SPEAKIN’ OUT NEWS
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The death of a 20-year-old Alabama State University student has become a homicide investigation after police arrested her boyfriend on a murder charge.
Montgomery police responded shortly before 11 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 23, to the 1600 block of Interstate Park Drive, the site of an off-campus facility used by Alabama State for student housing. Officers found Ava Walters unresponsive, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Walters, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native, was a second-year Health Information Management major at Alabama State, according to university President Quinton Ross Jr.
Police arrested 22-year-old Jalil Bivens, also of Fort Lauderdale, and booked him into the Montgomery County Detention Facility on a murder charge. Court documents cited by WSFA state that Bivens and Walters were dating. According to those records, investigators said Bivens provided a statement indicating that he strangled Walters to death.
The case remains under investigation, and the murder charge is an allegation. Bivens is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Walters’ death marks Montgomery’s 34th homicide of 2026, according to WSFA. Alabama State officials expressed condolences to her family, friends and campus community.
The killing has also renewed attention on intimate-partner violence and student safety. Advocates urge young adults to recognize warning signs such as threats, controlling behavior, stalking and escalating physical violence.
The university said the investigation had been turned over to Montgomery police and emphasized support for Walters’ loved ones as the campus community mourned her death.