Tucson police look for clues across the street from where Sunshine's body was found. Robert Lundquist, a lawyer who knew the homeless woman well, said, "She was just one remarkable woman, one of the most interesting people I've ever met." He added that he couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt her.

chris richards / arizona daily star

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Feelings of shock and sadness swept through several Downtown businesses Tuesday as people learned that a homeless woman they knew as Sunshine had been killed.

For more than a decade, the woman had slept behind the law offices at 405 W. Franklin St., near North Granada Avenue. Usually, she awoke by 8 a.m. and walked through El Presidio Neighborhood with her miniature Chihuahua, forging friendships with people who lived and worked there.

"She was just one remarkable woman, one of the most interesting people I've ever met," said Robert Lundquist, a lawyer and a close friend of Sunshine's.

On Tuesday morning, Sunshine's body lay outside the law offices in a pool of blood.

"It was clearly a very violent death," said lawyer Larry Hecker, who works in one of the law offices.

"I think all around Downtown she was well-known and well-liked," Hecker said.

Officers responded at 8:39 a.m. and found a woman in her 60s who had suffered trauma, said Sgt. Decio Hopffer, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Elizabeth Bingham, a paralegal at one of the law offices, said the lawyer who owns the building came to her with the news of Sunshine's death.

"She was a very nice person, very spiritual," Bingham said.

Sunshine had a blanket and a sleeping bag, and she slept behind the office with the permission of the building's owner and the renters, she said.

Usually she was gone by the time the lawyers and their assistants started to arrive. So they knew there was something wrong when they saw Sunshine lying on the ground as they came to work, Bingham said.

Police positively identified Sunshine but would not give her true name until relatives could be notified. At first, detectives were calling the death suspicious, but by Tuesday evening they declared her death a homicide.

No arrests had been made, and no suspects had been identified, Hopffer said.

Sunshine's miniature Chihuahua, which was with her everywhere she went, was found by police and is in the custody of the Pima Animal Care Center, Hopffer said.

Lundquist, who thought of Sunshine as a family member and did some pro bono work for her, said he couldn't imagine why anyone would hurt her.

"Anybody and everybody who met her and knew her loved her," he said.

His daughter thought of Sunshine as a grandmother, Lundquist said. She would stay with the lawyer's family when it got cold. When the Lundquists took family trips during the summer, Sunshine would stay at their home.

But eventually, she'd be on her way again, he said.

"She loved being outside, and she loved sleeping outdoors," Lundquist said.

Lundquist got to know her and realized what a "beautiful spirit" she had. She was a generous person and always shared what she had with others, he said.

She wasn't a rabble-rouser, but she did have some scrapes with the law, Lundquist said. Strictly principled, she spoke her mind and wouldn't keep quiet. "She stood up for what she believed in," he said.

Anyone with information about the death is asked to call 911 or 88-CRIME.