Prosecutors from Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office said today that DNA evidence implicated a South Boston man in the murder of 65-year-old Barbara Tagen, who had accused the man of stealing her prescription pills.

ADAM J. CASSINO (D.O.B 5/9/86) remains held without bail following his indictment for first-degree murder in her slaying. Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson set a trial date of Nov. 26, 2012.

At Cassino’s Superior Court arraignment this morning, Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum of Conley’s Homicide Unit told Wilson that Cassino lived across the street from Tagen and that “several times in recent months, Tagen had accused the defendant of stealing her prescription pills.”

Cassino allegedly admitted to begging or buying pills from the victim, Polumbaum said, but denied stealing them. Tagen was found beaten to death in her Dorchester Street apartment on Aug. 27.
On Aug. 22, Polumbaum said, “the defendant was accused of stealing pills from another resident of Tagen’s building.” This allegation led to verbal confrontations with several people, Polumbaum said, and a physical scuffle that led to him being ejected from the apartment where he lived with his family.

Polumbaum told the court that Cassino stayed at another neighbor’s home for the next two nights. On Aug. 23, he “made several trips in and out of the apartment, including a two-hour absence when he falsely claimed to be doing yard work nearby,” the prosecutor said.

Witnesses later described his demeanor as “agitated and erratic,” Polumbaum told the court.
Tagen was last known to be alive and in contact with family members on the afternoon of Aug. 23, Polumbaum said. On the afternoon of Aug. 24, Cassino’s mother filed papers to have him civilly committed to a state substance abuse treatment center, and he was taken into custody.

Tagen’s body was found in her living room with “tremendous head injuries” three days later. Polumbaum said that the victim appeared to have been dead for several days; the state Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be severe blunt force trauma.

Boston Police homicide detectives interviewed Cassino, who “admitted that he had contact with Tagen” on the Monday night before he was committed, Polumbaum said.

Detectives also recovered Cassino’s sneakers, which had bloodstains on the soles and blood spatter on the upper part of the shoe that “were matched to Tagen’s DNA,” Polumbaum told the court.

Noting that the investigation was still active and ongoing, Polumbaum said that an object recovered from the apartment where the victim was staying was consistent with the type of fatal head injuries that Tagen sustained.

Cassino is represented by attorney Lorenzo Perez. He is expected to return to court on Jan. 31, 2012.