Sword and Scale - Episode 166

Episode Date: July 19, 2020

July of 2016 was a bad month in Bend, Oregon. Isabel Ponce Lara woke up one morning to her husband, Edwin Lara, acting very strangely. The events that would follow over the next 2 days changed her life forever. Isabel’s life would not be the only one turned upside down. 5 families in total would be absolutely traumatized by Edwin Lara’s choices.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised You know, I didn't want to promote and to say to vorian Okay, Edwin, where are you at right now? Can you stop? I am gonna stop once I head ready. What I'm in ready, I'm gonna stop. I think can you tell me where you are right now? I have no idea. Hello, and welcome to season 7, Episode 166 of Sword and Scale.

A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. So we often record these episodes weeks in advance. So in the last plus episode I didn't get a chance to thank you. On June 21st, Oli, or Oliver, or Poo Bear, my dog of 16 years passed away. I was severely under-prepared for the grief that would come with that. Oli was the first dog I ever had. He was a pound puppy, and I remember when I adopted him, suddenly I felt normal. Like loving and caring for this little fur ball, and having this be my most important task in life, was how things should be.

The relationship between Oli and I outlasted six jobs, four moves, two marriages, and many more failed relationships, probably a midlife crisis or two. The entirety of the creation of this podcast, and a national tour. A lot of you met Oli during that. And that's also coincidentally how I ended up in Houston. I met the love of my life. She came over to pet that old sweet boy and we've been inseparable since. I miss my best friend. In the last few weeks have been tough, but I'd like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the sweet comforting messages you've posted on my Instagram and Facebook. I created

a short memorial for Olly there. That's how I was able to cope in the immediate hours and days after his passing. So if you'd allow me just one more indulgence, I'd like to dedicate this episode to him and to the unconditional love inside every dog's great big heart. If only the rest of us could take a cue from dogs. 31 year old Edwin Lara woke up next to his wife in his home in Redmond, Oregon on Sunday, July 24th, 2016. It was going to be a hot day, just like the day before. Edwin had arrived home from work very early in the morning, and got only a few hours of sleep before waking up for church around 7.30 a.m. The couple attended church together every weekend. His work schedule

was all over the place. To the point that his wife kept a calendar with the schedule on their fridge so she could refer to it when she wasn't sure when he'd be working. His job frequently required him to work weekends, often the night shift. On this particular weekend, Edwin had gone into work at 2pm on Saturday and didn't arrive home until after his shift was over, around 2 a.m. on Sunday. Despite his small window of time for slumber, missing church on Sunday was out of the question. Edwin was a part-time campus safety officer at Central Oregon Community College, his alma mater.

His wife, Isabelle, didn't work Saturdays, so she went to bed around midnight the night before. She didn't hear Edwin come home and climb into bed with her. She was sleeping heavily at the time. What mattered was that he was there when she awoke in the morning, and today he was. Something was off though. Edwin was acting strangely. He seemed shifty and nervous. Isabel could not have prepared herself for what was to come.

It was like a movie and it all happened so fast. Edwin and Isabel got up on Sunday, got ready and headed to their church service at La Roca Church in Bend. The service was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Are you noticing anything weird at all at this point? Oh yeah, so he was very quiet. Like on the way to church, wasn't same much. It was just unusual. My church, he was just very quiet, very withdrawn. Like he, what you should have grabbed my head or something. My church here was just very quiet, very withdrawn.

Like, he, when you should like grab my hat or something, it was in doing something, when we get out of the church, I asked him, what's wrong with you? What's going on? I don't know. You know, we've been together for a very long time, I know some things out. When your partner of many years suddenly starts acting cold, distant, and distracted, it's

usually something wrong, something directly causing it. We've all experienced it before. Isabel just wanted to know if it was something that she had done, something that perhaps she could fix. What was it that was causing Edwin to start acting so differently towards her? Put yourself in Isabelle's shoes. Those of us that have been in relationships know exactly what this feels like. She or he are mad and you don't know why. You keep asking what's wrong and they keep evading the question, saying nothing. She probably

thought that he'd gotten fired from his job the night before and didn't know how to tell her, or maybe he had cheated on her and was feeling guilty. Our minds go to the worst possibilities when something's wrong, and we start re-enacting these worst-case scenarios in our head, preparing to brace ourselves, or what has to come. But no possible worst-case scenario that Isabel concocted in her mind could ever even come close to what Edwin had actually done. And she was about to be slapped in the face by reality. You didn't ask him anything about it at that point though. No, because it's still in training at work. It's been stressful.

Sure. And it's just we've been talking about it just in the sense of like, so I don't make it. Yeah. So we've just been stressful in the sense of just trying to figure out. Sure. So I thought that maybe that's just, it was all together. I didn't push it.

Yeah, yeah. I didn't, I was just like, you know, I'm feeling down to myself. Absolutely, I was on the same exact thing. I didn't push it. I didn't cry. Isabel Ponce-Lara was in training to be a police officer. She talked about how both she and Edwin were under a lot of stress,

unsure that she would be able to make it through all the training. Things were kind of up in the air, and she thought maybe Edwin was just having a bad day. We've all had those two, and she herself had been having a lot of those lately. Once she and Edwin left church around noon according to Isabel, they grabbed pizza at Pizza Hut and went with a family member to see a movie at the theater. After dropping off the cousin back at his own house and arriving home in their Jeep, Isabel noticed something about the Nissan Altima Edwin had been driving the day before. The windows were cracked open. All of them. This was strange, because Edwin never let the windows down. So Isabel asked him about it, but he shrugged it off, reminding her that it was a very hot day. They went inside, took a shower together, had sex, and went to bed.

The next morning would change their lives forever. I woke up around 8.30, but I stood state of the head, and I got out like nine. Okay, was he in bed with you? It wasn't my way. Okay, so he was still in bed by the time you got out at nine. And how did your morning go?

So woke up, he told me, oh time you got out at night. And how did your morning go? So woke up. He told me, oh, you're getting up already. Was he usually sleeping? Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, I'm already awake. I'm like, we could continue sleeping. So he stayed in bed and I got up. I'm more than outside.

I turned on the water, sprinklers. I was just waiting for him to get up so we could start the morning. He comes out of the room and his eyes were all teary. That's what I'm like, what happened? Tell me what happened. So he sits on the sofa. I turn off the dewey and then he just says that. He's like, I killed a woman, that's what he said. I'm like, what do you mean? I think it's like I hit her with the car. And did he tell you which car? The car, the things at the job.

And what did you say to that? So I'm like, what do you mean you hit her? And it's like, I hit her and I panic. No, my, what do you mean by you hit her, panicking, what did you do? I don't remember exactly the words that he said. It's something that he hit her with the car, and then he panicked.

So then I asked him, like, that's what I was trying for him to explain to me. So you hit her with the car, that's an accident. Why, what do you mean you panic? What do you mean? What did he say? He just kept saying that panic and that the point he's already like he got up and he's already like going into the room and walking back and forth. Here Isabel was a budding police officer and her husband had just told her that he's involved in a hit and run. He had hit a girl with his car, killed her, and did not call 911. So when he's walking he walks to your bedroom?

Yeah, he walks to your bedroom. I think that's important that I followed him there and I'm like, explaining to me, way. What happened? Okay, so then he says, at some point, I don't remember, it was back at the living room, I went up because he was just walking back and forth. He said that he hit her with the car.

I asked him, well, where is there any sign that you hit her or what? And then he said that it was because of the grill, that no, there was no signs. And then I'm like, so what did you do with the body? What? And he's like, I hit her. And then I kept asking him, what is it got to do with you hitting her? And now you've got to make it and you hit the body. I was going to turn south of college way on the B4 law.

So I was going to turn south on the Nata Antir area there. And I didn't see her. She was wearing her blood. So I was in hurry, so it was my fault. And I wasn't expecting anybody, you know, on that time of night, so I turned and, and I mean, I didn't have her that hard, I used bumper with the control car,

went through with the front rack, and she fell down, and I first thought, you know, first thing I was all killed, I was like, I didn't head over that hard. So I got off the car and she was really drunk and then she looks at me and then she started screaming. She started screaming. You see the idol. Edwin's personal vehicle was that light blue Nissan Altima, but he drove a different car for work. It was a white SUV, and this part is really important to remember.

It resembled a police vehicle. Even though Edwin was a simple campus security officer, this car had lights on the exterior just like a cop car and a grill in the front. It also had a divider separating the front and back seats designed to hold a person in custody. It looks identical to local police cars all over the country aside from decals on the side which said central Oregon Community College Public Safety. How long did this conversation go on before he left? It was pretty brief. I don't think he grabbed anything other than he did grab my gun

from my purse. And then he just kept saying, I need to go. And then right before he left, he's like, there's her stuff in the shed. How did you say it, said it again? He says something in reverse. So there's her stuff that's in the. So her stuff is in the shed. Her stuff is in the shed.

And I think because I kept telling him, it doesn't make sense. It's like you're lying to me. It's not. So I feel like he told me that. So I could go see it and say, oh, it's true. Yeah.

Because it was a big sense to be not a picky. He was seeing that, like, how is your body? because it was a big sense to be not a dickie he was seeing that it was like I was a body winner like he felt like he felt like a movie like it just... it wasn't making any sense to me but when I saw the stuff I'm like oh fuck it was a big sense to me

because I was a pretty good and he said to me, because I was a big, and so many of them do that, especially you, especially them, I could say, he said. When Isabel looked inside the shed, hoping she wouldn't find anything, she was met with concrete evidence, a bloody purse, clothing items, and shoes greeted her menacingly when she opened the door, and she knew her normal life was about to become chaotic. When she returned to the house, Edwin, and the light blue Altima were gone, and he'd also taken her gun. Then she saw the local news on television. Sawyer was last seen early Sunday morning near her West Bend apartment parking lot

walking toward nearby Central Oregon Community College. Her mother says her daughter is very close to her family and it's very unusual for them not to hear from her for two days. They say they are worried sick and just want to get their Cayley back. The timeline seemed to add up. This girl, Cayley Sawyer, was last seen heading towards the campus Edwin worked at. And she'd also gone missing the same night that Edwin claimed

he hit a girl with his patrol car during a shift. Missing 23 year old Cayaley Sawyer has much of central organ on the lookout. Thousands of concerned residents spent the day putting up flyers and sharing their concern on Facebook. And we just contacted everybody and said, please get her face out there.

The incoming COCC student and Ben Native was last seen at 1am Sunday near the parking lot of her West Side apartment near COCC. One day goes by and then the next day goes by and pretty soon you're working up to, there's a much bigger problem here and it's hard to process the worry. Sawyer was texting her boyfriend Sunday morning when her phone dies. Since that time, the family says Keeley has not called

posted on social media or showed up to work. They say this is unlike her for some reason. She isn't getting in touch with us. And you know, the only thing I can think of is that somebody is stopping her. The ID inside the purse isabel Lara found in the shed looked just like the girl she was seeing on the news. She knew she had to do something.

People were still out looking for this poor girl, thinking she was alive. Isabel and Edwin were the only two people on earth who knew the truth. Kayleigh Sawyer was dead. Isabel jumped in her car and drove to the Redmond Police Department. She told officers all of what you just heard. By noon, the major crimes team had been activated and police were on the hunt for Edwin Lara. 23-year-old Kayleigh Sawyer was a bend-organ native. She worked as a dental assistant and wanted to eventually go back to school to become a dentist. She had just enrolled at Central Oregon Community College. She was blonde,

beautiful, and had absolutely perfect teeth, which people commented on constantly. Hey, why not be a billboard for your own profession, right? Kaylee lived in Bend with her boyfriend Cameron. They rented an apartment near the Community College campus, which was on the west end of the city. Saturday evening, July 23rd, Kaley went out bar hopping with some friends for a Bachelorette party. Late into the evening, she was seen dancing with a man who wasn't her boyfriend. This kind of thing happens from time to time. She's young, attractive. Her boyfriend wasn't there, and it was innocent dancing, with a little alcohol involved. You can see how something like this could easily happen. At the end

of the night, around midnight, Kayleigh texted her boyfriend Cameron to come pick her up from the bar. On their way home, the couple got into a bit of a spat. What sparked the argument, other than alcohol, is unclear. It could have been the dancing, or it could have been something else. Regardless, the fight continued into the parking lot at the couple's apartment building. The fight continued into the parking lot at the couple's apartment building. Kaylee was known to walk away from fights so she could cool down. And on this particular night, that's exactly what she did. Cameron left the car and went into the apartment, expecting Kaylee to follow at some point. When he went back down to the car to check on her, she was gone.

Again, she had been drinking and her judgment was pretty impaired. This is likely why she didn't see the obvious danger a young, drunk girl might face while walking alone in the dark. She just wasn't thinking about that. Cameron texted her. Where are you? Please come home and talk to me at least. You're being unfair. Are you kidding? What a joke. I'm sorry. I'm not good enough for you. I don't know how you can say that. If you wanted me, you could have me. You don't care. If you cared even a little bit, you know where I am. Sorry, I'm not as important as your phone.

Kaylee, please just come home and be with me. I don't want to play this game. I'll start searching, but please help me out. My phone is about to die. Bye. Please don't do this to me. I apologize for being upset when I picked you up. The two argued back and forth over text for a while.

The end of the conversation went like this. 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. Are you kidding? Because that's bullshit. Goodbye phone off. Kaley please.

That was the last time anyone heard from Kayleigh Sawyer. It was approximately 1 a.m. Meanwhile Edwin Laura was nearing the end of his shift as a public safety officer. Kayleigh was walking along the road, only a few blocks from her apartment building at this point. She was wearing a black dress, brown boots, and carrying her little green purse. Edwin pulled up along inside her in his patrol vehicle, which as we said, looked just like a cop car.

But the events that would follow did not match what Edwin had confessed to his wife, Isabel. Edwin had not accidentally hit Kayleigh with his vehicle. He somehow got her inside the car into that back seat that was meant for detainees. And she was screaming. The B12 lot. This parking lot was very secluded and Edwin knew this. He'd been patrolling the grounds as a campus safety officer for almost two years. This was a calculated move.

Kaylee was in the backseat of the patrol car, realizing something bad was about to happen. The doors had a child safety type locking system, so passengers in the back seat could not unlock the doors and leave the car themselves. She couldn't get up to the front seat either, due to the plexiglass divider. You can say exactly how you say it. Okay, so I want to give you a kiss. Just like that. It's like that. Okay. So she ends over the person on my phone. It's not in here.

She is. She goes, yes it is. So I start being in the first with this end. And I find phone is there. So, you know, very relieved. But at this time, she's struggling with the door. And I'm, you know, down the shut up.'m down in the shadow, shadow, shadow, shadow. You know what you felt when you found that phone?

And she was never going to get away because she had seen my face. And you already knew what you were going to do. She kept screaming, so Edwin pulled over and opened the door to the back seat. He grabbed her neck with his hands and tried to choke her out to hurt her down and my head will rock on the head. What Edwin failed to tell police was that his rage seemed to be sparked by her answer to one question. He asked her if she was a prostitute, and he requested sex offering to pay for it.

She refused, so he silenced her and took what he felt he was owed. At some point or another, something as minor as an offensive comment are you a hooker. I mean, honestly, what we've approached there is you possibly losing your job for offending somebody. People are offending every day. People lose their job for offending people every day. That all of a sudden became more important than the life of a human being that you say is equal. I think she honestly thought that I was gonna do something. You were, man.

That's the problem. Right now you were. You. That's the problem. Right now, you were. You absolutely. At first, at first I wasn't. Yes, you were. No, I wasn't. Well, let me back up. Let me back up. Let's just so this right now, when you saw that girl, and you picked her up, were your intentions to help her? Because your security guard guard on the campus and people look up to you. Was your intent to find some way to help her? Or was your intent to find a way to help her? Either by paying for sex or taking sex. And when things went south, you knew you had to kill her because now the person she looks to for safety and security wants something from her and she doesn't want to give. He grabbed a large rock and smashed it into her head.

When Kayleigh ceased to move, Edwin thought she was finally dead. He proceeded to rape her limp, motionless, helpless body. Kayleigh was still alive at this point. He must have thought, well, I'm already in trouble, I'd as well get what I was after from the beginning, now that she can't fight me off. Edwin realized Kaylee was still breathing when he initially dragged her into the woods. He hit her again with a large rock. These blows to her skull left her face, unrecognizable. During his police interview, Edwin carefully skirts around the topic

of sexual assault. He had no problem admitting that he'd killed Kaley, but he just couldn't accept the responsibility of raping her. He was a church-going, god-fearing man after all, and he was attempting to frame the whole incident around accidentally bumping into Kaley with his vehicle. And he, Any ill intent Edwin had that night, he continuously tried to cover up. Let me finish right because I know this because you said we were hookers. She's like no Immediately you go to give me your purse and your phone. Why didn't she wasn't gonna get out? She wasn't gonna survive that account. I was she No, you can't wait for it and let her live can you push you can't make a phone call it?

I don't have it. I wasn't gonna wait for it. We can't let her live that one. We're missing something here. Look yeah I know what you guys are thinking and it makes perfect sense it does Because why would you ask for her personal was in your head that made you want her purse because you know Just Kshadgun she could tell her she was gonna use her phone to call 911 Call for her so but listen to listen to this according to your story call 911. Call for it. So, but listen to this. According to your story, this is where it does not make sense.

If your intent isn't already there to do some kind of harm or some kind of evil to her, some friggin evil that's there, bro, it's there. You just gotta face it down, man. You can't cover away from it. You face that damn thing down right now. If you know the only way, if you don't have intent in her head, your thought is I've got to keep that phone away from her because she's going to call from hell before anything bad's even happened.

You've already made a decision. Am I right or am I wrong? Tell me so I made the decision that I have to science from. To kill her. Edwin left Kaley's body there, in the wooded area of the B-12 parking lot while he determined what his next moves would be. And there would be many. This legal hole Edwin was digging for himself would become deeper and deeper.

With his white patrol shirt now stained in blood, Edwin drove to the gym on campus to try to wipe his clothes clean. He must not have realized how difficult it is to remove blood and dirt from clothing, especially with water alone. He must not have seen a lot of tide commercials in his lifetime. At 150am, he checked his watch. He was scheduled to finish a shift at 2 a.m. And knew he needed to get to the main office and clock out. So I got there like around 2-1 or something like that. I was full of dirt and he wanted to talk to me about something and I was in facing him because I saw this scratch on my face.

And I was scared that he was gonna see them because I saw this scratch on my face. And I was scared that he was going to see it because I knew that you guys were going to investigate us. I knew that for sure. Because I'm not being stupid to people, right? Yes. So, I panic and you know, you see that I'm parking, I actually like I was doing something in the computer and I was just saying oh yes, yes And I tried telling him something but I was some nervous that I don't think he was able to understand me what I was saying equals what and I said it again

He wasn't able to understand me So again, I think he's left it like if they didn't ask me any more questions So at the end of the day he's left it like that. If they didn't ask me any more questions. But I don't think he realized anything bad. I just think he probably thought it was tired of himself because I thought I'm tired when I was home. Then when I was walking out, I'm like, okay, I need to get rid of her because if they find her up

and the boy 12, a lot, they got a lot of us. And it's gonna be me because Adam up in the boy 12th lot, they got a nose on him and it's gonna be me because I have a nose in the office. Edwin didn't want to waste any time getting Kayleigh's body out of there. He placed her behind a tree in the woods just off the B-12 parking lot, but it wouldn't be her final resting place. He left the office and got back into his personal car, the blue Nissan. I grew up trash can first from the Boyle Education Center from the New Stodero. I grew up trash can, I grew up trash bag. I drove up the hill, he ended up just put her head inside the bag. Put her in the trunk of my car, just a little bit. This married church-going man now had the dead body of a girl he had kidnapped and raped

in the trunk of his car. I wonder if he pictured God watching him do all these things, or if he compartmentalized the guidelines his religion laid out for him, leaving those rules only to apply to his public persona. grab their own big much risk everything off her. I could go Do her in the ditch And then I went back home and I was okay. They got fired pretty quick So I got a motor and put her somewhere else This second location where Edwin dumped Kaley's body would not be her final resting place either He just could not leave this poor girl alone. He went

on to move her a third time. So next day, actually it was the following night while my wife was sleeping. I guess got up without her noticing the elves. And when I left, and I went to the barricade, till it's the girl has a name, Kayleigh Sawyer, interesting that he chose to dehumanize her even further. Edwin wasn't feeling bad about what he'd done. He was becoming increasingly worried about what was going to happen to him when he got caught. And he knew he was going to get caught. This all becomes clear when he says this to investigators. I'd win quote felt bad. Because he's scared to die in prison. That's the bottom line. Who wouldn't be?

Then again, most of us don't go around killing and raping people. Most of us actually follow laws and try to treat other human beings with respect. But when Laura, on the other hand, had carnal desires that outweighed his religion and outweighed his sense of humanity. He just didn't give us shit. He wanted something and he took it, like an animal. Meanwhile, Kaylee, her life snuffed out, was laying in the bottom of a small canyon. Her boyfriend became concerned when he didn't hear back from her at all on Sunday July 24th, the day after she walked away from their argument angrily. Kaylee by now would have contacted someone, maybe her mother or father, one of her friends, someone, just to tell them that she was okay.

But no one had heard anything. Her phone was going straight to voicemail. Kaylee's boyfriend Cameron decided it was time to call 911. from our summary what you recommend I do. We can put it in a column we can have officer's deputies look for. Okay and where was she last seen us? College way. College in what? Outputment of the Department complex. It's like at the Department College way. In that department complex? Yes. In a specific department or in the parking lot?... In the parking lot. Just in the parking lot?

You get a little bit of dirt or... Yes, we lived there together. And it was last night. Yeah. That was tough. It was like one o'clock in the morning. Take out walking or something. Like, you know, just mad.

Yeah, I walked. She was mad at me. So I walked inside and told her to come meet me and then when she was like calm down. Then I went back out in 10 minutes and she was gone and I called her a few times and she said she was walking down the street and then I guess she said her phone is about to die and then she, I couldn't get hold of her after that, I haven't heard from her sense. Okay.

She took off her foot. Yes. And does she have a vehicle with the park in the parking lot? She has a vehicle that's parked at her friend's house. And I've been over there and talked to her friend and she hasn't heard from either. And the vehicle's still there? Yep. What's the color making model?

It's a Subaru Impreza. And it's like a dark, grayish blue. She has a new plate on it. I don't. That's fine. And it's parked at her, raised blue. Do you have any other plate on it? I don't. That's fine. And it's parked at a front house? Yes. Any idea where she would go or... I think it's she'd go where her car was, her best friends, or her mom's.

I've been over to both. Talk to her dad and I just haven't heard anything from anybody knowing us. Okay. The people in Kaley's life knew how important her job was to her. They were patiently waiting and hoping she would show up for work the next day. At around 7pm that Sunday, after Kaley's loved ones seemed to have exhausted all their search efforts, Kaley's mother called 911. Yes, I need to have an officer call me.

My daughter is missing and she is over 23, but she has epilepsy and some medical issues. What's the address they're missing from? She and her boyfriend, they live up at the region. She is by COCC. I don't have the exact address. Okay. Are you able to get it? I am driving up there right now to talk with him and see what's going on so I can call back.

They were all looking for her thinking she was alive at the time. You can almost hear it in their voices. The lack of sheer panic we usually hear in calls reporting people missing. Kaylee, after all, was an adult. And she had walked away after an argument with her boyfriend. There were so many possibilities, and at this point, it seemed too soon for everyone to be fretting over the worst-case scenario. Then Monday rolled around.

Kaley didn't show up for work. Isabel Lara made her way to the Redmond Police Department to report her husband's actions to police. That is, the little she actually knew about his true crimes. Edwin had gone on the run, and by 5pm after the major crimes team had been activated, the court granted a search warrant for Edwin's home and car. Items were immediately recovered, including the bloody purse Isabel found in her shed with Kayleigh's passport inside. That right there is some pretty damning evidence.

Well, as we're learning more about this, let's summarize what we know at this point as officials are putting together the pieces on this very complex case. Now on Sunday night around 7 p.m. the family of Kayleigh Sawyer made a report to the Ben Police Department regarding her disappearance. They say she went missing from her West Ben Department, you know, the Central Oregon Community College campus sometime after 1 a.m. Sunday morning. By 11.30 last night, the Central Oregon major incident team who is working on Kayleigh's disappearance changed the investigation from a missing person case to a homicide investigation. Edwin Lara is a 31-year-old Redmond resident currently employed at CUCC working as a

part-time campus public safety officer. We've recently learned that Laura's wife Isabel Ponce-Laura, as I mentioned, is a Ben police officer who yesterday morning reported her husband potential involvement in this investigation. Despite Isabel's pleads to her husband to turn himself in, Edwin went on to do the unthinkable. Over in Salem, Oregon, about a two and a half hour drive from Redmond, a 19-year-old girl named Andrea Mays was getting off of work. She'd worked a double shift at Ross Dressed for Less. It was around 9pm when she headed to her car.

She sat inside for a while, checking social media and decompressing after work before driving home. He was mindlessly snapchatting people and scrolling through her Facebook, feeling relatively safe inside her car. The doors were locked, which can sometimes make you feel like you're in your own little armored protection vehicle, a false sense of safety. As a young girl coming out of work alone in the dark, that's often the first thing you'll remember to do.

Get in your car, lock the doors. However, on this evening, Andrea left her window cracked a little bit for airflow. Just as she was sending a message to someone, the thud of a body ramming up against the side of her car shocked her into attention. An arm came through the window and Edwin Laura entered her vehicle with a backpack and a gun pointed right at her. He told her to drive. At first, Andrea thought this man only needed her to drive down the street to drop him off. She soon found herself on the highway for hours upon hours through the night, and she

realized she had no idea what might be happening to her. She didn't know what Edwin's intentions were, and she certainly had no idea at this point that Edwin had killed a girl close to her own age and was on the run from authorities. He would go on to threaten her with that information later on. The first stop after a few hours of driving was a motel. The plan was to rent a room and stay the night, and Edwin most likely planned on sexually assaulting Andrea inside that room. Video footage shows Edwin and Andrea talking to the clerk about reserving a room.

Before walking up to the window, Edwin explained to his hostage that they were to act like boyfriend and girlfriend. Edwin forced Andrea to hold his hand and reminded her that if she said anything or made eye contact with the clerk, he was not afraid to kill them both. Andrea wanted desperately to convey to this clerk somehow that she was in horrible trouble. The clerk didn't catch any of her facial expressions or seemed to think anything was a rye. She and Edwin then drove around the building to the room they had rented, and Edwin handcuffed

Andrea to the bathroom door and blindfolded her while he showered. He then forced her to swallow sleeping pills, threatening that if she did not comply, he would inject the sleeping pills into her forcibly. Andrea tried her best to stay awake throughout the night. She felt Edwin encroaching on her personal space and nibbling at her earlobe. An alarm on her phone went off, and she brilliantly told Edwin that it was a reminder for her to take her medicine. She explained to him that she had a really, really nasty STD, her which she had to take medicine every day.

This story, Andrea concocted on the spot, could be the only reason she evaded sexual assault that night. The next morning, they began driving again. Andrea's car was leaking oil and Edwin knew they needed to ditch it. He refused to let her go with the car. He needed her as a hostage at this point, for protection against law enforcement. He knew that they would eventually catch up with them. At around 5 a.m., they pulled into the parking lot of a super-ate motel in Wyrika, California. Edwin spotted a man unloading things from his car into his motel room and told Andrea that was the car

they were going to take. When unfolded over the next few minutes occurred and what felt like seconds. Number one, what's your emergency? Hi, it's Karen at CHD. Hi. Hey, I just transferred a call to medical at Super8 Motel. The manager there said there's a gentleman who says you got shot in the stomach. Time to blank down and room 108. 108. All right, Kirin, I want to give you for the guys. Okay, thank you. Bye. This man was another casualty of the tornado named Edwin Laura, ripping through two states

and demolishing anything in its path. If he knew he was going to get caught like he claimed so many times, why did he drag out this crime spree for so long? Why not just cut to the inevitable and turn yourself in? Andrea and Edwin followed the 73 year old man who was unloading things from his car. They followed him into his motel room and Edwin demanded the man hand over the keys. When the man screamed for help, Edwin yelled that he would shoot him if he didn't stop yelling.

The man yelled again, and Edwin shot him in the stomach. After Andrea and Edwin ran out of the room, the man was able to call 911 and received medical care, which saved his life. Edwin Laura and his hostage ran a little over a hundred yards down the road to a gas station. Edwin's eyes darted around for another vehicle that they could steal. Time was running out, and he needed to get back on the road. He spotted the vehicle that they would take.

A family had been traveling inside the targeted car when they needed to stop for gas. The father and grandfather were inside using the restroom, while two teenage boys and their grandmother were waiting inside the car for them to return. Edwin grabbed Andrea and the two started walking towards the car. Edwin threw Andrea into the vehicle and pointed a gun at the oldest teen's head yelling, drive or all shoot. The teen began driving south on the inner state with his grandmother, brother, Andrea and Edwin in tow.

Edwin now had four hostages. While they drove, the teens in the car would later recount to investigators that Hedwin told them the whole story of how he had killed two people. He explained that he used to be a good man, a religious man with a wife, living a good life, and then the urge to kill just crept up on him, and he had to act on it. So, he did. Could Edwin Laura have been a serial killer in the making? Many seem to think so, which makes you wonder how many other people out there, close to you, have there? Close to you.

Have the same desire to kill. The teens somehow convinced Edwin to let them stop the car and get out. Miraculously, he allowed it. They pulled over and the two boys and their grandmother were abandoned on the interstate. Andrea was still held captive inside the car. Edwin took Andrea's cell phone and in between calling his friends and family to speak to them before the inevitable happened. He recorded a video that he wanted her to post on her Facebook timeline. I apologize for everything I've done. Looks like I'm gonna get caught.

And, uh, sorry about that girl standing working. All he says is, sorry about that girl. His tone is so flat and emotionless. It's absolutely appalling to hear that lack of remorse coming directly from his mouth. And as one to let family members grow up and she's fine and she will be fine

because so far she's been doing what I've been calling you to. You know, and if you guys are wondering if I have done 30 things to hurt or not, all right, I'm not that kind of guy. Now, I know this clip was getting really good and I'm interrupting again, but Edwin Laura really just said, I'm not that kind of guy in reference to sexual assault. Let's think about that for a second.

Not only is he placing sexual assault on an elevated level of evil beyond murder and desecration of a body. But he's also claiming that he's not someone who would ever sexually assault anyone. We know that he sexually assaulted Kalei's body after he thought she was dead. We know that he intended on assaulting Andrea in that hotel room. That's how this all started. Yet here, Edwin is trying to convince the public

that he's just not that kind of guy. What a douche. And I just killed another girl, you know, I regret it. I regret killed her. No, she's kept screaming and had to sign her forever. So, you know, at night she still finds her driving and she'll be home pretty soon. I'm sorry to her grandma and her family members, to her boyfriend.

You know, I'm sorry. Everything that I caused. You'll see her pretty soon. Okay, so the cops said, not the shooter, because if the shooter, I'm not talking about my phone. Sorry, everybody. Bye. This could have actually helped her potentially, but she was embarrassed. She didn't want her Facebook friends to see the post. She changed the privacy settings on the video so that only she could view it once it was posted. Not sure exactly what she was thinking by doing that.

As Edwin flew down the highway going over 120 miles an hour, a highway patrol officer spotted him and began pursuit with no knowledge of who was in the car. He was just hoping to pull over this car the end. There was no way out aside from surrendering. He did not want to be killed by police. No, I know no emergency reporting. Yes, I, this is Edwin Lara, and I'm the guy on Interstate 5. When I high-speed, I know you guys have the shop around me already. Yeah.

And yeah, I just want to say I am going to turn myself in. Okay, where are you at? Okay, I'm on I-5. I think close to reading if I'm right. So, you know, I didn't want to promote her in the state of Oregon. Okay, Edwin, where are you at right now? Can you stop? I am going to stop once I head ready. Once I'm in reading, I'm going to stop. If you can, you tell me where you are right now. I have no idea. Okay. I'll let you, there's a side right here. 50 miles from forning.

50 miles south or north of forning. Are you by yourself or? No, I have someone with me. I kidnapped her in Oregon. She's in his tent. Her name is Andrea. What's your name? He doesn't know.

I'll let her give her a Latin speaking color family. Okay. Okay. Give me a second. What's your name? Hello. Yeah, hi. What's your name? Andrea.

Andrea, what's your last name? Name. M-A-E-S. Okay. Are you heard at all, Andrea? No. No, okay. Do you know where you are?

Let me talk to Edwin again. Okay. All right. Hello. Yeah, Edwin. You're heading south down on five. Yeah I'm heading south down on five. Sorry did you make it past Reading yet? I think I did. I'm 50 miles from warning. Your 50 miles from Corning? Yeah one five, 15. Oh 15 miles from Corning. Yes.

So I'm passing a state Trooper Highway Patrol right now. You're what sir? I'm passing the Highway Patrol. Okay, where are you at though? I am a florist, having you one mile from florist avenue. One mile from florist? Are you able to safely sign somewhere to stop? I'm not going to stop right here.

I'm just going to throw my filf in and warning. Okay. Are you going to warning right here. I'm just going to trim myself in and warning. Are you going to warning police or where are you going? Yeah, I'm going to warning police, but I want to ask you a favor. So have asthma. You have asthma? Okay. Yeah, so you sell them not to be too rough on me because I can't be breathed right now. That's all I want to say. You need any kind of medical or? be breathed right now. Alright, so that's all I want to say. You know, I don't want to.

Yeah, well, I think so. I'm going to be my inhaler. I forgot my inhaler at home. You know, I went all over all over, uh, uh, uh, Taylor Morgan looking for, uh, for an inhaler, but I guess it'll sell it, you know, behind the counter. Well, who thinks to grab their inhaler from home before they kidnap four people and engage in a high-speed police chase? Look and blame them, really. It was just an easy mistake to have made. This 911 operator is being so sickeningly sweet and helpful in this situation, even when a self-admitted murderer and kidnappers asking her to make sure police are easy on him.

It's ironic because many of the 911 calls made by victims of violent crime include operators that are unprofessional and downright rude. But she's nice, you know? But it's understandable in this instance that the operator may have been acting a certain way so that she could coerce Edwin into pulling over immediately rather than waiting until he got to his destination. Edwin, how fast are you going? I'm going about 120 miles an hour. You been about 120 miles an hour? Yes. Take you slow down.

Well, I want to make it there quick. That way I can turn myself in. Well, the officer sees you with it. We just don't want you to speed away from anything. If you can stop it and give yourself in or it will probably be easier. Well, there is an officer behind me right now. Okay. They see you. We're talking to them. They see you. Yeah, she's being me. I think she's right behind me.

Okay. The officer sees you. And are you able to safely stop? Yeah, I can stop, but not right now. I'll stop in warning. What's the difference from stopping now in warning? I use the one to stop right here in the middle of the road, putting myself in danger and putting everybody of danger, more in danger, I guess. You know, they won't.

They're away. I let them know they won't, but if you can stop, say, they just don't want you to run. They don't think you're Trying to run or anything. Okay. And would you have any weapons with you? Yeah. That's what I was going to say. Do have a gun on me.

I am not going to flash the gun. So you tell him not to shoot me. I don't want to die. Okay. You stick to your words. I'll let them know. Yeah. I'm not.

Yeah. I'm going to let them know. You know, don't hurt and drag. You know, she's a him know. You know, don't hurt Andrea. You know, she's a nice girl. You know, don't hurt her. I'm actually following my family. You have to stay by to them.

So once I'm, once I'm done, calling on my family, then I'll turn myself in. Okay, we can get out of your family if you want. I already told my wife. I call a lot of people already. I am, I am wanted for the death of Kayley Sawyer at Ben Oregon. What's the girl saying Kayley what? Sawyer? Sawyer? Yes. And she was from Ben Oregon? Yes. I want to say that it was an accident. I, uh, so I worked for Campus Quality Safety there. And she was really drunk and I didn't see her and I run her over.

Okay. And then, after that, you know, I just, she was still breathing and then she was pre-me. And I was excited and excited and very forever. Okay. And I am very remorseful to that. And, you know, I know her. Okay. And are you able to stop the officers behind you?

They don't know if you're running in the staff or are trying to run from them. So if you can safely stop, they'll have a free block and nobody will get hurt if you just try to stop you. Okay. Do you want me to read the police for you? Your time. Are the officers the police officers' plates? No, no, no. You don't need to read the plate for you? Your time. As the officer, the police officer's plate? No, no, no, you don't need to read the police officer's plate.

Okay, because I want her to use getting in front of me as you can. Why do you want her to come to you? She can move. She can move over the train. I'm not going to shoot anybody from it. I know, but you have to realize they have to take care of it for their safety. And for your safety as well. Do you understand that? Yeah, I understand. Okay. Alright, so I'm about to get the warning. I'm like four miles away. Okay, where are you at now? Can you tell me where you are? I am four miles from forney.

Okay. So, the girl that's the two-hole, does she? Andrea, how old is she? How old are you? She's 19. 19 years' age, okay. He really does not like taking responsibility for things, does he? Barrow is an interesting word choice. So are you going to stop? Yeah, maybe. I will stop right now. I'm just checking up. I mean, I'm checking. I understand.

And it's probably. I don't want to get shot. I'm making it. OK. I will let them know. But you need to make sure you just listen carefully. OK? OK. Yeah, you just let you know I have a bullet know that you need to make sure you just listen carefully, okay? Okay, you have to let you know I have a bulletproof head, too.

Are you wearing it? Yes. Okay. Okay. Well, you're not going to try to do anything, right? No, I'm not. Do you want me to throw my gun out of the window right now? No, no, no, no, no, don't do that right now.

All right. I just want you to stop safely. How can you just give it to Andrea? She wants to kill me. No, no, no, don't do that right now. All right. I just want you to stop safely. How can you give it to Andrea? Do you want to kill me? No, no, no. You don't want to do that to her and yourself. All right.

I'm just going to call her grandma and apologize. And then I'll stop. You know, right now, let's just kind of worry about, do you stop? Okay. Does we're about stopping and getting you guys both safe? Okay. All right. Okay, I'll stop. I'll hang up now.

I'm going to stand the line with you, okay? Okay. Well, basically, or technically, it's illegal to stop on the phone and drive, right? You know, if you're calling in an emergency and you know what, this is just a total of different circumstances, okay? How iconic. right you know if you're calling an emergency and you know what this is the total difference circumstances okay how iconic a murderer and rapist is worried about cell phone laws on the highway I know this is being recorded and you know I just want to say the family of of Kaylee that you know I am sorry I'm sorry for what I did to her and in time i will tell them

where the body is you know i will just always you can rest in peace you want to let me know or just have this recorded word is no i remember okay so i mean hopefully the police officer should shoot me you know and i'll survive, you know. What this coward is saying in so many words is that he was trying to preserve his own life above all else. He's saying, you better not kill me or you'll never find out where Kayleigh's body is. Okay, are you able to safely just pull over then so the officers don't keep them chasing

you. Just pull over. Yeah, I'll pull over then so the officers don't keep them chasing you just pull over. Yeah, I'll pull over right now. Okay, I'll let you talk to Andrea. Okay, I just don't hang up. I'm not. Hello. Yeah, hi, Andrea. Are you okay? You don't need any medical or anything?

No. Okay, so Edward, where is his gun at? Does he have it? Oh! I don't know. Can you see it? He said he had it between his eyes. Is he stopping?

Yeah. He is stopping? Okay. Make sure your hands are up to you and stuff. I know you're on the phone right now, but just hold your hand on the big hand. You're in the phone right now. But just hold your hand on the big hand. Okay.

I'm going to stand in line with you until the officers get there, okay? And you're going to be okay. Andrea? Does that one have the hand up? Yes. Does that have the hand up? Okay. Does that make sure that the officer is there?

Hey, where are you? Donald McQueen. He can't see that he can't hear you. Do I get out? Or are you doing? Tell him we're letting the officer know that he can't see that he can't hear us. Do I get out or do I? Tell him we're letting out so that he can't hear us. He's already walking towards them. He's walking towards them.

Tell him to make sure he holds his hands up. Yeah, he is. He is. Tell him to turn around and walk towards them. He can walk backwards towards them. I can't. He's too far. Okay. And if you want to do the same once he gets out and stuff, just learn around and back up. Walk backwards towards him.

Don't walk facing him. Okay. Do I stay on the line with you? Once you get out, I'll go ahead and disconnect the line once you get out. Can you see, do they have him in custody already? They're putting the cops on him right now. Put the cops on him? Yeah. Okay, I'm going to hang up and get out and you walk backwards towards them with your hands

up, okay? Okay. Okay, Andrea, it's going to be okay. She told me to stay in the car. I'm going to just stand the car. Okay, then whatever instructions they gave you, then do that. This nightmare was almost finally over for Andrea. But the police still had to treat her like she was a threat.

How traumatizing this whole ordeal must have been. To have been kidnapped, held hostage, and then treated like a criminal when she was finally released by her captor. When police finally had Edwin in custody, sitting down at an interrogation table, they had one goal in mind, finding Kayleigh's body. Alright, so here's the thing I just want to get to the nitty-gritty. We have not been able to find a candy spotty. Can you please help me find her body immediately before we start talking about anything else? Oh, the reason why I'm asking you that is I've done this a bunch of times.

I want to tell you where the body is. Yeah, I do. But I want to get on first. Okay. If this information gets to other people, uh, you were like, oh yeah, I'm going to tell you but only tell you what I want. They might try to think of this about something different than what it is. And so I need you to remember that it doesn't matter so much about what happened is what you do now. remember that it doesn't matter so much about what happened is what you do now. And you know this man. I'm not.

I'm not. I want to do a map. Edwin drew a map to the canyon that he had thrown Kayleigh's body into. It was off highway 126 about 10 miles outside of Redmond, Oregon. Her face was unrecognizable and her family had to identify her body based on a tattoo Kaley had on her wrist. Here's the bend organ district attorney speaking on the overview of the case. The entirety of Edwin Lars' crimes was devastating to the community and to those who had to investigate

it. Even the DA himself begins to get emotional while talking about Kayleigh. The autopsy revealed that Kayleigh died as a result of blunt force trauma to her head. Her injuries further indicate that she fought for her life. This was investigation, the likes of which the shoots county has never seen. It started as a missing person's case. Then it became a case with a murder that occurred in one location, a body being moved to two different locations,

a kidnapping, an accounting on the other side of the Cascade Mountains, followed by an attempted murder in California, a car jacking in California, and a high-speed chase. The Schutes County residents should be proud of the top notch and professional investigation that was done by our local law enforcement officers. Edwin did not go to trial. He pleaded guilty to his crimes and was sentenced to life Edwin did not go to trial.

He pleaded guilty to his crimes and was sentenced to life and prison without the possibility of parole. The work wasn't done in Kayleigh's family's eyes, however. Her family filed a lawsuit against Central Oregon Community College, alleging that the campus atmosphere was a breeding ground for abuse of power at the hands of campus safety officers. They claimed that these officers had an attitude of being above the law. They had vehicles that looked like cop cars, they had uniforms, very reminiscent of those that police officers wear, and they were even given handcuffs and bulletproof vests.

These campus safety officers did not go through the same training police officers must complete. This past May, the Oregon governor signed a bill until law that would prevent campus safety officers from having anything that looks like actual law enforcement equipment. This law prohibits rooftop lights, push bumpers, and dividers between front and backseats inside campus safety vehicles. The vehicles must also have GPS and an interior recording system. The law prohibits officers from stop and frisk type procedures, and more in-depth background checks and psychological evaluations will be required before a new officer is hired. This law has already gone into effect and it's

called Kaley's Law. There's a long heartbreaking list of people whose lives were changed because of Edwin Laura's decisions. Kaley's family chose to try to make change to legislation in her honor, to protect other students from yet another sect of authority actively abusing their power in this country, and in this case, it worked. . That does it for this episode of Sword and Scale. It's nice to be back after Summer Break. And we've got a whole lot of fascinating stories coming up for you this year, but more importantly, we have a plus perk.

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