A woman was found slain on the front porch of an Inglenook home.

The discovery was made about 2 p.m. Tuesday in the 4400 block of 44th Avenue North. A nearby resident spotted the woman unresponsive on the porch and called 911.

East Precinct officers and Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service responded, and the woman was pronounced dead.

“Our officers observed signs of trauma on the victim that led us to believe this is a homicide investigation,’’ said Officer Truman Fitzgerald.

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office will perform an autopsy to determine the cause of the woman’s death.

Authorities have not said when they believe the killing happened but said the victim could have been on the front porch for a couple of days.

“This did not just happen,’’ Fitzgerald said.

“We do not think this was a random incident,’’ Fitzgerald said. “We think it’s isolated and our detectives are working to get the person responsible for this into custody.”

Fitzgerald said he wasn’t yet sure if the woman lived at the home where she was found.

People do live in the house but he couldn’t speculate on why the residents had either not seen the woman dead on the porch or called 911.

“That is an interesting side to this story,’’ he said, “and our detectives has asked to hold off on that.”

The woman is the city’s fourth homicide in just several days.

“The message to the community is simple – we need your help more than ever,’’ he said. “We’ve seen great success when the community becomes involved in homicide cases.”

“Mayor Randall Woodfin said it best – we as a community have to stop giving safe harbor to our violent offenders,’’ Fitzgerald said. “When someone victimizes, they usually continue to victimize so we have to get those individuals who are responsive for violence off the streets.”

The woman is Birmingham’s 52nd homicide this year. Of those, five have been ruled justifiable and therefore aren’t deemed criminal.

In all of Jefferson County, there have been 75 homicides, including the 52 in Birmingham.

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