Deputies have arrested a 53-year-old man in connection with the “vicious murder” of a Polk County woman after DNA evidence linked him to the crime, Sheriff Grady Judd announced Thursday.  

On March 22, 58-year-old Tammy Butler was found dead inside her Mulberry home.  Deputies said her throat had been cut and she had likely been dead for several days.  

Butler’s body was sent to a medical examiner’s office to determine her exact cause of death and fluid collected from her body was sent to a lab and rushed through DNA analysis.  Investigators determined the fluids belonged to 53-year-old Marvin Brewer, a convicted felon who used to live with Butler.  

When deputies finally located Brewer, he reportedly made a series of admissions, telling detectives he was with Butler when she received her last phone call and that he visited Butler “to engage her in sex in exchange for $30,” Judd said.  Deputies also have a witness and evidence showing him driving back to Bartow, but said a lot of the evidence related to the case will be released at a later date.

Brewer has an extensive criminal history with a number of arrests for battery, theft and drugs.  

He was arrested on Wednesday and booked into the Polk County Jail where he’s being held without bond.