A Suffolk Superior Court clerk magistrate today ordered a 37-year-old man charged with killing a Chelsea man in the victim’s apartment held without bail, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

MARIO CRUZADO (D.O.B. 7/10/73), who has no permanent address, was arraigned and charged with first-degree murder for the homicide of Frederick Allen. Chelsea Police officers discovered Allen’s body on Nov. 26, 2010 in the victim’s Bellingham Street home after receiving a 911 call. A Medical Examiner determined that the victim died of blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.

At today’s arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Holly Broadbent told the court that on the afternoon of November 24, the victim’s live-in boyfriend was drinking in the Bellingham Square area of Chelsea when he encountered Cruzado, an acquaintance of his whom he had not seen for quite some time. After drinking alcohol together, Broadbent said, the two men decided to go back to the Bellingham Street residence where Allen and his boyfriend lived.

Once back at the apartment, Broadbent told the court, the three men drank alcohol together for a short period of time. The victim’s boyfriend and the defendant later left the apartment.

When the victim’s boyfriend returned to the home, Broadbent said, Allen confronted his boyfriend about bringing Cruzado to the apartment, as he believed that Cruzado had stolen his cell phone. Allen’s boyfriend later told investigators that as a result of the argument, he left the apartment and didn’t return.

Broadbent told the court that on Dec. 7, 2010, Cruzado had a phone conversation with a witness using a stolen cell phone. During that phone conversation, Broadbent said, the defendant admitted to being present inside of a Chelsea apartment a few weeks earlier after living on the streets for several days. During that same conversation, Broadbent told the court, Cruzado admitted to putting a resident in the apartment in a “chokehold” during a physical altercation, and leaving the man unconscious on the floor before taking leave of the apartment.

Unbeknownst to the defendant, Broadbent told the court, a witness overheard Cruzado’s conversation, and immediately went to the Chelsea Police station to report what he heard.

Broadbent said that when investigators interviewed the defendant later that afternoon, he admitted to being with the victim’s boyfriend on November 24, but denied ever meeting the victim or being at the victim’s apartment.

Broadbent told the court that phone records show that the defendant made a series of phone calls from Allen’s home on November 24 that could be traced back to the defendant.

Cruzado was arrested on April 25 by members of the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, State Police detectives assigned to DA Conley’s office, and Chelsea Police Department officers in the South End on an outstanding homicide warrant that was issued on April 13.

Cruzado is represented by attorney Matthew Feinberg and is expected to return to court on August 4.