The hours from Jalil Bivens’ overnight drive to Montgomery through the emergency call reporting Ava Walters unresponsive were detailed in court testimony.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The weekend that ended with Alabama State University sophomore Ava Walters dead in temporary student housing began with an overnight drive from South Florida, according to court testimony that has provided the most detailed public timeline of the murder case against her boyfriend, Jalil Bivens.
Bivens, 22, told Montgomery investigators he drove from Fort Lauderdale to Alabama on the night of Aug. 22 because he wanted to surprise Walters, a 20-year-old student who also came from the Fort Lauderdale area. The following morning, Walters was pronounced dead inside a Hilton Garden Inn being used by Alabama State as overflow housing. Bivens was arrested and charged with murder after police questioned him. He has not been convicted, and prosecutors’ allegations remain subject to challenge in court.
The detective assigned to the homicide case described Bivens’ trip during an Aniah’s Law hearing several days after the death. According to that testimony, Bivens reached Montgomery and texted Walters to tell her he was there. Walters met him while accompanied by her best friend. The encounter then moved from an attempted surprise visit into an evening that investigators reconstructed through statements from Bivens, the friend and other evidence.
Bivens told police the three went to a party. While they were there, he and Walters’ friend argued about which of them Walters would spend time with, investigators said. The friend later gave police an account of the disagreement that was generally consistent with Bivens’ version, according to the homicide detective. There is no indication in the reviewed reports that authorities treated the friend as a suspect. After the party, Bivens and Walters left together.
The couple went to Walters’ room at the Hilton Garden Inn on Interstate Park Drive. Though it was a hotel, the room served a purpose similar to a dormitory. Alabama State had rented rooms there for students while work on new or renovated campus housing continued. The arrangement explains why Walters, an undergraduate enrolled at the university, was living off campus in a commercial hotel rather than in a traditional residence hall.
By Sunday morning, according to Bivens’ account described by police, the couple were arguing. The detective testified that Bivens said he then choked Walters during what he characterized as a consensual act. He told officers that he released her and discovered that she had become unconscious. Investigators did not accept all aspects of that explanation, and later medical and physical findings became central to the state’s case.
Police said electronic activity helped establish what happened during the half-hour before the emergency call. At about 10:24 a.m., investigators found that Bivens had used ChatGPT to search for information about waking someone who had been choked unconscious, the detective testified. The reported search occurred before Bivens called authorities and became one of the details disclosed publicly at the detention hearing.
At roughly 10:33 a.m., Bivens called a friend through FaceTime, according to investigators. Police said the friend recalled Bivens saying Walters had hit her head on a nightstand and was not breathing. That explanation differed from the choking account later attributed to Bivens during his police interview. The friend told investigators he at first thought Bivens was joking because he seemed calm, the detective testified. He realized the situation was serious after Bivens turned the phone camera toward Walters.
At 10:54 a.m., Bivens called police. Dispatchers instructed him to perform CPR while emergency responders were on the way. Officers arrived at the Interstate Park Drive property and found Walters unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The case was turned over to Montgomery police homicide investigators, and the university soon confirmed that one of its students had died at an off-campus facility.
An autopsy supplied investigators with a medical conclusion that sharpened the criminal inquiry. Walters’ cause of death was manual strangulation, the homicide detective testified. Police also documented scratches on Bivens’ arms and torso that they interpreted as possible defensive wounds. The detective said Walters’ injuries did not match some parts of Bivens’ statement. The meaning of that evidence will ultimately be for the courts to determine if the prosecution proceeds to trial.
After being detained, Bivens was advised of his Miranda rights and agreed to answer questions, according to the detective. The officer characterized him as cooperative. Investigators said his own statements, along with the medical findings and other evidence, led authorities to conclude there was probable cause for a murder charge. Officials have not publicly announced a motive, and no reviewed source establishes why prosecutors believe the confrontation turned fatal beyond the circumstances described in the court testimony.
One additional detail raised during the hearing concerned a firearm. Police said Bivens acknowledged that an AR-style pistol was in his vehicle and told investigators he had purchased it outside a conventional retail transaction. Authorities have not accused him of using that weapon against Walters. The medical testimony identified strangulation, not a firearm injury, as the cause of her death.
The case then turned to whether Bivens would remain jailed pending prosecution. Alabama’s Aniah’s Law allows judges in qualifying violent-crime cases to deny bail when prosecutors meet the required legal standard. During Bivens’ hearing, the state presented testimony from the homicide detective about the overnight trip, the party, the room, the searches, the calls and the physical evidence.
District Judge Pamela Higgins ultimately declined to order Bivens held without bail. She found prosecutors had not proved by clear and convincing evidence that no conditions could reasonably ensure his appearance in court or protect the community. The judge set bond at $175,000 and ordered that Bivens not leave Alabama without prior court permission. A bond ruling determines pretrial release conditions; it does not decide whether a defendant committed the charged offense.
While investigators concentrated on the weekend timeline, Alabama State focused publicly on Walters. President Quinton Ross Jr. identified her as a second-year health information management major from Fort Lauderdale and extended condolences to her family, friends and classmates. The university had initially released limited information while police began their work, then confirmed Walters’ identity after authorities notified those involved.
Walters’ death was reported at the time as Montgomery’s 34th homicide of 2026. The university would face another student death in an unrelated homicide weeks later, when 19-year-old Kaylin Smith was killed off campus. Police have not connected the two cases. The later incident underscored the difficult period for the Alabama State community but does not alter the evidence in Walters’ case.
No reliable public report located through Oct. 17 disclosed a trial verdict, guilty plea or dismissal in the case against Bivens. The latest verified court development reviewed was his $175,000 bond order and the restriction requiring permission before leaving Alabama. Walters’ killing therefore remains a pending criminal matter, with the precise circumstances and Bivens’ legal responsibility still to be resolved through the court process.
Author note: Last updated Oct. 17, 2026.