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>> the body was in the water

about 30 feet off the roadway. >> reporter: massachusetts state police investigator, tony delucia. >> i pulled back the dress from her throat. i saw a severe wound to her neck. >> reporter: lauren astley was found with a bungee cord tangled in her hair. >> nate is definitely not involved in this. >> nate would never do something like this to lauren. like, that is absurd. >> reporter: on the night of july 3, after lauren went missing, police officers talked to nathaniel and his mother, beth, three times, and each time they told essentially the same story. nathaniel was home alone when lauren stopped by for five minutes, but she never got out of her car. the story seemed credible. >> we wanted to know the comings and goings of lauren and nathaniel in the days and weeks prior to this event happening. >> reporter: investigators would learn in the weeks prior to lauren's murder her ex-boyfriend nathaniel's behavior had changed. his uncle, george mattingly:

>> well, he had gone from a kid who was always on the move, always working out, to a kid who was basically at home, lying on the couch, looking miserable. >> reporter: nathaniel had stopped hanging out with friends. he was drinking a lot and smoking pot daily. was lauren worried about him? >> lauren was worried about him. >> reporter: even though she had broken up with nathaniel a few months earlier. >> she would say, like, "do you think i should do something?" >> reporter: nathaniel's mother, beth, was so worried about her son, she took him to see a psychiatrist. she also asked lauren to talk to him. >> nate's mom came and visited lauren at work and asked if it would be a good idea if she reached out to him. >> reporter: and lauren did reach out to nathaniel. july 3, 2011-- lauren began the last day of her life going to her job at the local mall.

6:45 p.m. >> there's a video surveillance of lauren leaving the mall, on the phone, the night she is killed. she's on the phone with nathaniel fujita. after she had left work, from everyone we had spoken to, she had never been seen again. >> we had had plans to hang out, all... the big group of us, that night. >> reporter: did she tell you that she was going to go? >> no. no one knew that she was going that night. >> reporter: lauren and her friends usually knew where everyone was at all times, but her plans to visit nathaniel that night she kept to herself. nathaniel's parents weren't home. investigators learned from phone records she had sent nathaniel a text message. >> and it's one word, just the word "here." that's her saying to nathaniel she's... she's at the home.

>> reporter: that text, at 7:05 p.m. on july 3, was the last message lauren sent. >> we wanted to speak with nathaniel, to find out what his communication with her was that evening. >> reporter: tony delucia and wayland police detective jamie berger drove to nathaniel's home the next morning. >> when we knocked on the door, tomo fujita was there, who was nathaniel's father. >> reporter: but his son wasn't. nathaniel was nowhere to be found. investigators then got a search warrant for the fujita home. >> we started in the garage because there appeared to be some type of stain on the floor of the garage. the stain tested positive for blood. >> reporter: they also discovered additional blood evidence, bungee cords, and, in the basement of the fujita home, a black gym bag. >> upon opening that gym bag, there was a pair of sneakers, like, soaking wet, that had mud in them. we went on to search nathaniel's bedroom. >> reporter: and there, hidden

in a crawl space above the ceiling... >> the first thing you see is a pair of sneakers that appear to have blood all over them, in addition to bloody clothing, and they're soaking wet. upon finding all these items, we were going to arrest nathaniel fujita. >> reporter: in the early morning hours of july 5, nathaniel fujita was arrested and charged with the murder. when he was arrested, what was that moment like? >> it was incomprehensible, incomprehensible. it... it was like an alternate reality. >> significant blood found near some bungee cords. >> when i realize it was nate that killed her, that the nate that i was friends with could do that to the girl he loved, to my best friend, it blows my mind.

>> reporter: the crime lab determined the blood found in nathaniel's home was lauren's. investigators would gather more evidence to put together a timeline of the crime. they say nathaniel was home alone when he savagely murdered lauren in his family's garage. then, he drove her red jeep a quarter of a mile to the town beach parking lot, dumped her keys in a storm drain and ran back home. >> he gets back to the garage, puts her inside his car. >> reporter: investigator delucia says nathaniel then drove five miles to the secluded marsh. >> he takes her body out of the car, goes about 30-some-odd feet into the water and tries to conceal her inside the vegetation in the water. he then gets in his vehicle to drive back towards his home. a witness sees him on king street-- music blaring, shirt off, man on a mission, deliberate, purposeful-- driving

home. >> reporter: when nathaniel got home, investigators say he hid the evidence and cleaned up. it all took less than an hour. >> he was upset that his girlfriend broke up with him, and ultimately he killed her. >> reporter: mary dunne never imagined her daughter's first boyfriend could ever do something so horrific. >> in all of our talking that we did about boys and drinking and drugs and driving and contraception-- i mean, you name it-- i never even heard that term before, breakup violence. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know you that former pro football player ickey woods will celebrate almost anything? unh-uh.

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>> tonight's 48 hours will continue.

>> reporter: do you think lauren was scared of him? >> no, no. >> reporter: did you ever see any abuse? >> no. >> reporter: any signs that the relationship was violent? >> no. >> reporter: by all accounts, there was no evidence of stalking or physical abuse between nathaniel and lauren while they were dating. but their friend, r.j. bolivar, says there were a few things about nathaniel's behavior that troubled him. did you ever get the sense that he was possessive of her? >> i mean, he definitely was, like, a bit possessive. like, he would get angry if she talked to people. i think he would look through her phone and things like that, which are kind of weird. >> i believe he loved her. he was obsessed with her. >> reporter: as authorities learned more about how lauren

astley's body ended up in the marsh, they started to believe she was a victim of a disturbing trend: break-up violence. it's a crime that has no zip code; it's urban, suburban and rural. a relationship ends and what happens is an emotional surge of uncontrollable anger. it can be verbal or physical, and sometimes, as in the case of lauren astley, it can end in death. >> nathaniel fujita killed his girlfriend. >> reporter: gerry leone was the district attorney in the lauren astley murder case. >> he didn't like the fact that she broke up with him. >> reporter: he has a message for middle and high school students, especially young men. >> being kind, caring, thoughtful, that's what a real man is. only cowards would put their hands on a woman with mean intent. >> reporter: the white ribbon campaign aims to stop violence before it starts. >> we tell them that the white ribbon signifies men, men standing up against violence against women. i'm going to ask you to stand up

with me, if you would. i want them to stand up, i want them to raise their hand, and i want them to commit to being an ambassador; not just for that moment, but they have to continue to not only to talk the talk, but they've got to walk the walk. i promise... >> i promise... >> ...to never commit... >> ...to never commit... >> ...condone or remain silent... >> ...condone or remain silent... >> ...about violence against women. >> ...about violence against women. >> reporter: the statistics are startling. according to the american psychological association, one in three teens and young adults is the victim of physical, verbal, emotional or sexual abuse by a dating partner. >> of teenagers who are in abusive relationships, three percent will tell an authority figure, six percent will tell a family member, but 75% will tell a friend. that's why we focus on kids. ( applause ) >> reporter: in july, 2013, more than 200 teens attended boston's break-up summit.

>> like, there are multiple different types of break-ups. >> and it happens because you are incompatible. >> reporter: lauren astley's father malcolm was there, too. >> yes, it is terribly painful to have someone break up with you. it's one of the worst pains in life, but normal and not to be taken as failure or as a cause for violence. boys and men can step up together with girls and women and veto violence. >> we can change the environment. we could make it a safer place for women, a safer place for relationships. >> reporter: all through massachusetts, teenagers like these students from lincoln- sudbury high school... >> dating violence doesn't happen only amongst the internet. >> reporter: ...are working at bringing awareness to the growing problem of dating and break-up violence... >> have you physically threatened your partner in any way? >> reporter: ...through class presentations... >> >> he hit me, but i know it's not his fault. i made him mad. i know he's really stressed right now. but i know he still loves me. >> reporter: ...and participation in dating violence awareness clubs, like this one at shawsheen regional high school.

how many of you know someone who was or is in an abusive relationship? all of you? and i have to ask you, how many of you have been in one yourself? all of you? oh, my goodness! >> it happens more than people think. >> yeah. >> reporter: these students say the dating abuse they experienced was emotional, not physical. >> and then, for our poster today, we're going to do characteristics of a healthy and unhealthy relationship. >> reporter: they meet every week to listen and learn how to help classmates recognize the signs of an abusive relationship. >> that would be a sign that it's not okay. >> unhealthy relationships contain all forms of abuse. >> it definitely starts off with, like, the obsessiveness. >> constantly calling or texting your partner. >> calling you every five seconds. >> like, breathing down your neck. >> psychological or emotional abuse. >> when people are withdrawn, when they're constantly feeling like you're not good enough. >> physical abuse. >> violence, feeling threatened by your significant other. you should never be afraid of the person you love.

>> reporter: social media adds enormous pressure. the digital footprint that every young person lives with makes breaking up harder, sometimes humiliating. it's a recipe for disaster. >> anything that you say or do. >> and automatically it's on facebook, twitter. >> nothing is ever private. >> it's out there. i mean, you can't get it back. >> it can be a traumatizing experience. >> it's really scary. >> it's scary that a lie posted about you can be seen by the world. >> reporter: when lauren astley was contemplating ending her relationship with nathaniel fujita, she and her best girlfriends chatted about it on social media. >> we had a facebook thread with a list of all... all the reasons why lauren should break up with nate. >> reporter: so, what was on the list? >> friends don't like him. >> my mom doesn't like him. >> mean to his mom >> aggressive. >> reporter: "aggressive" was on the list? >> when he's drunk. >> reporter: there's no evidence nathaniel knew about the facebook thread, and no one ever imagined he would be capable of killing lauren.

her mother, mary, wishes she had seen the red flags. >> the signs-- although i think they were there-- were very, very soft, and i construed them as teenage, you know, behavior. and certainly there are things in retrospect that i would pay much more attention to, like the amount of time not at my house, the amount of time he had her at his house, the fact that lauren's friends didn't like him at all. >> reporter: these key girlfriends, her best girlfriends, didn't like him? >> uh-uh. and the numbers of times she tried to break up with him, that he wouldn't allow it, i think is another red flag. >> reporter: according to nathaniel's family, there was something going on with him. something so private his close friends didn't even know about it. >> something was not right. he... he reported to the psychiatrist that his mood was a one out of ten. >> reporter: ten being the highest, one being the lowest? >> yes. this, despite being on track to go to trinity college and play football, which he loved.

( cheers ) >> reporter: nathaniel's college football dreams had been shattered. he was about to stand trial for murder. >> oh, my lord! >> by the time he was 25, i think he'd amassed about $80 million. >> how many total tiffany lamps were there? >> i think there were about 400. >> i tried to grab the gun, and it went off. >> reporter: did you think that you were going to be charged?

>> no! >> reporter: we're following investigators right ahead of us on their search for a killer. do you fear that you might even know the person who committed this? >> gary triano is murdered in this horribly brutal way. who financially benefited from his death? >> only one person: pamela phillips. >> reporter: what do you say to the people who believe they're looking into the eyes of a killer? >> i'm very, very, very innocent. >> reporter: do you believe pamela would have done anything for money? >> well, yeah.

>> tonight's 48 hours will continue.

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>> there's two different people. there's, like, the nate that was in high school with us; who was, like, in my homeroom; who would, like, joke around with me; who was on, like, the track team with me. there's that nate. >> nate, do you have any comment? >> then there's, like, the nate

who i have only really seen in handcuffs and in a courtroom. >> all rise for the jury. >> reporter: on february 13, 2013, a year and a half after lauren astley's murder, her ex- boyfriend nathaniel fujita's trial began. how did he look to you? >> he mostly kept his face down. when he looked up, he looked just not like any nate that i'd ever known. >> this defendant is guilty exactly as charged. >> reporter: prosecutor lisa mcgovern wastes no time in spelling out why lauren was murdered. >> nathaniel fujita was hurt by lauren astley not coming back to him, and he killed her. >> in most murder cases, the question is who? who did it? that's not this case. >> reporter: defense attorney william sullivan, in his opening statement, admits nathaniel killed lauren. >> in this case, there's going to be two questions, why and how.

how does a young man-- there's not any evidence of him ever laying a finger on this young girl-- how does he do something like this? i told the jury, "you're going to hear and see some very disturbing facts." >> she died as a result of the combination of the strangulation and the incised wounds to her neck. >> reporter: medical examiner henry nields testified after lauren was strangled with a bungee cord, she then suffered a number of superficial wounds to her neck before her throat was cut. >> why these superficial, shallow wounds? he did that to hurt her. why did he deliver the gaping, deep wound? he did that to kill her. do you recall a party on june 4? >> yes. >> reporter: the prosecution questioned genevieve flynn and other friends about june 2011, the month between high school graduation and lauren's murder.

>> i saw lauren pick up her hands and push them down her side as though she was saying, "just stay away from me." >> reporter: hannah blahut testified about that graduation party where nathaniel punched a pole holding up the party tent. >> nate got angry that lauren wasn't talking to him. he was being aggressive because he was very drunk. >> reporter: mcgovern believes nathaniel's display of rage was an ominous prelude to killing lauren. >> this is a domestc violence murder. this was perpetrated because of the relationship, which was a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. >> reporter: the prosecution is painting this as a domestic violence/dating violence case. >> correct. >> reporter: but the defense disagrees. >> nathaniel didn't stalk her, didn't drive by her house, wasn't calling her, wasn't texting her. none of that was present. ( scattered applause ) >> reporter: the defense wants the jury to focus on nathaniel's behavior after graduation, leading up to lauren's murder. >> during that time, those three weeks, would it be fair to say

you didn't see the defendant at all? >> i don't believe so. >> his friends said that they didn't want to hang out with him anymore because he had been acting differently. >> he's not hanging out with you guys anymore, right? >> right. >> reporter: friends connor and r.j. testify nathaniel had dropped out of their social circle. >> it'd be fair to say that people were commenting that nathaniel wasn't around? >> some people were, yeah. >> we didn't know what was wrong with him, but we were worried that something was seriously wrong. >> reporter: and, according to defense attorney sullivan, something was seriously wrong. >> nathaniel was suffering from a major mental illness. >> reporter: did it seem like he was slipping through the family's fingers? >> that's a good way to describe it. beth was a very concerned parent, and she always had been. >> reporter: remember, nathaniel's mother beth had persuaded her son to go see a psychiatrist.

his diagnosis: >> major clinical depression. not just that you're feeling down, but this was a major depressive episode. >> reporter: the psychiatrist suggested anti-depression medication and therapy, but, according to the defense, nathaniel refused. >> he was just kind of isolating himself further and further into the summer. lauren was worried that he was depressed, that he was going to do something drastic to himself. >> reporter: and it was lauren's concern for nathaniel that would bring her to the fujita home on the night of july 3, 2011. >> the key moment is inside that garage, what happened at the time of the killing. >> reporter: at the time of the killing, sullivan says, nathaniel lapsed into a temporary psychotic episode that prevented him from controlling his actions or comprehending what he was doing.

>> the defense is that nathaniel was not criminally responsible at the time of the incident. >> reporter: because? >> because of the major mental illness. the defense i would ask you to consider is one of lack of criminal responsibility. >> reporter: it's the insanity defense. >> do you solemnly swear and affirm that the testimony you are about to give... >> reporter: defense expert dr. wade meyers, a psychiatrist, evaluated nathaniel after lauren's murder. >> what did he tell you happened when miss astley arrived at the house? >> they began walking towards the garage to talk. he remembered that he grabbed this bungee cord and put it around her neck and began strangling her. it was as though, he said, he wasn't controlling himself. it was his body acting while his mind was... was disconnected from... from what was happening. >> reporter: meyers says nathaniel was still in a psychotic episode when he repeatedly cut lauren's neck and throat. >> again, describing not in control of what he was doing, but no emotional connection to what was happening.

>> reporter: on march 5, 2013, closing arguments. >> there is no planning involved in this case. the bungee cord is a weapon of... of opportunity; it's just there in the garage. you saw the other bungee cords that were there. it was a brief onset of this psychotic episode. >> say what you will about fairy godmothers, there is no psychosis fairy who magically sprinkled a temporary dose of psychosis on this defendant. >> reporter: prosecutor lisa mcgovern zeroes in on nathaniel's calculated cover-up of lauren's murder. >> the evidence shows, yes, he took the car to the beach. he hid the keys in the drain. he changed out of his bloody shoes into another pair of sneakers. he drives lauren astley's body to the marsh. he carries it 36 feet into the water. he drives back home. he cleans up the garage.