BEND, OR -- The man charged with murdering a Bend woman near Central Oregon Community College, last summer, will not stand trial until 2018. Edwin Lara’s murder trial had been scheduled to begin in October, but that has now been bumped a full year. The judge says it’s necessary to conduct a thorough investigation into Lara’s upbringing in Honduras.
The former COCC security guard is accused of killing 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer in June, and hiding her body in a ravine outside of Redmond. He then allegedly kidnapped a woman in Salem and went on a crime spree in northern California before he was arrested.
The Deschutes County District Attorney says he plans to seek the death penalty.
