A body found in a Birmingham apartment Friday afternoon has been positively identified as a woman reported missing earlier in the day.
Police on Saturday confirmed the victim’s identity as Maria Juan. She was 27.
Juan was last seen about 8 p.m. Thursday on Birmingham’s Southside.
Special Victims Unit detectives launched an investigation Friday morning after family reported she had not been seen or heard from since then.
Then, about 3:30 p.m. Friday, South Precinct officers were called out to do a welfare check at the Hillside apartment complex at 1521 17th Street South in Glen Iris.
Officers arrived at the complex, entered an apartment and found Juan unresponsive. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service pronounced her dead on the scene.
Birmingham officers found a body while responding to a welfare check at The Hillside apartment complex Friday in Glen Iris that they believe is likely that of a woman reporting missing earlier in the day.Howard Koplowitz
Officer Truman Fitzgerald said detectives and officers suspect foul play. They have not said how she was killed.
An autopsy will be performed by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office to determine the cause of death.
During the investigation, officers learned about some of the people Juan was with Thursday night, which led North Precinct officers to detain a man Friday in downtown Birmingham.
That man – described by police as a former romantic partner – is in the Birmingham City Jail on a 48-hour extension pending formal charges for murder.
Fitzgerald said family members provided the suspect’s name.
Juan is the city’s 118th homicide this year. Of those, eight have been ruled justifiable and two happened in previous years and died in 2024.
In all of Jefferson County, there have been 150 homicides including the 118 in Birmingham.
Anyone with additional information is asked to call investigators at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.
