Fourteen years after Lauren Astley’s murder at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, her parents keep working to memorialize Lauren and teach teens about healthy relationships even as legal proceedings drag on.
Astley was strangled on July 3, 2011, by her ex-boyfriend Nathaniel Fujita in his garage. He subsequently slit her throat and dumped her body in a marsh. Both were 18. According to the National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline, teen dating abuse affects nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide per year (see tinyurl.com/teen-helpline for information and help).
In response to their tragic loss, Astley’s parents, Malcolm Astley and Mary Dunne, created the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund to promote educational programs on healthy teen relationships, the arts, and community service. The fund supports programs presented to students beginning in fifth grade, initially focusing on healthy friendships and progressively addressing dating violence throughout high school.
Lauren’s parents remain vocal advocates against teen dating violence. “I remain especially concerned about the matter of violence, and mainly male violence, in our culture. Two to three girls and women are killed by intimate partners, mostly boys and men, each day in our country — about 15 in Massachusetts last year. The death rate among minority genders is disproportionately higher,” said Astley.
Malcolm Astley and Mary Dunne have traveled to over 250 schools and colleges, attended summits, and met with governors to discuss teen dating violence. They use programs like the “Loved to Death” documentary from CBS’s “48 Hours” about Lauren’s murder to raise awareness. Most of their efforts, however, remain concentrated in Wayland, where Lauren’s story is shared with students as part of the wellness curriculum about healthy friendships starting in fifth grade and continues through high school, where the topics progress to unhealthy relationships, dating violence and warning signs teens should look for, and advice to follow.
“I found it quite informative and helpful in knowing how to get out of unhealthy relationships. The discussions we had in class were rather eye-opening regarding what people deemed healthy or not-so-healthy. I’m very glad it’s offered at the high school,” Loui Takahashi, a rising senior at Wayland High School, said about the program. “I think the program does a pretty good job of teaching the basics of what teen dating violence is and the warning signs,” said another resident and recent graduate of Wayland High School. The various initiatives outside the classroom have also been well received, whether it be for a crowd at the premier of the fund’s video about relationship violence, “Understanding and Preventing Relationship Violence,” or a heartfelt reception to a Cappella arts award that’s given every May in Lauren’s name.
Parents in particular, according to Astley, have been highly appreciative of the fund’s work. Lauren’s parents have no intention of stopping their work through the fund anytime soon. “We will continue as long as the challenges of intimate partner violence exist and people keep stepping forward to support our efforts, either by writing a check or asking what they might do for the cause,” Astley said. When asked what he would tell someone struggling in a relationship, he said, “If one person’s world is shrinking in a relationship, there is a problem, and help should be sought from a trusted peer or adult who knows what the school and community resources are for help. A trusted teacher, a counselor or a nurse is often a good place to start.”
To donate to the Lauren Dunne Astley Memorial Fund or learn more, visit laurendunneastleymemorialfund.org.
Legal update on appeal
Fujita was found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder with extreme atrocity or cruelty and sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2013, but in 2024, Massachusetts law was changed, which could reduce Fujita’s sentence. The court raised the minimum age to be sentenced to life in prison without parole to 21; therefore, anyone sentenced to life without parole under that age is now eligible for a chance at parole if the crime was committed before July 25, 2014.
In January 2025, prosecutors asked the Supreme Judicial Court to uphold the Middlesex District Court judge’s denial of a retrial. A hearing date on that January request has not been set. In the original request for a new trial, Fujita’s lawyers said that psychiatric issues such as schizophrenia were not known at the time of the original trial and only appeared after his incarceration. However, the Middlesex District Attorney’s office said Fujita admitted to faking behaviors that would indicate mental illness and admitted that his “non-responsive behavior” at a prison psychiatric facility in New Hampshire was a “conscious choice.”
Assistant District Attorney Ryan Rall responded to the latest appeal in a 180-page document stating that the Middlesex District judge had, in fact, considered the evidence presented by both expert witnesses brought in to testify about Fujita’s mental state and schizophrenia.
Wayland responds
“Not only does asking for an appeal based on an admitted faked or exaggerated mental illness give folks suffering from these real diseases a bad rap and make their paths harder, but it makes it even more clear how selfish he is. We have never heard one iota of regret or responsibility from him. We don’t expect to,” said Astley’s friends Ariel Chates, Chloe Jacques, Genevieve Flynn, and Hannah Blahut in a joint statement.
“I think that 15 years isn’t a lot to spend for somebody who murdered somebody… I hope that if [Fujita] gets out, he can realize that he’s murdered somebody. That’s a horrible thing, and people don’t get over that,” said a longtime Wayland resident whose daughter was in Fujita and Astley’s class.
A mural honoring Lauren on an exterior wall of the Wayland High School courtyard was created by her friends in her memory.
