Women Cite Incidents With Accused Officer

A day after the arrest of a California Highway Patrol officer accused in the strangulation murder of a San Diego State University student, at least four women drivers came forward with reports that they had been stopped under unusual circumstances by the same officer.

The women said they were pulled over near the same Interstate 15 off-ramp bridge where the murder of Cara Evelyn Knott, 20, occurred. None said they were harmed or threatened by the accused officer, Craig Alan Peyer, but all described his behavior as unusual.

Peyer, 36, charged with murdering Miss Knott apparently during a traffic stop on the night of Dec. 27, appeared for arraignment in Municipal Court on Friday, but the hearing was rescheduled for Jan. 21 at the request of lawyer John Phillips, retained by Peyer for Friday’s hearing. Phillips requested the delay to give Peyer time to decide on a defense attorney.

Judge Herbert J. Exarhos ordered Peyer held without bail and granted a prosecution request to keep a 50-page declaration for an arrest warrant under court seal. The declaration is believed to contain details of the investigation and prosecutors said its disclosure could lead to pretrial publicity that might force a change of venue in the case.

Peyer, a Poway resident and father of two, said nothing in court Friday but told a television reporter as he was led out of his home by police Thursday night, “And I didn’t even do it.”

He was described by neighbors Friday as popular and reliable and by a fellow officer as a thorough professional.

Details of the investigation remained scant, but Deputy Dist. Atty. Joseph L. Van Orshoven told reporters that prosecutors do not intend to seek the death penalty, saying that the case does not meet the special circumstances specified in the state’s capital punishment law.

Van Orshoven said that Peyer probably pulled over Miss Knott’s car while she was en route to her El Cajon home after visiting her boyfriend in Escondido.

Miss Knott was strangled and her body was thrown off a bridge into a creek bed off Interstate 15 near Poway in northern San Diego County. She had been stopped on the bridge, which is on Mercy Road just off Interstate 15. Her body was found on the morning of Dec. 28, by her brother-in-law after an all-night search by family members who became concerned when she did not arrive at her home. The woman’s Volkswagen was found on the bridge with the keys in the ignition.

Her body was fully clothed and Coroner David Starke, whose office performed an autopsy, said there was no evidence that she had been sexually assaulted.

Sam Knott, the woman’s father, said his daughter had taken two rape defense courses at San Diego State University. Knott said his daughter was cautious and that the family became concerned when she did not arrive after calling ahead to let the family know that she was en route home.

Van Orshoven revealed Friday that CHP officials had discovered several “irregularities” in citations that were issued to women drivers by Peyer. However, he declined to elaborate when the citations were issued, when they were determined to be “irregular” by CHP officials, or what made the citations unusual. CHP officials determined that the irregularities were not serious enough to warrant any action against Peyer, Van Orshoven said.

Ben Killingsworth, chief of the CHP’s border division, Friday repeated his earlier assertion that until Peyer’s arrest, he was considered an exemplary officer with a clean record.

“He was under no investigation, in no trouble,” Killingsworth said. “There was nothing going on at the time this occurred or even up to the time the Police Department expressed some interest in talking to him.”

However, four women have told local reporters of what they described as unusual stops allegedly made by Peyer.

All of the women are young, attractive and have shoulder-length hair. They said they remember thinking it was strange for an officer to tell them to drive off the freeway onto a desolate, dark road. They all said Peyer was unusually friendly.

Donna Ziegler told KCST television that Peyer stopped her on the night of Dec. 16 while she was driving her Volkswagen along Interstate 15. Her husband, Sigurd, was sleeping in the passenger seat, and was slumped down and not visible from passing cars. Ziegler said Peyer forced her to drive down the Mercy Road exit and park under the same bridge over which Miss Knott’s body was thrown. Ziegler was cited for speeding.

Calling the traffic stop “spooky,” Sigurd Ziegler said he called the CHP and a San Diego police homicide detective, who he said were not responsive to his concerns.

Ramonita Sanchez told reporters that in July, Peyer pulled her over near the Mercy Road exit. She said that Peyer made her back up on Mercy Road, where he gave her a written warning for a faulty headlight after engaging her in a long conversation.

Sanchez told The Times that when she pulled onto the shoulder of the freeway, Peyer told her over the loudspeaker, “No, not there,” and directed her to the Mercy Road exit.

“It was pitch black,” Sanchez said of the location. “Anything could have happened to me. I could have screamed out and nobody would have heard me.”

Sanchez, who described the traffic stop as “strange,” said she was trembling when she got home. “It was frightening for me,” she said.

One unidentified woman told KFMB television that Peyer stopped her Volkswagen Beetle--the same type of car Miss Knott was driving--late at night on Nov. 23 at the same location on Interstate 15. She said Peyer stated on his loudspeaker: “Keep going! Keep going!” until she stopped on the frontage road.

“He was talk, talk, talk and really friendly,” the woman said. “The whole thing unnerved me, the fact he was so friendly. I was expecting him to ask me out on a date or something.”

The woman said Peyer let her go without issuing a traffic citation.

“He had me lift up my engine lid and showed me little things I could do to my engine to safeguard against a fire,” another woman told KFMB. “He was very, very friendly.”

CHP Chief Killingsworth said that Peyer did not do anything wrong by telling the women to drive off the freeway.

“We encourage officers to take people off the freeway where there is a particular need, such as super heavy traffic, no shoulder, that kind of thing,” Killingsworth said.