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.
Hunter Bryan Fraser, 44, set out Monday on a two-day, 40-mile trek, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. He was due back in Seattle by midday Wednesday.
Fraser was last seen Monday afternoon west of the Deer Park Campground and his family last heard from him via text Tuesday morning, according to the sheriff’s office. He 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 spouse.
On Wednesday around 6:15 p.m., park rangers notified the sheriff’s office that Fraser was overdue.
A deputy found Fraser’s vehicle in a parking area near the Deer Ridge Trailhead. Two Clallam County search and rescue teams were dispatched to the area, but Fraser had not been found as of Friday.
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.
Fraser is 6 feet 4 inches tall with a “trim build” and typically wears eyeglasses, the sheriff’s office said.
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.
In a statement issued on behalf of the biology department, Stanford spokesperson Joy Leighton reiterated many of the details provided by the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
“Hunter is an experienced outdoorsman and well supplied,” Leighton said. “We are hoping for his safe return.”
The criminal case against Fraser stems from a July 4, 2022 incident involving his girlfriend of 5½ years. The couple, who had gotten into an argument the previous day, were playing a game with Fraser’s young daughter at their Stanford apartment when Fraser allegedly slammed a door into his girlfriend, striking her in the chest with the handle, according to a Stanford University Department of Public Safety incident report.
The girlfriend told police Fraser also threw her to the ground prior to hitting her with the door, the report stated.
Fraser was arrested and booked into county jail. He was initially charged with a misdemeanor, but prosecutors later re-filed the case as a felony, according to court records.
Tessa Stephenson, the deputy district attorney assigned to the case, said the preliminary hearing was rescheduled to June 28.
“I sincerely hope he will return home safely,” Stephenson said.
Anyone with information about Fraser’s whereabouts can call the sheriff’s office at 360-417-2459 and select option one.
