoke today calling Lara a monster.
31:03 More family and friends will speak later this afternoon.
31:07 The judge is expected to sentence him later today or tomorrow.
31:11 And with this, Edwin Lara was given a life sentence without parole for the murder of Kaylee Ann Sawyer.
31:18 He later received a second life sentence for the kidnap of Andrea.
31:22 Following their testimonies, Lara himself addressed the court, making an emotional plea for forgiveness.
31:30 Today, I've seen your pain.
31:34 Today, I've seen your name.
31:39 I don't have much to say to you at this moment.
31:46 I only have a single prayer.
31:49 It's something I would like to speak to whoever is willing to listen.
31:53 After Lara's speech before the court, Judge Michael Adler called Lara's actions cold-hearted beyond belief and added that Lara was fortunate that a jury would not be sentencing him to death.
32:04 God Almighty, who art in heaven,
32:07 I will not leave her to die.
32:11 I'll ask you to please heal the hearts, the most broken hearts of this community.
32:20 Today, we don't celebrate the end of this tragedy because it's not over for Kaylee's family.
32:28 Today is the 548th day we mourn Kaylee's death.
32:35 And tomorrow will be day 549.
32:38 Today, though, we do take solace in knowing that Kaylee's killer was brought to justice.
32:43 The judge credited Andrea for her extreme courage and bravery and thanked Kaylee's father and stepmother for one of the most difficult letters he'd ever had to read in his career.
32:54 He told Kaylee's family he was deeply sorry and said, "I wish I could change things. I can't."
33:03 Edwin's wife, Isabel, filed for divorce and resigned from her position as a police officer, feeling she couldn't carry on with it, given what it was her ex-husband had done.
33:14 In her resignation letter, she said, "This decision has not been easy, but I have decided that it will be in the best interests for my career advancement and further development."
33:26 Kaylee's family filed a lawsuit against the college for failing to do an adequate background check on Edwin and for not acting upon behaviours that gave many people cause for concern.
33:37 One female officer actually refused to ride in the same car as him and reported him because he scared her so much.
33:45 The lawsuit also included evidence that the campus safety vehicles very closely resembled police patrol cars and Central Oregon community officers were given uniforms that were also similar to the Bend Police.
33:58 Community officers were armed with pepper spray, ballistic vests, body cameras and handcuffs and drove vehicles with cages inside, and the lawsuit said this simply should not be allowed as it allowed people to abuse their position.
34:13 Kaylee's family finally reached a $2 million settlement with Central Oregon Community College.
34:19 In 2022, more tragedy came for the Sawyer family when Julie's storage unit was broken into by two people on a drug-fuelled crime spree.
34:30 Over 12 months, John Vieira and Emily Pickett stole from many people, including Julie and her husband, taking $30,000 worth of their belongings, including some of Kaylee's ashes, which Julie had put into a little necklace.
34:45 John Vieira pleaded guilty to 16 property crimes and was given a 40-month sentence, while Emily was sentenced to 10 days in prison.
34:55 John admitted to throwing the necklace containing Kaylee's ashes into a bin, and tragically, it has never been recovered.
35:02 Kaylee's legacy also stays strong through Kaylee's Law, which was passed in 2019.
35:12 Kaylee's Law requires campus security and their vehicles to be clearly distinguishable from actual law enforcement.
35:19 The vehicles cannot have rooftop lights or a divider, known as a cage, between the front and back seats.
35:26 They must have a GPS and an interior video camera that records whenever someone gets inside.
35:32 Campus officers are also now prohibited from making vehicle stops or stopping and frisking individuals.
35:39 National background checks and psychological testing would also be required before a security officer is hired.
35:47 Her family also started KK Readers, KK being Kaylee's nickname.
35:53 KK Readers honours Kaylee by donating Dr. Seuss books, specifically "Oh, The Places You'll Go", to children in Head Start preschool classes all over Central Oregon.
36:05 It was her favourite book as a child and inspired her to write stories and poetry as she got older.
36:15 The murder of Kaylee devastated so many, and the painful aftermath prompted some much-needed changes in the law.
36:22 Julie said of her daughter, "The moment I held her, I understood what love at first sight meant and that it is real.
36:30 She will continue to live on, in all the memories that are shared.
36:34 She had an amazing 23 years, and I want that to be remembered."
36:41 Thank you all for tuning in and we hope you found this video interesting.
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