A South Boston man had 65-year-old Barbara Tagen’s blood on his shoes when they were seized at a substance abuse clinic last month, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office said in court today.

Acting on a request by Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum of Conley’s Homicide Unit, South Boston District Court Judge Michael Bolden ordered ADAM J. CASSINO (D.O.B. 5/9/86) held without bail on a murder charge stemming from Tagen’s violent death in her Dorchester Street apartment.

“Ms. Tagen had been dead for some time, apparently,” before her remains were found on Aug. 27, Polumbaum said. “The cause of death was determined to be multiple blunt blows to the head.”

No weapon was recovered at the scene, the prosecutor said.

Tagen was last known to be alive on Aug. 23, Polumbaum said, a day on which “Mr. Cassino was back and forth between his house across the street from Ms. Tagen’s and another house in the immediate vicinity.”
At that time, Polumbaum said, Cassino had been “acting erratically” and had been accused of stealing drugs from another resident of Tagen’s building. Also on Aug. 23, Cassino’s family sought to have him committed for evaluation and treatment of substance abuse problems.

Cassino stayed at the home of a friend that night but was taken into custody the next day on a South Boston District Court warrant and transferred to the Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Clinic at Bridgewater State Hospital.

Staff at MASAC seized Cassino’s shoes and clothing as they do for all incoming patients. His shoes were seen to have reddish-brown stains on them, not only on the upper portion but also in the grooves of their soles. A search warrant executed on those shoes revealed that the substance was blood: further testing revealed that the blood was a DNA match with Tagen’s unique genetic profile.

Another search warrant executed at the location at which Cassino spent the night of Aug. 23 led to the recovery of an object believed to be the murder weapon. That object also bore traces of Tagen’s blood, Polumbaum said.

Armed with a warrant for his arrest, Boston Police homicide detectives arrested Cassino as he returned to South Boston court following his discharge from MASAC. He was transported to headquarters for booking and fingerprinting, then returned to court for arraignment.

Katherine Moran is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Cassino was represented by attorney Lorenzo Perez. The case will return to court on Oct. 31.