Edwin Lara, the Central Oregon Community College public safety officer accused of killing 23-year-old Bend resident Kaylee Sawyer, pleaded not guilty Friday to attempted murder and a host of other charges in California’s Siskiyou County Superior Court in connection with an alleged shooting and kidnapping there.

Lara, 31, was apprehended Tuesday in Corning, California, after allegedly shooting a man at a Yreka motel and kidnapping three people, according to the Redding Record-Searchlight.

He was charged Tuesday in Deschutes County with one count of murder in connection with the death of Sawyer, a dental assistant who was reported missing Sunday. She died by blunt force trauma.

Lara pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, kidnapping, making criminal threats, elder abuse, assault with a deadly weapon and carjacking, according to the Record-Searchlight. Lara is being held without bail in the Siskiyou County jail.

The possibility of extraditing Lara to Oregon was not discussed in court Friday and was postponed to Lara’s next scheduled court hearing Aug. 16 in Siskiyou County, according to the Record-Searchlight.

After leaving Oregon, Lara allegedly took a 19-year-old woman from Salem, Aundrea Maes, to a Super 8 motel in Yreka, according to the Record-Searchlight. He allegedly forced Maes into a room and shot a man, Jack Norman Levy, in the abdomen, according to the newspaper.

Levy was hospitalized, and Siskiyou County Assistant District Attorney Joseph Allison said it did not seem that Lara and Levy knew each other, the newspaper reported.

Lara allegedly then carjacked a vehicle containing three people — ages 17, 18 and 76 — with him and Maes. He later released the family, although he kept Maes with him, the newspaper reported. The three people were not identified by name in the criminal complaint.

After a 10-mile pursuit on Interstate 5, Lara was apprehended by the California Highway Patrol in a white Honda Accord, according to the Yreka Police Department. Maes was initially arrested but released later Tuesday when it became apparent she was another alleged victim, according to Yreka Police.

Once extradition is addressed, Lara is expected to be taken to Oregon to have the murder charge tried first, according to Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel.

Hummel said Thursday he anticipated the case would go before a grand jury in Deschutes County in the next couple of weeks; the grand jury will decide whether there is sufficient probable cause to charge Lara with a crime in connection with Sawyer’s death.

Lara told his wife, Bend Police Officer Isabel Ponce-Lara, late Monday morning that he had run Sawyer over with his work vehicle and had disposed of her body, according to police reports released Tuesday. He then left the area by car with his pistol. Ponce-Lara reported what he’d told her to Redmond Police.

Sawyer’s body was found Tuesday off state Highway 126 near milepost 100, in an area known as Dry Canyon between Redmond and Sisters, according to Bend Police.

The cause of Sawyer’s death was determined to be blunt force trauma, though authorities have not disclosed what weapon or instrument might have caused the fatal injury.

Attorneys in Oregon have been barred by a court order from discussing the details of the case publicly.

— Reporter: 541-383-0376, cwithycombe@bendbulletin.com