Woman killed 70-year-old 'acquaintance' whose body was found floating in community pool after 'physical struggle': Police

Inset: Anastasia Tsefia Sudarsana (Hoover Police Dept.). Background: The area in Alabama where Sudarsana allegedly killed a 70-year-old woman (Google Maps).

A 30-year-old woman in Alabama is accused of killing a 70-year-old woman whose body was found in a community pool, with investigators saying evidence at the scene showed the two had been involved in a physical altercation shortly before the victim's death.

Anastasia Tsefia Sudarsana was taken into custody and charged with one count of murder in the Sept. 3 slaying of the elderly victim, authorities announced.

According to a news release from the Hoover, Alabama, Police Department, officers responded at about 9:32 p.m. to a community pool in the 2200 block of Little Valley Road after someone called 911 and reported finding an unresponsive person in the water.

Upon arriving, first responders attempted lifesaving measures, but were unable to resuscitate the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they are withholding the 70-year-old woman's name until they can notify her family.

Authorities said evidence recovered from the scene indicated that the victim's death was not accidental.

"Detectives responded to the scene to begin their investigation and located a person of interest near the area and determined she was an acquaintance of the victim," police wrote in the release. "The evidence showed a physical struggle occurred just before the victim's death, which is being investigated as a homicide."

Police presented the evidence to the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office in Birmingham, and obtained a warrant for Sudarsana's arrest.

Authorities have not revealed a possible motive for the alleged murder.

Sudarsana was transferred to the Jefferson County Jail on Friday, where she is being held without bond.

The official cause and manner of death have not been released. Police said the Jefferson County Medical Examiner's Office will issue those findings after its investigation is complete.

Sudarsana was previously featured in a 2022 report from Birmingham ABC affiliate WBMA about her family's escape from Ukraine following the invasion of Russian troops.