On the night of December 27, 1986, 20 year-old Cara Evelyn Knott left her boyfriend’s home in Escondido, California, in northern San Diego County. He had been severely ill — so sick that Knott had stayed with him overnight to help him recuperate. She was heading for her parents’ home in El Cajon in the southwest part of the County. The route there took her along Interstate 15.
Knott never reached her parents’ home. Concerned that she had indeed left her boyfriend’s home, they began retracing her route. They eventually located her Volkswagen Beetle on December 28 on the Mercy Road offramp, on the west side of I-15. In 1986, that off-ramp was a dead end, possible connecting to future development.
Knott’s vehicle ran fine, and it was briefly unclear why a young woman would abandon her car, in running condition, in such a remote spot. Tragically, though, Knott’s body was soon located, at the bottom of a deep ravine below a nearby bridge. There was an odd circular contusion above one of her eyes, and she had been strangled with a rope or similar instrument.
A day or so later, a local television station broadcast a report about the danger of motorists leaving their cars if they had engine trouble or ran out of gas; this was in the days before ubiquitous cell phones, and only wealthier people could afford a “car phone,” which had to be installed in the vehicle. The reporter went on a ride-along with 13-year CHP veteran Craig Peyer. Peyer advised the public to remain with their cars if stranded. (One problem, of course, was that Knott’s car had ben in running condition.) The report also publicized a hotline seeking evidence about the case.
The hotline did lead to tips, though not the kind investigators anticipated. Nearly two dozen calls, almost all from women, reported that they had been directed to pull down the Mercy Road offramp by a highway patrolman, who often kept them waiting for extended periods, often discussing his personal life. In some cases, he actually sat with them in the front seat of their cars. He was not physically aggressive, but some reported that he stroked their hair or shoulders. And they were all young women, many with long hair — like Cara Knott.
The officer’s name? Craig Peyer.
Once the investigation focused on him, Peyer’s odd behavior became the first of an accumulating mound of evidence. Knott had stopped for gas only two miles north of the Mercy Road offramp, putting her at that site between 8:30 and 8:45. His log book showed his actions before and after that time but then there was a poorly-executed attempt to erase something and substitute an entry showing him miles away from Mercy Road; the times he issued some tickets that night were also altered.
Peyer was seen at a gas station that night with fresh scratches on his nose, and they were still visible during that television interview. He gave an account of getting them from falling against a fence — but the fence was the wrong height to have inflicted them.
The evidence continued to accumulate. Investigators found a rope matching the marks on Knott’s neck in his patrol unit’s trunk. They found a yellow fiber matching those on Peyer’s shoulder patch on Knott’s clothing. And a few blood drops on her body and clothing, possibly from the scratches on his nose, matched Peyer’s blood type.
Peyer was soon charged with Knott’s murder. He never testified, so exactly what happened on that off-ramp is unknown. But based on Peyer’s behavior during the other traffic stops he made, he may have gotten more aggressive with her, and she resisted, perhaps inflicting the scratches. Or she might have complained about the lengthy delay, leading to a confrontation.
Prosecutors argued that, whatever instigated him, Peyer likely struck her with his service flashlight; the rim around the lighted end matched the mark on her face. And then, panicking, he strangled her with the rope and threw her body off the nearby bridge.
There were two trials of Craig Peyer. The first, which went to trial in February, 1988, led to a mistrial; after a week, the jury hung 7-5 favoring conviction. The District Attorney retried Peyer the following summer, and this time he was convicted of second degree murder — the first highway patrolman ever convicted of committing murder on duty.
Peyer was sentenced to 25 years to life, and remains in prison as of this writing. His long refusal to accept responsibility for his crime has led to repeated denials of parole; he next comes up in January, 2027 when he will be 77.
Cara, of course, remains frozen at age 20, a young woman who never got to become old.
Frank Zotter, Jr. is a Ukiah attorney.
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