A Suffolk Superior Court clerk magistrate ordered that Mario Cruzado, 37, be held without bail in connection with the 2010 death of Frederick Allen, a Chelsea resident. Cruzado, who has no permanent address, faces a first-degree murder charge. On November 26, 2010, Chelsea Police officers responded to a 911 call and found Allen’s body in his Bellingham Street residence. According to a Medical Examiner’s determination, the victim sustained blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.
During the arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Holly Broadbent presented the prosecution’s account to the court. She explained that on the afternoon of November 24, Allen’s live-in boyfriend was in the Bellingham Square area of Chelsea drinking when he ran into Cruzado, someone he knew but hadn’t encountered in a considerable time. The two men consumed alcohol together before deciding to return to the Bellingham Street apartment shared by Allen and his boyfriend. The three men drank together briefly at the residence. Subsequently, Cruzado and the boyfriend departed from the apartment. Upon his return, Allen confronted his boyfriend over bringing Cruzado to their home, suspecting that Cruzado had stolen his cell phone months earlier. This argument prompted the boyfriend to leave, and he did not come back that evening.
Broadbent told the court that on December 7, 2010, Cruzado engaged in a phone conversation with a witness using a stolen cell phone. During this call, Broadbent stated that Cruzado acknowledged having been inside a Chelsea apartment several weeks prior while homeless. He further admitted to placing a resident in a “chokehold” during a physical altercation, rendering the man unconscious before departing. A witness present during the conversation overheard these admissions and promptly reported them to the Chelsea Police station. When investigators questioned Cruzado later that day, he claimed to have been with the victim’s boyfriend on November 24 but denied knowing Allen or entering his apartment. However, Broadbent noted that phone records documented a series of calls from Allen’s home on November 24 traceable to Cruzado.
Members of the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, State Police detectives assigned to D.A. Daniel Conley’s office, and Chelsea Police Department officers apprehended Cruzado on April 25 in the South End based on an outstanding homicide warrant issued on April 13. Attorney Matthew Feinberg represents Cruzado, who is scheduled to appear in court again on August 4.