18-year-old Lauren Ashley had her whole life ahead of her she was a gifted singer a talented tennis player and a recent high school graduate excited to start college in the fall Lauren was known for her vibrant personality compassion for others and zest for living life to the fullest but on July 3rd 2011 Lauren's promising future was cut tragically short that evening she left work at the mall and drove to see her ex-boyfriend 18-year-old Nathaniel fueta she never returned home this is the story of a young love turned deadly a brutal murder that shocked a quiet Massachusetts town and a family search for justice and healing in the wake of Unthinkable violence to see the the wonderful turn around and look at the [Laughter] Lauren asley was born on April 1st 1993 to her parents Mary Dunn and Malcolm asley in the Suburban town of Wayland Massachusetts about 20 mi west of Boston as an only child Lauren was doed on by her mother and father even after they divorced when she was 6 years old friends and family remember Lauren as a vivacious caring and talented young woman she had a flare for fashion a love of singing and a smile that could light up a room Guided by a strong moral compass Lauren got involved in her Unitarian Church and went on mission trips to help rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina so when I think about Lauren one of the things I always remember was her her confidence and her boldness and um When We Were Young it was really something I admired of hers um I was really shy I was kind of anxious in high school and she had this ability to really walk into a room and just capture it um go after what she wanted sort of set the tone um with how she wanted to be treated how she wanted people to um react to her and it was always something I really admired and growing up Lauren excelled in school sports and the Arts standing only 5 foot tall she was petite in stature but had an outsized personality and confidence by the time she reached Wayland High School Lauren was a triple threat singing in the school choir playing varsity tennis and working part-time at a clothing store it was in her freshman year that Lauren met Nathaniel fuet another ninth grader at Wayland High Nathaniel came from a well-known family in town his father Tomo was a guitarist and professor at the Berkeley College of Music Nathaniel was an athletic star on the football team before long Lauren and Nathaniel became a couple to those around them they seemed like a picturesque High School pairing but the on again off again relationship was not always smooth sailing as high school went on Lauren and Nathaniel's relationship troubles mounted friends say Nathaniel could be controlling and prone to angry outbursts especially when drinking Lauren repeatedly broke up with him only to get back together by March of their senior year in 2011 18-year-old Lauren had enough she ended the relationship for Good Feeling a sense of relief and freedom she looked forward to graduating high school and starting college at Elon University in North Carolina Nathaniel was also headed to college on a football scholarship to Trinity College in Connecticut while Lauren embraced her future friends noticed Nathaniel became depressed after the breakup he withdrew from his Social Circle stopped leaving the house and spent his days smoking marijuana concerned about his mental state Nathaniel's parents convinced him to see a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with major depression they just would fight a lot they're always breaking up getting back together I believe he loved her he was obsessed with her he was very outwardly jealous but um in the majority of their relationship there weren't these really big um there weren't these big flags that I would have known to look for at that time looking back I definitely have noticed [Music] something everywhere with all this romantic atmosphere disaster in the air he's holding [Music] back July 3rd 2011 began as a typical Sunday for Lauren Ashley An Early Riser by Nature she arrived for her morning shift at her summer job at the local mall around 9:45 a.m. just as she had countless times before little did she know this seemingly ordinary day would be her last she arrived at her job at the mall around 9:45 a.m. surveillance cameras show her smiling as she chatted with co-workers throughout her shift at 6:45 p.m. cameras capture Lauren leaving the mall and getting into her car phone records show she was on the phone with Nathaniel fuja at the time Lauren had plans to meet up with her friends later that evening but they never heard from her calls and texts went un answered as the hours ticked by Lauren's friends grew increasingly worried it was completely unlike her to vanish without a word around 3 a.m. they contacted Lauren's parents who called Wayland police to report her missing detectives immediately turned their attention to Lauren's exboyfriend police paid a visit to Nathaniel's house in the early morning hours of July 4th the 18-year-old told detectives he was Home Alone the previous evening and that Lauren had come by for a few minutes but never got out of her car when when questioned separately Nathaniel's mother corroborated her son's story offering the same timeline of events to the investigating officers without any concrete evidence to suggest Foul Play or contradict the fueta statements the police had no choice but to continue their search elsewhere as the police continued their search for Lauren her close-knit group of friends refused to sit idly by they organized their own search parties combing through the areas Lauren was known to frequent desperately hoping to find any clue that might lead them to her whereabouts it was during one of these searches that a chilling Discovery was made Lauren's distinctive red Jeep was spotted parked at the Wayland Town Beach a place she often visited to clear her mind as her friends approached the vehicle their hearts sank the windows were rolled down and Lauren's personal belongings including her purse and cell phone were strewn across the seats but there was no trace of Lauren herself immediately they contacted the police who rushed to the scene together law enforcement and Lauren's loved ones scoured the beach and surrounding areas calling out her name and searching for any sign of the missing teenager but as the hours ticked by with no sign of Lauren hope slowly gave way to a growing sense of dread little did they know the mystery of Lauren's disappearance was about to take a devastating turn on the morning of July 4th a woman walking her dog near a marsh about 5 miles from Lauren's abandoned Jeep spotted something chilling a pair of human legs were sticking out of the water Tangled in plants and fishing lines she immediately called 911 police arrived and made a horrific Discovery the body of a young woman bruised and bloodied it was Lauren asley news of Lauren Ashley's death sent shock waves through the Suburban town of Wayland violent crime was almost unheard of in the peaceful community of 14,000 at first Lauren's friends refused to believe her ex-boyfriend Nathaniel could be involved but police were already building their casee against the recent high school graduate a search of the marsh turned up crucial evidence Lauren's body showed signs of a brutal attack she had been strangled with a bungee cord and her throat was slashed ear to ear an autopsy determined she died from a combination of strangulation and incision wounds to her neck with clear signs of Foul Play detectives turned their attention back to Nathaniel fueta but when they arrived at his home on July 5th he was nowhere to be found after an hour's long search police located the 18-year-old at a relative's house and brought him to the station for questioning when asked about Lauren's whereabouts Nathaniel's story didn't add up as detectives interrogated Nathaniel crime scene analysts got to work at his family home luminol tests revealed blood stains splattered across the garage in a crawl space in Nathaniel's bedroom in the kitchen they found a pair of blood soaked sneakers inside a trash bag DNA tests would later match the blood to Lauren asley with a mountain of physical evidence police pieced together a chilling theory of what happened the night of July 3rd they believed Lauren agreed to meet up with her troubled ex-boyfriend at his home to talk the conversation took a violent turn inside the garage where Nathaniel strangled Lauren with a bungee cord before slashing her neck repeatedly with a knife investigators say after the brutal slaying Nathaniel loaded Lauren's lifeless body into his Honda CRV and dumped it in the marsh he then abandoned her Jeep at whent toown Beach and threw her keys into a storm drain Nathaniel returned home to hastily clean up the crime scene hiding bloody clothing towels and shoes in his bedroom on July 5th 2011 Nathaniel fua was arrested and charged with the murder of Lauren asley shellshocked friends and family grappled with the allegations against the football star as a motive began to emerge prosecutors believed Nathaniel acted in a cold calculated rage he lured Lauren to his home with the intent of hurting her angry that she had ended their relationship Nathaniel pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and was held without bail overnight the Suburban town was thrust into the national Spotlight for a crime that seemed Unthinkable a teenage romance that ended in unspeakable violence for Lauren's grieving parents the devastating loss of their only child began to sink in in the winter of 2013 Nathaniel fujita's murder trial began at middlex Superior Court in wber Massachusetts about 10 Mi North of Boston the trial which lasted nearly a month laid bare the toxic relationship between Nathaniel and Lauren in painful detail prosecutor Lisa McGovern painted Nathaniel as a jilted ex-boyfriend who couldn't handle the breakup in opening statements she told jurors Nathaniel was a controlling partner prone to jealousy and angry outbursts McGovern said in the months after Lauren ended things Nathaniel grew increasingly depressed and resentful friends testified that in June 2011 a drunken Nathaniel confronted Lauren at their High School graduation party he was kicked out after angrily punching a tent pole and refusing to leave Lauren alone McGovern argued the incident foreshadowed the deadly attack on Lauren just a month later the prosecutor further stated that Nathaniel fuet couldn't stand that Lauren was moving on without him he was humiliated and full of Rage he lured her to his family home strangled her with a bungee cord and slashed her throat in a fit of anger this was a deliberate intentional Act of domestic violence McGovern laid out a mountain of physical evidence tying Nathaniel to the crime Lauren's DNA on his bloody clothing her hair Tangled in the bungee cord and her body dumped in a marsh near his home the crime scene told the story of a frenzied anger-fueled attack in the fueta family garage the defense didn't dispute that Nathaniel had killed Lauren that July evening but attorney William Sullivan argued the recent high school graduate was in the throws of a psychotic break at the time and not criminally responsible in opening statements Sullivan laid the groundwork for an insanity defense he said that the question here was not what Nathaniel did but why he did it he was convinced that the young man was in the midst of a brief psychotic episode and that he was not able to control his actions or understand what he was doing Sullivan painted a portrait of a deeply troubled teen spiraling into depression in the months before the murder friends testified that after the breakup Nathaniel stopped leaving the house cut off contact and spent his days smoking marijuana concerned about his mental state his parents convinced him to see a psychiatrist who diagnosed Nathaniel with major depression a forensic psychiatrist for the defense evaluated Nathaniel after his arrest he told jurors that Nathaniel was likely in a dissociative State during the attack on Lauren experiencing a disconnect between his mind and his actions the defense said this Psych otic break was fueled by Nathaniel's underlying mental illness anger and heavy substance abuse they argued that this psychotic break was not an isolated incident but rather the result of a perfect storm of factors that had been brewing for years they pointed to Nathaniel's family history of mental illness which included several relatives who had struggled with severe psychiatric disorders Nathaniel's great uncle had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and believed that the CIA was monitoring him through his television another aunt had become homeless and was known to wander the streets carrying her belongings in shopping bags both of Nathaniel's parents had grappled with anxiety and depression and his siblings had also experienced mental health challenges including Suicidal Thoughts but prosecutors attempted to poke holes in the insanity argument on cross-examination the defense's star expert witness acknowledged Nathaniel's Behavior after the slaying cleaning up the crime scene hiding evidence dumping Lauren's car suggested he OD the wrongfulness of his actions after nearly a month of emotional testimony and graphic evidence the jury began deliberations on March 6th 2013 friends and family of both Lauren asley and Nathaniel fueta packed the courtroom anxiously awaiting a verdict after 8 hours of deliberations the jury reached a unanimous verdict in the murder trial of Nathaniel fueta the packed courtroom fell silent as the jury forers stood to read the decision the jury unanimously found him guilty of first-degree murder Nathaniel seated next to his attorneys stared straight ahead and showed no emotion as the verdict was read the jury rejected his Insanity defense finding him criminally responsible for the brutal slaying of his ex-girlfriend Lauren asley the first-degree murder conviction carried an automatic sentence life in prison without the possibility of parole at just 20 years old Nathaniel fua learned he would spend the rest of his days behind bars for a crime that shattered two families and an entire Community after the verdict an ashen-faced Nathaniel turned to look at his parents who wept silently in the courtroom Gallery a few feet away Lauren's parents Malcolm Ashley and Mary Dunn embraced overcome with emotion after months of unspeakable grief in a remarkable Act of Grace and compassion Lauren's father crossed the courtroom and enveloped Nathaniel's parents in a tight embrace the two fathers wept together United by the profound loss of their children after the sentencing Lauren's family left the wurn courthouse as a light snow fell there would be no more birthdays holidays or Milestones with their vivacious kind daughter but they vowed to ensure her death would not be in vain her parents began to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives Malcolm asley and Mary Dunn who had divorced when Lauren was young United in their grief and their desire to honor their only child's memory together they launched the Lauren dun asley memorial fund aimed at promoting Arts programs and healthy relationships in their daughter's name Lauren's father malcol became a passionate advocate for Dating Violence prevention speaking at schools conferences and events Nationwide as Lauren's family grappled with their devastating loss Nathaniel Fu's relatives were also struggling to understand how the quiet once-promising football player could commit such an unthinkable crime in prison Nathaniel has expressed remorse for murdering his ex-girlfriend according to his family but they acknowledge his words provide little comfort in the years since Lauren Ashley's murder her case has helped shine a national Spotlight on the alarming prevalence of breakup violence and teen dating abuse Wayland High School now requires students to take courses on healthy relationships and domestic violence prevention and Lauren's Legacy lives on in the work of her memorial fund which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Arts programs scholarship sh and Dating Violence prevention efforts Those Who Loved Lauren cling to joyful memories in the face of such senseless violence Home Videos capture her radiant Spirit singing laughing and spreading light wherever she went though her time on Earth was brief Lauren Ashley's impact endures in the face of such senseless loss Lauren's family friends and Community have found purpose and healing and activism by speaking out about Dating Violence supporting atrisk Youth and spreading Lauren's message of compassion they've created Hope from despair though nothing can erase the pain of losing Lauren her Legacy is one of light love and unwavering positivity in the face of life's challenges in the end the story of Lauren Ashley is a heartbreaking reminder of the preciousness and fragility of life it's a call to hold our loved ones closer work for a more just and peaceful world and carry the light of those lost far too soon May Lauren's Spirit continue to inspire us all