Dartmouth woman sentenced to life in prison for Florida murder

Desiree Tedder, the Dartmouth woman arrested at her mother’s Dartmouth home last year, will spend the rest of her life behind bars for murdering a man in Florida.

On Dec. 13, a jury in Escambia County Court found Tedder, 24, guilty of first degree premeditated murder in connection to the death of 23-year-old Drulmauert Mims. It follows a two-day trial held in Pensacola, Florida, located along the Florida Panhandle near the Alabama border.

Tedder was sentenced to life in prison, the state-required mandatory minimum for first degree murder.

Tedder’s trial included testimony from her then-girlfriend, Lizmary Rodriguez. Rodriguez provided investigators with an account of the murder, and was granted immunity to testify against Tedder at her trial.

At the time of the murder, Tedder was living with her grandmother in her Pensacola home. Mims arrived at the home on March 29, 2017, and spent the night with the two.

According to Rodriguez, Tedder struck Mims in the face multiple times with a crowbar while he was asleep. She stabbed him with a kitchen knife, and then suffocated him with a pillow until he was unresponsive. She then cleaned up the bedroom, placed Mims’ body into a trash can which she then moved outside.  She buried the trash can several days later in her grandmother’s backyard.

Both women returned to Tedder’s mother’s Dartmouth home following the murder.  The pair sought treatment for gunshot wounds which had occurred in Florida at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford on April 7.

Tedder was charged with drug possession and an outstanding felony warrant at St. Luke’s after a security guard discovered a trove of drugs in her possessions. Her cell phone was taken as evidence, and she was released on bail.

Tedder was arrested at her mother’s Dartmouth home on June 28 on a fugitive from justice warrant. She was extradited to Florida to face the murder charge about a month later.

Rodriguez said Tedder murdered Mims because she was tired of not having money, knew Mims was a drug dealer, and she wanted money and drugs from him.