A 63-year-old Birmingham man has been charged in the 2024 beating death of his ex-girlfriend.

Police on Friday announced the murder charge against Roosevelt Smith.

The investigation began June 29, 2024.

It was about 12:40 a.m. that Saturday when police officers found 51-year-old Keysha Lashon Fikes badly beaten in the 900 block of 46th Street North.

Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service rushed to her UAB Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

That same day, Officer Truman Fitzgerald said, Smith was arrested on a domestic violence charge.

Fikes remained at UAB Hospital through September. Once she began to improve, she was transferred to a rehabilitation facility.

However, her condition again deteriorated, and she was moved back to UAB Hospital in October.

She was pronounced dead at the hospital on Nov. 26.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office this week ruled her death a blunt force trauma homicide.

Her death means there were 152 homicides in 2024, instead of the previously reported 151. Last year was the deadliest year in Birmingham’s history.

The charge against Smith was increased to murder on Tuesday.

Smith was booked into the Jefferson County Jail early Thursday afternoon. He is being held without bond.