Police Find Woman Murdered in Cottondale Monday, Arrest Boyfriend

A 56-year-old woman is dead and her long-time partner has been charged with murder after Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's deputies found the woman's body in Cottondale shortly after midnight Monday morning.

Jack Kennedy, the commander of the multi-agency Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, said police were called to the 1900 block of Ridgehaven Drive in Cottondale around 12:30 a.m. Monday.

He said deputies discovered the body of a 56-year-old woman, Tammy Ledbetter, and that it "was apparent that the deceased victim had been the subject of an assault."

The deputies turned the case over to the VCU, whose investigators quickly developed Ledbetter's long-time domestic partner as a suspect in the killing.

Kennedy said his investigators processed the scene, gathered several items of physical evidence and interviewed witnesses before arresting 28-year-old Eric Fowler and charging him with the murder.

Fowler was booked in the Tuscaloosa County Jail and remained there later Monday morning on a $150,000 bond.