A Dorchester man is scheduled to face trial next year on a first-degree murder charge next year for the 2004 slaying of Julaine Jules, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

SHABAZZ AUGUSTINE (D.O.B. 2/19/79) was arraigned today in Suffolk Superior Court following his July 29 indictment by the Suffolk County Grand Jury. Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson scheduled Augustine’s trial date for Sept. 4, 2012, and ordered Augustine held without bail, as he has been since his arrest earlier this summer.

“Today marks a pivotal point in our pursuit of justice for Julaine Jules, her family, and her community,” Conley said. “It’s been a search for answers and accountability. It’s been a long road for Julaine’s loved ones, but it’s one they never strayed from.”

Assistant District Attorney Mark Lee, deputy chief of Conley’s Homicide Unit, told the court that Jules, 26 and a Malden resident, had been romantically involved with a Florida man during the summer of 2004 but had also been seeing Augustine. In late August of that year, Lee said, Augustine learned that Jules had spent a weekend with that man.

“On Tuesday [Aug. 24], Mr. Augustine concocted a ruse with his cousin to lure Ms. Jules away from her workplace,” Lee said. “Ms. Jules left during one of her breaks and went to Mr. Augustine’s home.”

Augustine’s cousin had no ill intent and played no role in Jules’ homicide, prosecutors say. She knew of their romantic relationship and told Jules that Augustine was sick and needed to see her.

“An altercation or argument ensued and Mr. Augustine suffocated Ms. Jules and killed her,” Lee said.
Shortly before 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 25, Jules’ car was found burning in a Revere parking lot near the Malden border. Later the same morning, her family reported her missing.

More than three weeks later, on Sept. 19, her remains were spotted in the waters of the Charles River, just west of the Longfellow Bridge on the Cambridge side of the river. They were wrapped in plastic and weighted down.

Jules’ disappearance and the grim discovery led to a multi-agency investigation that included efforts by the Suffolk and Middlesex district attorneys’ offices, State Police detectives assigned to those offices, and the police departments of Boston, Cambridge, Malden, and Revere.

Investigators assigned to the Boston Police Cold Case Squad recently became aware that “Mr. Augustine made a number of incriminating statements to civilians” in the aftermath of Jules’ slaying. Based on those statements – and additional evidence developed during the preceding weeks, months, and years – Suffolk prosecutors approved a warrant charging Augustine with murder.

Boston Police arrested Augustine on June 29. He was arraigned the next day in Dorchester District Court and has been held without bail since then.

Fabiola Pierre is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. The defendant is represented by attorney Steven Sack. He will return to court on Oct. 18.