25-to-Life for Ex-CHP Officer
Craig Peyer, a former California Highway Patrol officer convicted of the on-duty murder of a San Diego State University student, was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison today. Peyer, a 13-year CHP veteran, was convicted in June of strangling Cara Knott, 20, on Dec. 27, 1986, and throwing her body 65 feet into a dry creek bed near an isolated and darkened Interstate 15 off ramp.
Before imposing sentence, San Diego Superior Court Judge Richard Huffman fired a broadside at the CHP, charging that if CHP officials had acted on previous citizens’ complaints about Peyer’s conduct, Knott’s murder could have been prevented.
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