Massachusetts State Police arrested a Dartmouth woman on June 28 who is facing murder charges in connection to the disappearance and death of a Florida man.

According to a Massachusetts State Police press release, Desiree Tedder, 23, of Dartmouth, was arrested on June 28 at her mother's house in Dartmouth on a fugitive from justice warrant issued that day by the agency’s Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section.

Tedder is facing a second degree murder charge in Florida in connection with the disappearance of 23-year-old Drulmauert Mims. Mims was reported missing from his Pensacola, Florida residence on March 29. On April 1, his 2007 Cadillac CTS was discovered unlocked and unoccupied on a city street, according to a press release from the Pensacola Police Department.

Mims’ body was discovered buried in the backyard of a home in Escambia County, Florida on June 28 after information collected during the investigation led officials to the home, although specifics are not being released at this time, according to State Attorney Bill Eddins.

Tedder is currently charged with second degree murder in Florida, but Eddins said he intends to upgrade the charge to first degree murder once the extradition process is complete and Tedder is returned to Florida, as under Florida law a grand jury is required to indict a person for first degree murder. If the charges are upgraded, Tedder could face either a mandatory life sentence or the death penalty if convicted.

“Based on the information we have, I am very confident we will be able to successfully prosecute Desiree Tedder,” Eddins said.

Tedder was initially set to appear in court on June 30, but that date was pushed back due to a medical issue. Her new court date is July 5. If she chooses to waive extradition, she could be back in Florida to face murder charges by the end of the week, Eddins said.

Information revealing Tedder’s connection to Mims or what led to the charges being filed is not being released at the time, Eddins said.

The murder charge isn’t the first brush with the law for Tedder. According to court documents, in a separate incident, she was arrested at Saint Luke’s Hospital on April 7 and charged with two counts of drug possession after she and a woman named Lizmary Rodriguez showed up at the hospital with gunshot wounds. At the hospital, security discovered marijuana, Xanax pills, and a baggie of unknown colored pills allegedly belonging to Tedder. Both women also had an outstanding felony warrant, according to court documents.

According to a police report, Rodriguez told a police officer that she and Tedder were shot in Pensacola at the home of Tedder’s grandmother early in the morning on April 3 by an unknown man looking for Tedder’s grandmother. The two sought medical care in Florida, but returned to Massachusetts by bus to seek additional care due to health insurance issues, according to the report.

That case was set for a pretrial hearing on August 7, according to court documents.