Southbridge death ruled a homicide

WOODSTOCK, Conn.-- The death of a Woodstock jogger whose battered body was found bound in the storage area of a building along the state line has been ruled a homicide by a medical examiner in Massachusetts.

Scott Deojay, 36, of Plainfield, Conn., has admitted to having struck the jogger, Judith Nilan, with his car on Monday night, in Southbridge, Mass., authorities said.

But his lawyer says her death was accidental.

Deojay is charged with kidnapping, and Connecticut prosecutors expect to bring charges related to the homicide soon.

An autopsy found that the 44-year-old Nilan had died of ''blunt force trauma to the head and neck, causing multiple fractures, subarachoid hemorrhage and brain contusion by manner of homicide," according to a report published by The Day of New London.

The Day said that information had come from District Attorney John Conte in Worcester, Mass.

An affidavit filed by the police reported that Nilan had been found bound, with her running pants partially pulled down, and that she ''appears to have been beaten about the head."

The public defender, Ramon Canning, said his client accidentally struck Nilan as she was jogging along a road near her home.

Deojay told police that he panicked, dragged Nilan's body into his car, and took her to a picnic area on the property of Caroll Spinney, the performer who portrays Big Bird on ''Sesame Street." Deojay worked on the property as a caretaker.