The suspect in 23-year-old Richard Bevins’s fatal stabbing in Allston yesterday morning was formally charged with murder today as Boston Police homicide detectives and Suffolk county prosecutors continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding it, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Acting on a request by Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum of Conley’s Homicide Unit, Brighton District Court Judge David T. Donnelly ordered MITCHELL MARTINEZ (D.O.B. 8/29/86) of Allston-Brighton held without bail on charges of murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery, affray, and resisting arrest.

“This investigation is still very active, and we ask anyone who may have seen it or heard about it to contact Boston Police,” Conley said. Information can be provided anonymously at 1-800-494-TIPS.

Investigators believe that Martinez and Bevins were members of two separate groups and that those groups exchanged words with one another in the vicinity of Harvard and Brighton avenues at around 1:45 yesterday morning.

The verbal exchange turned physical, investigators believe, and members of the defendant’s group were injured. Martinez allegedly then ran across Harvard Avenue toward Bevins and stabbed him multiple times. There is no indication that Bevins was armed.

Boston Police officers responding to the scene found five young men suffering from apparent stab wounds. Bevins and another man had injuries deemed life-threatening, and they were transported to Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Bevins succumbed to his injuries; the other man remains hospitalized.

Martinez was represented today by attorney Robert Wheeler. He will return to court on March 18. Catherine Yuan is the victim-witness advocate assigned to the case.