BOSTON, July 11, 2016—A 16-year-old East Boston youth was held without bail at his arraignment today for the homicide last month of 18-year-old Blanca Lainez, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

JOSE HERNANDEZ, arrested yesterday by Boston Police, was formally charged in East Boston Municipal Court with one count of murder. Under Massachusetts law, all juveniles over the age of 14 accused of murder are charged as adults, meaning the case against Hernandez is open to the public.

Assistant District Attorney John Verner of the DA’s Homicide Unit told Judge Debra Shopteese that construction workers found Lainez’ body on a pile of 2×4 boards in a garage behind 54 Princeton St. on the morning of June 15. She had been beaten and stabbed.

Verner said video evidence from cameras in the area show a male wearing a hood exit a residence at 63 Marion St. and make his way to Princeton Street at about 8:15 pm – moments before the last outgoing acitivity on Lainez’ cell phone. It also shows him running back from Princeton Street to Marion Street and putting something in his pocket at about 9:00, Verner said. Analysis of footage from multiple cameras suggests that this male traveled to a portion of Princeton Street between 40 Princeton St. and the Marion Street intersection – a portion that includes 54 Princeton St.

A search warrant executed at 63 Marion St., where Hernandez lives, yielded a two-tone hooded jacket consistent with the one seen on the video footage.

A person going to or from the area in which Lainez’ body was found would have to travel between the studs of an unfinished wall of the garage, Verner said. An examination of that area led to the recovery of a palmprint that tested presumptively positive for blood – and that also matched Hernandez’ prints when he was arrested with a large knife on June 30.

Analysis of Lainez’ cell phone showed “extensive contact” between Hernandez and the victim prior to her homicide and suggested “animosity” between the two. Hernandez had threatened her in the weeks prior to her death.

Eliana Builes is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Hernandez is represented by attorney James Coviello. The case will return to court on July 20.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.