SALEM, Ore. -- A Salem pastor is thanking God that his great-niece is alive and safe.
“It could’ve ended very different,” said Jerry Miranda of Salem Tabernacle. “We’re grateful for the way it is right now.”
Miranda says his great-niece, 19-year-old Aundreah Maes, was at work at Ross until 8:45 p.m. Monday. Nobody could have guessed what would happen only minutes later.
“She was getting ready to leave in her car and a guy jumped in,” he said. “Had a gun and abducted her.”
Miranda says the guy was Edwin Lara. He was wanted for allegedly killing a woman in Bend early Sunday morning. Miranda says Lara drove Maes to Northern California where he allegedly shot a 72-year-old man at a motel and carjacked a woman with her kids in the vehicle.
“It’s a crime spree all the way down to California,” said Miranda. “Where he was going I have no idea.”
After a car chase that reached speeds of 100 mph, Lara’s run from the law ended. Authorities caught up with him and Maes. They were booked into jail.
“It was a crazy situation,” said Miranda. “I started hearing about the guy and what he’s accused of and it really made us very worried.”
Police believed Maes was Lara's accomplice because she appeared to be willingly with him in surveillance video from the motel where the shooting occurred. Video showed Lara going into the man's room and running out moments later, police said.
"They are running away. She's behind him," said Lt. Dave Gamache with Yreka police. "It doesn't appear she is doing anything to get away."
It was not until hours later that detectives pieced it all together. Maes was actually a victim. Authorities dropped charges and released her.
"Oregon authorities convinced us they believed she was a victim," said Gamache.
Maes is now back home, and reunited with her family. Her grandmother Elizabeth Maes says the family got back to Salem at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.
"She's resting now, and we just ask for everyone's prayers, that she can be able to erase all that drama that she has seen," said Elizabeth Maes. "I couldn’t believe. What I saw, what I heard, when I heard about the gentlemen. What he had done. And taken my granddaughter. She’s such a timid young lady, and then not knowing him at all. We don’t know him at all. Then driving all the way to California, that was terrible."
She says her granddaughter barely slept on the ride back to Salem, and was so traumatized, she couldn't eat. But she says, she is a strong woman, and hopes she will put this behind her.
"I was praying on my way there, that when I see her, that everything would be good. I would not see her trembling or being scared. And I didn’t see her like that. That’s a really good feeling that shes going to be ok," Maes said.
KGW's Rachael Rafanelli and Pat Dooris contributed to this story.