BOSTON, April 23, 2012—Two men accused of unrelated murders were arraigned in Suffolk County courts today after their separate arrests this weekend, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
“These were very different cases,” Conley said. “They had different victims in different neighborhoods with different facts and circumstances. But what they had in common was a determination by police, prosecutors, and victim support staff to find justice for the lives lost and speak for them in court. Like every violent crime in Suffolk County, they got the benefit of a comprehensive investigation by men and women who won’t rest until the job is done.”
TIMOTHY KOSTKA (D.O.B.4/28/85 ) of South Boston was arraigned in the South Boston Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department. Assistant District Attorney Ursula Knight of Conley’s Homicide Unit recommended that he be held without bail and Judge Michael Bolden granted that request.
Knight told the court that “witness statements, forensic analysis, videotaped surveillance,” and other evidence tie Kostka to the scene of 67-year-old Barbara Coyne’s stabbing death inside her East 7th Street home on the morning of April 16.
Kostka allegedly gained access to the residence at about 10:00 a.m. Evidence suggests he intended to steal some high-end fishing equipment from another resident of the home, even making a call earlier that morning to see where he could sell it, but that equipment was not present. Instead, prosecutors say, it appears he tossed the house, ransacking jewelry boxes and a coin jar and taking certain other items from the home.
Coyne, who was home at the time of the incident, was found beaten and suffering from a fatal slash wound to her throat. She was pronounced dead at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Kostka’s fingerprints were found in various locations at the scene, Knight said. Witness statements indicated he travelled to buy drugs in the aftermath of Coyne’s death. Items of clothing and a butcher knife, all believed to have been worn or carried by Kostka, are currently being tested by Boston Police criminalists, Knight said.
At the time of his arrest yesterday, Kostka was being held for a different, unrelated South Boston housebreak for which he was arrested Friday. He is being held on $250,000 cash bail in that case.
Also today, Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Gary D. Wilson ordered JEAN TORRES VARGAS (D.O.B. 2/2/81) of East Boston held without bail on a request by Assistant District Attorney Julie Higgins of Conley’s Senior Trial Unit. Vargas was indicted last month for first-degree murder in connection with the 2020 beating that led to 47-year-old Michael Costa’s death last year.
Vargas was arrested yesterday morning by Chelsea Police responding to a call for a disturbance; his prints soon identified him as the subject of a murder warrant, and Boston Police soon took custody of him for Costa’s homicide.
Investigators say Costa and a friend were waiting for a bus on Meridian Street in East Boston on the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2010. Costa noticed Vargas nearby and pointed himout as someone with whom the friend had a prior dispute. Vargas allegedly overheard this exchange and approached the two men.
Evidence suggests that Vargas physically assaulted both men, knocking Costa to the ground. Vargas allegedly continued to kick and beat Costa, at one point even bracing himself with a nearby fence as he stomped on the man.
Costa was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital with serious injuries. He remained hospitalized for the next 13 months, dying of complications from those injuries on Dec. 17, 2011.
In the aftermath of the beating, prosecutors indicted Vargas on two counts of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon – a shod foot and the cement sidewalk. When state pathologists declared Costa’s death a homicide earlier this year, they sought and obtained an additional indictment charging him with first-degree murder.
Katherine Moran is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate on the Kostka case. That defendant is represented by attorney William Gens and will return to court on May 24. Michael Schultz is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate on the Vargas case. That defendant is represented by attorney Eduardo Masferrer and will return to court on May 15.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
