A Massachusetts native is approaching the seventh year of her life sentence in Florida after fatally stabbing and beating a Pensacola man over a drug transaction in 2017.
Desiree Tedder, now 31, was found guilty of murdering Drulmauert Mims by beating him with a crowbar, stabbing him and then burying his body in a Warrington backyard on March 30, 2017.
Following Tedder’s conviction, an Escambia County Judge sentenced her to life in a Florida prison, where she’s been for nearly seven years.
Who is Desiree Tedder?
In 2017, Tedder was a self-proclaimed drug addict along with her girlfriend Lizmary Rodriguez, purchasing heroine to the tune of $500 per day.
Mims was her drug supplier and she often paid for the product with sex, according to Tedder. She was eventually indicted and convicted of first-degree premeditated murder.
What happened between Desiree Tedder and Drulmauert Mims?
Tedder and Rodriguez met with Mims to buy drugs and have sex on March 29, 2017, which is the same day Mims was reported missing.
Police reports indicate that Rodriguez told law enforcement that Mims fell asleep after having sex with Tedder, and the woman then beat him with a crowbar, stabbed him and suffocated him.
Tedder claimed during her 2018 trial that she killed Mims out of self-defense, saying Mims got “rough,” and the sex stopped being consensual. Afterward, Mims and Rodriguez went to sleep, but Tedder said she just sat on the edge of the bed upset.
Tedder claimed at some point later, Mims woke up and tried to initiate more sex. When she resisted, Mims said, “You’re going to give this to me, or I’m going to take it.”
As Mims tried to force her onto the bed, Tedder grabbed a crowbar she kept near her bedside for protection and hit Mims in the head, she testified. He fell back onto the bed, but tried to get back up, so she kept hitting him.
She also grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Mims in the chest and neck.
While testifying in 2018, Tedder said she wrapped Mims in a blanket and left his body in a trash can. However, when Mims’ family began looking for him, Tedder buried his body in her grandmother’s backyard.
Rodriguez discounted Tedder’s version of events during the 2018 trial, saying Mims had no chance to defend himself since Tedder attacked while he was asleep.
Why did Desiree Tedder kill Drulmauert Mims?
During the trial, Rodriguez told the court that Tedder was broke and wanted Mims’ drugs and money.
After leaving Mims with multiple skull fractures and a stab wound to the chest with a punctured lung, Tedder took Mims’ money and drugs.
How did law enforcement find Drulmauert Mims’ body?
Soon after Mims’ murder, Tedder and Rodriguez left Florida for their native Massachusetts where their drug addiction led to an arrest.
While there, investigators found cellphone records that implicated Tedder in Mims’ disappearance. Search history showed Tedder had previously searched for “muffling a GUNSHOT” and “does placing a pillow in front of a gun work as a silencer.”
Eventually, Rodriguez confessed to witnessing Tedder kill Mims and how she helped her dispose of the body. Rodriguez was granted immunity from prosecution for her confession and helping law enforcement locate Mims’ body.
Authorities located Mims’ body three months after his death on June 28 in Tedder’s grandmother’s backyard in Warrington.
Where is Desiree Tedder now?
Tedder is currently serving her life sentence at the Homestead Correctional Institution in Florida City, Florida. Tedder appealed her conviction and sentence in 2022, but the appeal was later closed in 2024 without a retrial.
Reporter Kevin Robinson contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Desiree Tedder serving life in prison for Pensacola backyard burial. Where she is now
Reporting by Benjamin Johnson, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
