Who killed Anthony in EastEnders? It wasn't who Walford arrested
Anthony Trueman came back to Walford for a wedding and left in a coffin.
Patrick Trueman's son returned in August 2025 for his dad's second marriage to Yolande — then turned up dead on Christmas Day, sparking a whodunit that pointed the finger at entirely the wrong person. Here's who actually killed him, and how the truth came out.
Spoilers ahead.
Who killed Anthony?
Anthony was killed by his own daughter, Jasmine (Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness) — a fact Walford didn't work out for weeks. His body scenes aired on 15 January 2026, revealing that Jasmine had bludgeoned him with a salt lamp. Her reason wasn't malice: she did it to protect her mother, Zoe Slater, after Anthony knocked Zoe unconscious in a drunken fight.
The fight that started it
The night he died, a drunken Anthony confronted Zoe in the Queen Vic. The row turned physical and Zoe was knocked out cold. When she came round, she was lying beside Anthony's corpse — and assumed she'd killed him with a blow during the struggle. Despite Kat's pleas to stay quiet, Zoe called the emergency services herself.
Why Walford arrested the wrong person
Here's the twist the headline promised. Zoe wasn't the killer.
- Zoe Slater — Charged with Anthony's murder, convinced she'd done it, when all she'd actually done was survive the fight.
- Jasmine Fisher — Revealed as Anthony and Zoe's secret biological daughter, and the one who'd struck the fatal blow to save her mum.
- Kat Slater — The person who ultimately handed Jasmine to the police, to clear Zoe's name.
Jasmine was arrested once Kat turned her in. At her trial, though, she was found not guilty of murder and released.
What was Anthony even doing back?
Nicholas Bailey reprised the role after more than two decades away, brought back for Patrick and Yolande's big day.
"an unexpected treat to return to EastEnders" — Nicholas Bailey, 2025
What was meant to be a brief, happy cameo spiralled. Anthony stayed longer than planned once he clocked what was really going on in the Trueman household, and Patrick ended up disowning his own son before his death.