11 Women Describe Off-Ramp Stops by Peyer

Eleven women testified Wednesday in the retrial of former CHP Officer Craig Peyer that the patrolman forced them to drive down a dark off-ramp near where Cara Knott was killed before issuing them citations for minor traffic infractions.

Two of the women said they had already driven past the Mercy Road exit of Interstate 15 when they were stopped by Peyer, but were directed to back up on the freeway shoulder for 150 feet or more in order to proceed down the off-ramp.

Nearly all of those pulled over said the stops were unusually long--two hours in one instance--and made them uncomfortable because the Mercy Road area is unlighted and “creepy,” as one witness put it.

“I was nervous because of the location and because it was a long time,” said Anne Steward, who estimated that her May 11, 1986, encounter with Peyer lasted 35 minutes. “I didn’t want to stay down there . . . but it was a Highway Patrol officer. I didn’t feel like I could just hop in my car and take off.”

Prosecutors are presenting the women’s testimony in an effort to prove that Peyer had a habit of segregating young, usually attractive females from the rest of the driving public and forcing them to leave the freeway for traffic stops.

In his opening statement Tuesday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Pfingst said male drivers, by contrast, were stopped on the freeway shoulder and that “only women need apply to go down Mercy Road.”

Deserted Off-Ramp

He said the evidence will show that Knott--whose strangled body was found in the Mercy Road area Dec. 28, 1986, a day after her slaying--was one in a long line of women Peyer pulled over on the deserted North County off-ramp.

Peyer, 38, was arrested in January, 1987, and charged with the murder. His first trial ended last February after jurors said they were deadlocked 7 to 5 in favor of conviction. Peyer, a CHP officer for 13 years before he was fired last year, has been free on bail since March, 1987.

Wednesday’s witnesses included several who did not testify in the first trial. One, Georgia Fontana of Poway, said Peyer gave her his phone number after she spent two hours talking with him in May, 1986, near the foot of the Mercy Road ramp.

“First he welcomed me to California and shook my hand,” said Fontana, who had moved to Poway from Utah five months earlier. Peyer then gave her his name and number and said that “if I had any questions, seeing as how we were new to the area, he could answer any questions we had.”

No Ticket Issued

Fontana said Peyer, who told the woman he had stopped her because of her out-of-state license plates but did not issue a ticket, also gave her the name of a Ford dealership in Escondido after the two talked about leasing automobiles.

In addition, the mother of three testified that when she gave her driver’s license to Peyer, he commented that she looked younger than her age. “I was flattered and thanked him,” Fontana said.

But overall, she said, the stop frightened and upset her. After returning to the freeway, Fontana testified that she pulled off on the shoulder “and just broke down and cried . . . . I was just quite scared being down there in that area.”

Two other women testified that Peyer pulled them over on chilly December nights and invited them to join him in his heated patrol car while he wrote out their citations.

Shelly Sacks said she spent about 20 minutes “talking about the holidays and stuff” with Peyer from the passenger seat of his CHP cruiser. Sacks, who was stopped the night before Knott disappeared on her way home to El Cajon, said she “wanted to get out of there” and finally climbed out and got back in her own car.

“I just thought it was very strange that he pulled me over way down there,” said Sacks, who noted that Peyer directed her to proceed past wooden barriers before stopping in the “pitch black” directly beneath I-15.

Denise Barr, stopped for having a headlight out of alignment on Dec. 3, 1986, said Peyer invited her to get into the patrol car after she complained about the cold.

‘Somebody to Talk To’

“We talked about the car, the walkie-talkie and other equipment,” Barr said. Peyer also asked “why my boyfriend let me out alone so late at night” and seemed “like he wanted somebody to talk to.”

Barr estimated that the stop lasted 45 minutes. Although she was running late and was anxious to get to her boyfriend’s house, Barr “didn’t dare say I wanted to go . . . . I would never say anything to a highway patrolman. I would never question him keeping me there for that length of time.”

Another new witness was Mark Brewer, 25, whom Pfingst called to the stand to provide contrast to testimony given by the women. Brewer said he was stopped by Peyer at Mercy Road in May, 1986, and ticketed for a broken headlight.

The encounter lasted five minutes and took place on the shoulder of the freeway, Brewer testified.

In his cross-examination of the women, defense attorney Robert Grimes repeatedly asked whether Peyer had acted inappropriately by making sexual advances or forcing the women to remain and chat against their will.

None of the women said they had complaints about Peyer’s demeanor or conduct, and most said he appeared eager to be helpful and informative about automotive problems. None said he prevented them from leaving, but one woman, Sarah Lundberg, noted that she had told Peyer the area made her “uncomfortable” and felt he should have picked up on that.

Defense Questions

Grimes also suggested that some of the witnesses came forward only after being exposed to publicity about other women who were stopped by Peyer and who were sharing their stories with police. He questioned many of the female witnesses about what prompted them to inform authorities about their stops, and whether they had seen others talking about their contact with Peyer.

None of the women said they were prompted to act because of other women’s accounts.

Also Wednesday, San Diego Police Detective William Nulton described 11 freeway exits on the I-15 beat Peyer patrolled. Of the exits--ranging from Miramar Road north to Via Rancho Parkway--only Mercy Road is without lighting, he testified.

Nulton said that, at the request of the district attorney’s office, he measured distances between certain locations that figure in the Peyer case. He said he took 14 measurements last month, and recited in court the precise mileage of the distances and how long it took him to complete each designated route.

Pfingst is expected to use that information to attempt to prove that Peyer was at the Via Rancho Parkway interchange at the same time Knott was using it to continue her journey home from Escondido. The prosecutor also is likely to use the information to buttress testimony from witnesses who had contact with Peyer that night.

Today more women motorists will testify, and jurors are expected to visit the scene of the slaying late in the day.