Woman Victim of Mystery Killing On Highway; Maniacal fury was revealed in a midnight murder mystery Wednesday night as the terribly battered remains of Mrs. Margaret Peters, 42, were picked up from the highway three miles south of town by local officers. The victim was one of a quartet riding along the highway at that point and was either pushed or leaped from the car, owned by Otis Elmer Newman, 23, local laborer. Just what happened to her as she struck is still undetermined. But circumstantial evidence and stories of the other two members of the party indicate that Newman retraced his route to run over her while driving at high speed and drag her body some distance along the highway before it fell free. Miss Olive Rose of Brentwood, who was visiting here, and Cleve Teague, local laborer, were other members of the quartet. According to their tale to officers, they were driving slowly southward along the highway at about a 25- mile-per-hour speed. Mrs. Peters and Newman were in the back seat, when a sudden scuffle occurred and the woman was either pushed out or leaped from the car. Teague alleged that Newman then pressed a gun to his back and told him to keep going, although no trace of a weapon was found in later investigation. But Teague stopped near the county road Intersection and he and Miss Rose got out of the car. According to them, Newman then drove on turning east on the county road a short way and then retraced his path and passed them going north at high speed. They then went into the Ghisletta ranch to phone to town and summon help.

Body Found -- Highway Patrolman E. L. McCabe and Constable C. W. Kirk went out to the scene while Chief of Police Carl Busengdal went on Newman's trail. McCabe found the terribly battered remains on the road where Newman had struck them. Reconstruction of visible signs indicated that the body had been dragged about sixty-five feet face downward, resulting in bad mutilation and tearing off the jaw. But whether she had been killed in the original fall, knocked unconscious, or was not seriously hurt until struck by the car on its return, remains to be discovered, if possible. In the meantime, Busengdal had located Newman at his room at the Emerald Hotel, where Mrs. A. G Coito told him she had just heard him on the stairs, although presuming he was on his way out to start work with a hay-baling crew. When the chief entered the room, Newman feigned deep sleep and refused to respond until he was slapped to arouse him. He then leaped up and threatened to throw Busengdal down the stairs and had to be forcibly subdued. While being taken to jail, Newman boasted that they needed more witnesses than they had to hang anything onto him and that he had been in trouble plenty of times before. Teague and Miss Rose were also held in detention pending Investigation of the case. Car

Found -- Final link in the case was the discovery of the death car, a Ford sedan, abandoned in the alley between South Fifth and Sixth Streets near C. Examination of the chassis showed fragments of flesh and hair still clinging to it, evidence of the terrific blow which had been struck.