Lower Makefield officers arrived as Jaden Battista ran from Trevor Weigel, prosecutors said.
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. — A police call about a burglary in progress ended with Jaden Battista fatally stabbed in a Lower Makefield Township street and her former boyfriend later sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The April 28 sentencing of Trevor Christopher Weigel, 25, brought the Waterford Road case to a legal close more than two years after the attack. Bucks County prosecutors said a responding officer saw Battista trying to reach safety before Weigel tackled her and stabbed her. A jury convicted him in January of first-degree murder, burglary, attempted kidnapping, possession of an instrument of crime and other offenses.
The first alert to police did not come as a homicide report. Officers were sent to the 2500 block of Waterford Road around 2:30 p.m. Feb. 16, 2024, after a report that someone had forced entry into a home. When an officer arrived, police said, the scene was already moving outside. Weigel was near a vehicle with a door open. Battista was running away from him. The officer’s arrival gave her a direction to run, but the distance between her and safety closed fast. Investigators said Weigel chased her, brought her to the ground and attacked her in the street.
Authorities said the officer’s body camera recorded part of the attack and the immediate aid that followed. Prosecutors later described the recording as showing Battista’s final pleas while first responders tried to save her. Police said Weigel fled after the stabbing, and another officer who had just arrived joined the chase. He scaled a fence and ran toward an interstate while bleeding from a self-inflicted neck wound, investigators said. Officers caught him after using a Taser. A bloody knife was found at the scene. Weigel was treated for his injury while in custody and survived.
The house call began minutes earlier, when Battista was on FaceTime with her best friend. Prosecutors said Weigel drove from his job at a manufacturing plant in Warminster to Lower Makefield Township after leaving a series of voicemails. The messages demanded answers about why Battista had blocked him on her phone and social media. Authorities said he arrived at the home, banged on the door and forced his way through a first-floor bedroom window. Battista was barefoot and wearing Care Bear pajamas when he forced her outside toward his red Mustang, prosecutors said.
The police response became a central part of the case because officers arrived before the killing was over. Investigators used the body camera video, physical evidence and phone records to reconstruct the timeline. They said Battista resisted being moved toward the car, broke away and ran. The prosecution described the attempted removal as an attempted kidnapping, one of the charges on which Weigel was convicted. The number of stab wounds was reported as 14 by prosecutors, while some local accounts described about 15 wounds. The trial record, as summarized by county officials, identified 14 stab wounds.
At trial, Weigel’s defense sought to reduce his criminal responsibility from murder to voluntary manslaughter. His attorneys argued that he snapped after Battista allegedly admitted infidelity. Prosecutors rejected that account and said the evidence showed anger building long before he reached Waterford Road. Deputy District Attorney Alan J. Garabedian told jurors the killing was not sudden confusion but a choice driven by rage after Battista ended the short relationship. He told the jury, “If he couldn’t have her, nobody was going to have her.” The jury needed just over an hour to find Weigel guilty.
The sentencing hearing shifted the case from the police scene to the courtroom. Judge Charissa J. Liller imposed life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and added five to 20 years for the remaining counts. The sentence matched the mandatory punishment for first-degree murder in Pennsylvania. It also reflected the burglary and attempted kidnapping findings that prosecutors said framed the fatal attack as more than a street assault. Weigel, of Churchville, was 23 at the time of the killing and 25 at sentencing.
Battista’s family used the hearing to describe the person behind the court record. Her mother read from her own statement and from one written by Battista’s father. She said Battista was a gentle soul who did not deserve what happened. She also described the effect on Battista’s two younger sisters, who lost their older sister’s presence and protection. The family remembered Battista’s love for animals, including her dog, Tater, and her black cat, Socks. The statements added details of home and family life that had been largely absent from the legal timeline.
Garabedian read a statement from Battista’s best friend, the person who had been connected to her by FaceTime as Weigel entered the home. The friend had to call 911 after hearing the attack, prosecutors said. Lower Makefield Police Chief Joseph Kelly later thanked the district attorney’s office, county detectives and local officers for their work. District Attorney Joe Khan said the sentence ensured Weigel would not have the chance to take another life. Both officials said their thoughts remained with the Battista family.
The case was handled by Lower Makefield Township police, Bucks County detectives, Garabedian and Assistant District Attorney Jessica Frost. With the sentence entered April 28, Weigel faces no parole hearing and remains subject to the additional prison term ordered by Liller.
Author note: Last updated May 21, 2026.