Oregon college safety officer pleads guilty to killing woman

Victim’s mother posted on Facebook that the man agreed to a deal that would bring a life sentence.

  • By Wire Service
  • Monday, January 22, 2018 12:26pm
  • Northwest

Associated Press

BEND, Ore. — A man accused of killing a woman during his shift as a campus safety officer at an Oregon community college has pleaded guilty to aggravated murder.

Edwin Lara entered the plea Monday in the city of Bend. He was set to be sentenced at a hearing expected to end in the afternoon.

Authorities said Lara killed Kaylee Sawyer, 23, in Bend in July 2016 and later kidnapped a woman in the state capital of Salem. They drove to California, where he was accused of shooting and wounding a man and carjacking a vehicle with a family inside.

Sawyer’s mother, Juli Walden VanCleave, posted on Facebook earlier this month that Lara agreed to a plea deal that would send him to prison for life, avoiding a possible death sentence.

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