Authorities have released the name of a woman found dead in her Birmingham apartment after family had not heard from her in more than a day.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as Monica Lynn Nichols. She was 59.

Birmingham police officers were dispatched early Tuesday afternoon to Glenbrook at Oxmoor Valley apartments on a welfare check. Family had not heard Nichols and became concerned.

When South Precinct officers entered the second-floor apartment, they found Nichols unresponsive. She was pronounced dead on the scene at 2:37 p.m.

Initially officers could not tell if foul play was involved, said Officer Truman Fitzgerald. Nichol’s body was taken to the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office, where authorities determined the victim had sustained a gunshot wound.

Detectives then returned to the scene to launch their investigation.

Fitzgerald said the woman has been dead at least a day. No one reported hearing any gunshots.

Nichols is Birmingham’s 41st homicide victim this year. Of those, one was killed in an officer-involved shooting from an outside law enforcement agency and three others have been ruled justifiable.

In all of Jefferson County there have been 56 homicides, including the 41 in Birmingham.

Anyone with information is asked to call Birmingham homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.