September trial date set for woman accused of killing Navy physician-husband

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A Sept. 26 trial date was set Tuesday for a woman accused of fatally stabbing her Navy physician-husband after she found out he was having an extramarital affair.

Jennifer Trayers, 42, is charged with first-degree murder in the death last December of Lt. Cmdr. Dr. Frederick Trayers. She faces 26 years to life in prison if convicted.

The 41-year-old victim — who had therapeutic amounts of sleep medication in his system — was stabbed multiple times, including twice in the chest and eight times in the back, according to testimony during the defendant's two-day preliminary hearing last month.

The former Navy pilot, who was chief resident in emergency medicine at Naval Medical Center San Diego, was last seen at a work Christmas party the night of Dec. 3. His body was found the morning of Dec. 6 in a fetal position next to his bed in the North Park condominium he shared with his wife.

Jennifer Trayers also was found in the bedroom — on the other side of the bed — with self-inflicted wounds to different parts of her body and was treated at a local hospital, according to court testimony.

Deputy District Attorney Fiona Khalil told Judge David Gill that Trayers' attack on her defenseless husband was premeditated and deliberate.

Khalil said that for a period of several months, the defendant had been accumulating e-mail exchanges and other communications between her husband and a woman with whom he was having an affair.

The defendant ultimately sent an eight-page e-mail to her husband's mistress, outlining how the woman would not have the opportunity to be with the victim and how the defendant would be the last person he would be with, according to the prosecutor.

Defense attorney Kerry Armstrong argued that the crime was not premeditated and that his client be bound over on a charge of voluntary manslaughter instead of murder.

Armstrong said two knives were found at the crime scene, suggesting mutual combat.