Dartmouth woman faces Fla. murder rap after body unearthed
A 23-year-old Dartmouth woman faces a New Bedford District Court hearing Monday, where she is expected to be extradited to Florida to face charges she murdered a man and buried his body in a backyard, authorities said.
Desiree Jean Tedder was arrested Wednesday in Dartmouth on a fugitive from justice warrant in connection with the death of Drulmauert Depodrek Mims, authorities said.
Mims, 23, went missing from his Pensacola, Fla., home on March 29, said Florida State Attorney Bill Eddins.
After a three-month investigation, police using a search warrant found the victim’s remains Wednesday in the backyard of a Warrington home, Eddins said in a statement. Inside the home, police found additional evidence, which will be used in the prosecution of the case, he said, declining to specify what they had found or comment on a motive. However, officer Mike Wood, a spokesman for the Pensacola police, said, “We don’t have any reason to believe this was random.”
An autopsy was performed on Mims’ body Thursday, but authorities have not released the cause or approximate time of death. Tedder, who is being held without bond in Massachusetts, is expected to be charged with second-degree murder in Florida, Eddins said. If convicted, she faces up to life in prison.
Mims’ family could not be reached for comment yesterday. But at a press conference Thursday, Pensacola police Chief Tommi Lyter said the victim’s mother “was engaged and involved in the investigation during the entire process.”
“While it’s a tragic ending to a missing person’s case,” Lyter said, “I hope that this arrest brings some form of closure to the family.”