SAN DIEGO -- A La Costa man accused of fatally beating and stabbing his on-again, off-again girlfriend -- a court reporter at the Vista Courthouse -- was Thursday ordered to stand trial on a murder charge.

Following a three-hour preliminary hearing, Jonathan Scott French was held to answer to charges stemming from the July 31 killing of Jennifer Stark, a mother of two teenagers, in her Carlsbad home.

A co-worker, Mejkan Tague, testified the victim told her French was a "cheater, manipulator, and financially irresponsible."

Tague, a research attorney, said she had met the 40-year-old defendant.

"I told her she could do much better," Tague said.

Matthew Strong, French's nephew, testified the defendant called him around 11:30 p.m. and told him to check on his house in case something happened.

Strong said he did so and found blood on the floor, blood smeared on a wall going upstairs, a pile of clothes on the floor with blood on a shirt, a blood-stained bible and a bloody knife. He said he then called police.

Carlsbad police Detective Patrick Preston testified that he was sent to Stark's house at 6440 Camino Del Parque around midnight.

"In the hallway was the motionless body of Jennifer Stark, lying in a pool of blood," Preston said.

The 43-year-old woman had a large wound to her neck, which was severed to the spine, according to the detective. He said a 12-inch serrated kitchen knife was located under a carpet runner near the victim's head.

Blood stains were also found on kitchen drawer handles, Stark's bathroom vanity and the carpet of her bedroom, Preston said.

The detective testified that French called 911 early the next morning and was arrested near the Encinitas sheriff's substation. He had superficial cuts to both wrists and a puncture wound to his left inner thigh, the witness aid.

Retired Contra Costa County Judge Robert Spinetta scheduled trial for Feb. 23 at the San Diego County Courthouse. Because of the nature of Stark's work, local judges will not hear the case.

At a previous hearing, prosecutors said Stark and French met for dinner at a restaurant the night she was killed. They had broken up a month earlier.

Witnesses reported the two kissed, and that she appeared to be intoxicated. Video surveillance cameras showed them leaving the restaurant just before 10 p.m., and they left her car behind in the parking lot.

French faces 26 years to life in prison if convicted.