Murder of Cara Knott

Cara Evelyn Knott, a 20-year-old student at San Diego State University, disappeared on the night of December 27, 1986, while driving south on Interstate 15 from her boyfriend's home in Escondido, California, to her parents' house in El Cajon. She was last seen alive at a Chevron gas station about two miles from where she was later found. The following day, her car was discovered on a dead-end road at the Mercy Road offramp in San Diego County, and her body was recovered at the bottom of a 65-foot ravine near the Los Peñasquitos Creek Arch Bridge.

The investigation centered on Craig Alan Peyer, a thirteen-year veteran of the California Highway Patrol who had been on duty in a marked patrol vehicle in the area that night. Evidence developed during the investigation indicated that Peyer had directed Knott to pull off the freeway at the isolated offramp and that a struggle occurred in which Knott scratched his face before he assaulted and killed her. A gas station attendant recalled seeing a marked CHP car making a U-turn on the road shortly after Knott drove away. Two days after the murder, Peyer was interviewed on camera by a local television reporter and was seen with facial scratches, which he attributed to falling against a parking-lot fence; investigators later determined the fence was too high to account for the injuries. Witnesses also reported seeing a dishevelled Peyer driving at high speed near the time the murder was believed to have occurred.

Further investigation revealed that Peyer had a pattern of stopping women driving alone on the same offramp, and several women who had encountered him during traffic stops came forward after his television appearance, describing conduct that made them uncomfortable, including physical touching. Some women had complained about Peyer prior to Knott's death, but these complaints had reportedly been dismissed due to his standing within the CHP. Physical evidence tying Peyer to the crime included a distinctive gold rayon fiber on Knott's dress matching his uniform shoulder patch, tire tracks on the bridge, a blood drop on one of Knott's boots consistent with Peyer's rare AB-negative blood type, and rope found in his patrol vehicle that a forensic dentist determined was consistent with rope marks on Knott's neck, though that testimony was later barred from the trial. Alterations were also found in Peyer's patrol logbook and in several traffic tickets he had issued.

Peyer's first trial ended in a hung jury, split 7–5 in favor of conviction. At his second trial, evidence regarding a potential second suspect and a hearsay explanation for his facial scratches was ruled inadmissible. He was convicted of murder and, on August 4, 1988, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Peyer has refused to provide a DNA sample for testing and has been denied parole multiple times, including in 2004, 2008, and 2012, with his next hearing scheduled for January 2027. Cara Knott's father, Sam Knott, died of a heart attack in 2000 near the site where his daughter's body was found, at a memorial garden the family had built there.