SAN DIEGO—A man who became a crusader for the families of missing persons after the 1986 murder of his daughter has been found dead near the area where the young woman's body was discovered. Authorities say Sam Knott died Thursday evening, apparently suffering a heart attack after picking up trash from the area where Cara Knott's body was found in northern San Diego.
A San Diego police officer had spoken to Knott about 5 p.m. at a memorial grove dedicated to his daughter and other crime victims, police said. About 6:30 p.m., another officer found Knott, 63, dead in a car on the Interstate 15 onramp.
Cara Knott, a 20-year-old San Diego State University student at the time, was strangled by a highway patrol officer and thrown from a frontage-road bridge east of I-15 on the night of Dec. 27, 1986.
Police spokesman Dave Cohen said Sam Knott died "right above the spot Cara was thrown off the bridge."
Craig Peyer, a highway patrolman who pulled her over during a traffic stop, was convicted of the slaying and sentenced to a prison term of 25 years to life.
After the slaying, Sam Knott worked to hold law enforcement officials more accountable for the actions of officers and to demand that agencies respond with more urgency to reports of missing persons.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.