Doctor: Football Head Injuries Could Have Left Fujita 'Disconnected' In Astley's Murder
WOBURN (CBS) – Nate Fujita has admitted he killed his ex-girlfriend, Lauren Astley. Now, a psychiatrist in his defense details step-by-step how Fujita told him he did it.
"She said something like, 'It's strange that you don't come out and hang out with anyone anymore,'" said Dr. Wade Meyers. "Then he had this feeling as though his mind was no longer controlling his body. He grabbed this bungee cord and put it around her neck and began strangling her, and it was as though, he said, he wasn't controlling himself. It was his body acting while his mind was disconnected from what was happening."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Doug Cope reports
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Meyers testified as a witness for the defense Friday in Nate Fujita's murder trial. Fujita is accused of murdering Astley after they graduated from Wayland High School in 2011. Fujita's attorney says it was a "brief psychotic episode."
"He held the cord on her neck for a bit, and then she quit moving, and then he said he went into the house and got a knife and came back and then cut her neck. He took Lauren's car he thought, 'I've got to just put it somewhere. He drove up to the beach, parked it, and then ran back to the house."
Then, he told the doctor he drove her body to a marsh, dumped her in the water, and drove home. "He took a shower and went downstairs, and watched a movie with his parents."
Legal Expert On Fujita Defense
Meyers listed a long line of mental illness through generations of Fujita's family. He says that, combined with repeated blows to the head from years of high school football, "can predispose you to this sort of break with reality."
The prosecution is expected to call another expert to dispute these claims Monday.
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