A man with a long history of domestic violence has been arrested on an accusation that he assaulted his partner in Brooklyn Park before she turned up dead in St. Paul.

The 42-year-old man was apprehended Tuesday in St. Paul in connection with the death of the 36-year-old woman, whose body was found Sunday in the basement of a home in 1500 block of Jackson Street in St. Paul's North End.

The man is being held in the Hennepin County jail without bail on suspicion of murder. He has yet to be charged. While Brooklyn Park police released his name Wednesday, the Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.

The Ramsey County medical examiner has yet to disclose an exact cause of death. Authorities also have yet to reveal her identity.

A home was searched Monday in the 7500 block of Brunswick Avenue, where investigators "located evidence leading them to believe that the victim had been assaulted by her domestic partner, which resulted in her death," read a statement Tuesday afternoon from Brooklyn Park police, who have revealed no details about what they found.

Court records in Minnesota show the man has been convicted four times for violating no-contact orders, three times for domestic assault, twice for assault, and once each for illicit drugs, burglary and theft.

Paul Walsh