Edwin Lara arraigned in California court

A murder suspect who sparked a manhunt in southern Oregon until he was caught in Corning, California, has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging he shot a man at a Yreka motel, carjacked and kidnapped a family and forced a Salem woman along for the ride.
Edwin Enoc Lara of Redmond stared straight down, occasionally flicking his eyes in a sideways glance, throughout his arraignment Friday in the Siskiyou County Superior Court on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, elder abuse, making criminal threats and carjacking.
“I believe there are no less than nine strikes involved,” said Joseph Allison, assistant district attorney for Siskiyou County, in asking Judge William Davis to refuse any bail, to which Davis agreed.
Lara was appointed Public Defender John Nosco, who declined to comment after the hearing.
Davis also agreed to postpone discussions on extraditing Lara to Bend, where he’s suspected in the death of Kaylee Sawyer, until a hearing scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Aug. 16.
“We need not address that today. Let’s get counsel in place,” he said.
Lara’s two-state crime spree began when he allegedly killed Sawyer, 23, of Bend. The Bend Bulletin has reported Lara told his wife, a Bend police officer, that while working security for Central Community College he hit Sawyer with his patrol vehicle. He told his wife he panicked and hid the body, the newspaper reported.
He then allegedly fled with his pistol, the paper reported. At some point he also forced Aundrea Maes of Salem to accompany him, Allison said. He declined to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding her disappearance.
“We’re not aware of anything that happened outside of this jurisdiction,” he said.
Lara, with Maes alongside, wound his way to the Super 8 motel in Yreka, California, where he forced Maes into a room and then shot a man, identified in the complaint as Jack Norman Levy, in the abdomen. Levy was taken to an Oregon hospital with serious injuries, Allison said.

Lara and Levy didn’t appear to know each other, Allison said. He didn’t know what type of gun was used in the shooting.
Lara had been looking to swipe a new getaway vehicle, Allison said. He obtained one when he carjacked a family in Yreka, taking three people, ages 17, 18 and 76, with him and Maes, Allison said.
He later let the family members go, but not Maes, before heading south, Allison said.
She was later found safe with him in a white Honda Accord after a California Highway Patrol officer spotted him speeding and tried to pull him over, officers said. After a 10-mile chase down Interstate 5, he surrendered in Corning, CHP has said.
The shooting victim, Levy, is in stable condition in a hospital in Oregon.
When Lara will be transferred to Oregon to face murder charges isn’t clear yet — Allison said the Siskiyou County District Attorney is in talks with his Oregon counterpart about extradition. Several factors can affect which case moves to trial first, Allison said.
Lara could face life in prison if convicted of the charges in California.