OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK – A search is underway for a Stanford University professor who did not return as scheduled from a hiking trip in Olympic National Park in Washington and missed a court hearing Friday related to domestic violence charges he faces in Santa Clara County.
Fraser was set to appear Friday morning in Santa Clara County Superior Court for a preliminary hearing. Prosecutors have charged him with inflicting corporal injury on a partner. The sheriff’s office described Fraser as an “extremely experienced solo hiker” and noted he was equipped with a gray “well-supplied backpack” and a teal one-person tent.
He is a biology professor at Stanford and the principal investigator at the Fraser Laboratory, according to a university profile. He is also a member of Bio-X, Stanford’s interdisciplinary biosciences institute; the Maternal & Child Health Research Institute; the Stanford Cancer Institute; and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute.The criminal case against Fraser stems from a July 4, 2022 incident involving his girlfriend of 5½ years.