Cousin Says Fujita Nearly Confessed To Wayland Murder Before Arrest
WOBURN (CBS) - "It was me," Nate Fujita told his cousin moments before his arrest for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Lauren Astley. She had asked him how Astley's car got to the Wayland Town Beach after she disappeared.
This near-confession came out in testimony during his trial Friday. His close cousin, Caroline Saba, took the stand and talked about the night Astley was murdered. Fujita called Saba that night, asking if she wanted to "hang out." She didn't know it then, but it was only moments after the murder. "He sounded like hyper," said Saba.
The next day, he came to her house in Framingham with his mother, while police were searching his home in Wayland. He took his shirt off, and sat down to a steak dinner. She noticed a scratch on his arm.
Then the two had a moment alone. "I was beginning to realize he had done (pause), I was asking how he could have possibly called me to hang out after something like that," said Saba. "He said he just needed somebody to hang out with. He needed to get his mind off of it."
She asked Fujita if police would find anything in his home. "He said, 'They're not going to find a weapon there, if that's what you mean,'" she testified.
Saba also spoke about Fujita's depressed behavior leading up to that point. "To me, it seemed like it was getting worse by the day," she said.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Mark Katic reports
Podcast
His mother was so worried about him, she asked Saba to spy on his phone texts.Prosecutors displayed a transcript of those texts in court. "Astley to Fujita: This is like the hundredth time ive tried to reach u is there a reason u wont answer me?" "Fujita to Astley: I'm not saying I'm going to talk to you but what are your work hours."
He finally agreed to meet her at his home July 3rd, 2011, the night she was murdered.
