EUGENE, Ore. — Edwin Enoc Lara, 34, the former Central Oregon Community College campus security officer turned violent fugitive, was sentenced today to life in federal prison for kidnapping and carjacking — his second life sentence for a crime spree that terrorized victims across Oregon and California in July 2016. The sentencing, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Michael J. McShane, seals Lara’s fate behind bars for the rest of his life.
The horror began early on July 24, 2016, when Lara brutally murdered 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer in Bend, Oregon — a crime for which he was already serving a life sentence in Deschutes County Circuit Court. Hours later, Lara vanished, launching a cross-state rampage fueled by violence and deception. On July 25, he arrived in Salem and coldly carjacked a young woman at gunpoint, falsely claiming to be a police officer. He showed her news reports about Sawyer’s murder and forced her to drive with him toward California.
Inside a Cottage Grove motel room, Lara handcuffed his victim, made her take sleeping pills, and subjected her to a terrifying series of physical advances that left her fearing imminent sexual assault. When a phone call spooked him — likely alerting him to police activity — Lara dragged her from the room and resumed the drive south. Along the way, he scouted rest areas, hunting for another car to steal, desperate to vanish.
In the early hours of July 26, Lara arrived at a motel in Yreka, California. He spotted an elderly man near his vehicle, approached him with his gun visible, and demanded the car. When the man refused, Lara shot him in the abdomen. As the wounded man collapsed, Lara’s Oregon victim pleaded for freedom — instead, he grabbed her hand and fled on foot to a nearby gas station.
At the gas station, Lara targeted a new set of victims — two young men and their elderly grandmother — threatening to shoot them before forcing them to drive. Inside the car, Lara confessed: he had an ‘urge to kill,’ had murdered a woman in Bend, and just shot a man in Yreka. He eventually abandoned the three California victims on a remote road with death threats before continuing south with his original hostage. California law enforcement caught up with him soon after, ending the 48-hour nightmare.
‘Edwin Lara is a ruthless killer who will rightfully spend the rest of his life in prison,’ said Billy J. Williams, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. ‘There is simply no place in civil society for this type of horrific violence.’ The case was investigated by the Redmond Police Department, Bend Police Department, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police, and California agencies, with FBI assistance. Prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan J. Lichvarcik, the case falls under Project Safe Neighborhoods, the DOJ’s flagship violent crime reduction initiative.
Related Federal Cases
- Edwin Enoc Lara Indicted in Carjacking, Kidnapping Spree · Oregon
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- Trafficker Nabbed: WA Jury Convicts Man in Coast-to-Coast Sex Scheme · Washington
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Key Facts
- State: Oregon
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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