A 32-year-old Dorchester man was ordered held without bail this morning at a district court arraignment for his alleged role in the 2004 murder of Julaine Jules, whose body was discovered in the Charles River four weeks after her family reported her missing, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

At his Dorchester District Court arraignment, SHABAZZ AUGUSTINE (D.O.B. 2/19/79) was formally charged with the 26-year-old Malden resident’s murder.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Lee, Deputy Chief of Conley’s Homicide Unit, told the court that on Aug. 24, 2004, Jules was reported missing after she left her workplace in South Boston and did not return; four weeks later, her body was subsequently recovered from the Middlesex side of the Charles River, Lee said.

“The evidence generated as part of a lengthy investigation indicates that in 2004 Mr. Augustine and Ms. Jules had a relationship, perhaps romantic in nature,” Lee said. “The exact nature of the relationship is not clear at this point and perhaps will never be clear.”

What was clear, Lee said, “was that Mr. Augustine had a significant romantic interest in Ms. Jules, and that his conduct was driven by his romantic interest.” Lee added that the weekend prior to her disappearance, Jules had spent the weekend with another man, and that the defendant became aware of that.

On the day of Jules’ disappearance, Lee told the court, Augustine “enlisted the assistance of his cousin to concoct a ruse to have Ms. Jules leave her workplace,” and go to his Sydney Street home; Jules worked the evening shift from 3 p.m. to midnight, Lee said. She left at about 7 p.m., Lee told the court, “and that was the last time anyone saw her alive.”

Lee said that after arriving at Augustine’s home “an argument ensued” which led the defendant to suffocate Jules, ultimately killing her by asphyxiation.

After killing Jules, Lee said, Augustine wrapped her body in plastic garbage bags, weighted it down, and deposited it in the Charles River.

Jules’ body was discovered when the water line receded and “her body was exposed to plain view,” Lee told the court.

Augustine then took the victim’s car and drove it to a strip mall on the Revere town line “torched it and left.”
Over the course of the next several days, weeks, and years, Lee said, “Mr. Augustine made a number of incriminating statements to people who were close to him, including admissions that he had killed Ms. Jules,” but that, “some of the more incriminating statements were not known to investigators until just recently.”

The investigation was led by Suffolk prosecutors and the Boston Police Department Cold Case Squad in collaboration with the Massachusetts State Police and the Malden Police Department. The Boston Police Fugitive and Apprehension Team took Augustine into custody yesterday in Roxbury after executing a warrant for his arrest.

Augustine is represented by attorney Steve Sack and is expected to return to court on August 1 for a probable cause hearing.