Trial of Navy Petty Officer Accused of Murder Begins

Jurors heard opening arguments Tuesday in the murder trial of Robert William Nydegger, a Navy petty officer charged with killing his roommate and stuffing the body into a refrigerator in the back yard of their Imperial Beach house.

Nydegger, 43, is charged with murdering 39-year-old Timothy Cudd with a lethal dose of the antihistamine known in its over-the-counter form as Benadryl.

Nydegger is also charged with four counts of forgery stemming from the alleged use of four of Cudd’s checks. He is accused of passing or attempting to pass checks worth $3,431.

In his opening statement to the jury, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Amador outlined the circumstantial evidence--including Nydegger’s apparent attempted suicide with Benadryl and the discovery of Cudd’s checkbook in Nydegger’s desk--which he said point to Nydegger’s guilt.

Defense attorney Charles Bumer insisted during his opening statement that Cudd’s death was a suicide.

Cudd was afflicted with Huntington’s chorea, a debilitating nerve disorder that had begun to affect his movement. Bumer also said that Cudd was suffering from the same psychiatric disorder affecting Nydegger--post-trauma stress syndrome, a condition Bumer said resulted from their service in Vietnam.

Bumer admitted that Nydegger “may have behaved strangely” or in an “irrational” manner by attempting to hide the body, but contended that was because of his own mental illness.

The trial is expected to last about four weeks.