The coroner said the 70-year-old sustained injuries during a reported assault before police charged an acquaintance with murder.
HOOVER, Ala. — The 70-year-old woman whose death at a Hoover community pool prompted a murder investigation has been identified as Terry Lynn Walker-Zuniga, with the coroner’s office confirming that she sustained injuries during a reported assault before she died.
The identification, released several days after the Sept. 3 death, added Walker-Zuniga’s name to a case that had initially been described publicly only through the circumstances of a late-night emergency call. By the time authorities released her identity, Hoover police had arrested Anastasia Tsefia Sudarsana, 30, of Hoover, on a murder charge. Investigators said Sudarsana was an acquaintance of Walker-Zuniga and that evidence showed a physical struggle occurred shortly before the older woman’s death. The precise cause and manner of death, however, had not been publicly released.
The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office said Walker-Zuniga was a Hoover resident. She was pronounced dead at 10:06 p.m. Sept. 3 in the 2200 block of Little Valley Road. That finding provided a more precise endpoint to an evening that began, in the public record, when someone called 911 to report an unresponsive person in a community swimming pool. Hoover police said officers were dispatched at 9:32 p.m. Emergency responders attempted life-saving measures at the scene, but Walker-Zuniga did not survive.
The victim’s name was initially withheld while authorities worked to notify her family. That delay meant the first public reports centered on the location, her age and the investigation rather than her identity. Once the coroner released Walker-Zuniga’s name Sept. 9, officials also confirmed that she had suffered injuries in what was described as a reported assault. The coroner’s statement did not specify the injuries or announce the final medical cause of death, leaving investigators’ description of the struggle as the clearest public account of the events immediately preceding her death.
Police said detectives who responded to the pool found evidence indicating that a physical struggle had taken place shortly before Walker-Zuniga died. Authorities have not released photographs of that evidence, a detailed forensic description or a complete reconstruction of the encounter. That limitation matters because the public statements establish the existence of evidence that police considered significant without revealing all of the material that may eventually be presented in court. The department has consistently described the death as a homicide investigation while leaving the final medical findings to the coroner’s office.
Sudarsana entered the investigation after detectives located a person of interest near the area. Police said investigators determined that she knew Walker-Zuniga. Beyond calling the women acquaintances, authorities have not publicly defined their relationship. They have not said how the two met, how long they had known each other or why they were at or near the pool that night. Police also have not publicly announced a motive. Those omissions are significant because they leave the reported struggle disconnected from any officially established explanation for why it began.
The arrest followed quickly. Hoover police said the facts and evidence gathered during the investigation were presented to the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office in Birmingham. Prosecutors then issued a murder warrant for Sudarsana. The police announcement listed the charge as murder and said no bond had been set. Sudarsana was initially held locally before being transferred to the Jefferson County Jail. Local reports after the transfer continued to describe her as being held without bond. The accusation remains subject to the criminal court process, and the charge itself does not establish guilt.
The coroner’s role in the case remains separate from the charging decision. Police and prosecutors evaluate evidence when determining whether there is a basis for a criminal allegation, while the medical examiner determines the medical cause and manner of death. In this case, authorities publicly linked Walker-Zuniga’s death to a reported assault and police opened a homicide investigation, yet officials had not released the completed forensic conclusion explaining exactly how she died. The available record therefore supports reporting that she died after a reported confrontation at the pool, but not a more specific medical description that authorities themselves have not announced.
That unresolved medical question also makes careful wording important. Some early coverage characterized the incident as a drowning, reflecting the fact that Walker-Zuniga was found in the pool. Later reports emphasized the assault, the evidence of a struggle and the murder charge. The official material reviewed for this report does not provide enough information to state independently whether drowning, injuries from the reported assault or some combination of factors constituted the final medical cause of death. The coroner’s eventual findings would be needed to answer that question definitively.
Walker-Zuniga’s identification shifted the story from an anonymous death investigation to a case centered on a named Hoover resident. Even with that development, comparatively little personal information about her has been released by authorities. Police have focused on the circumstances of the investigation rather than publishing biographical details, and the verified material reviewed for this report does not establish her occupation, family history or other background suitable for publication. Avoiding unsupported personal details is especially important in a case where the official record remains limited.
The case also illustrates how an emergency call can develop into a criminal investigation as new information is found at a scene. The initial reason for the police response was an unresponsive person in a pool. Emergency personnel first tried to preserve life. Detectives then evaluated evidence and concluded that a struggle had preceded the death. A person of interest was located nearby, the connection between the two women was established, and investigators presented their findings to prosecutors. Only after those investigative steps did authorities publicly announce the murder warrant against Sudarsana.
Several consequential questions remain unanswered. Authorities have not provided a detailed account of the confrontation, identified a motive, said who made the 911 call or disclosed whether anyone witnessed the struggle. They have not publicly explained what Sudarsana told police, if anything, or identified additional suspects. Most importantly from a forensic standpoint, the final cause and manner of Walker-Zuniga’s death had not been made public in the authoritative reports reviewed for this article.
As of Oct. 20, no later authoritative report located in a review of the case announced a final medical ruling or a resolution of the murder charge. Sudarsana remains accused, not convicted, in Walker-Zuniga’s death. Hoover police have continued to treat the death as a homicide investigation while the unanswered medical and factual questions remain part of the developing case.
Author note: Last updated October 20, 2026.