Jury selected in trial of Osceola woman accused of killing mom

A jury was selected Monday for the trial of an Osceola County woman accused of killing her mother and burying her body in their back yard two years ago.

Amy Day, 46, is charged with first-degree murder of her mother, 79-year-old Ora Hawkins. She also faces charges of kidnapping and aggravated abuse of an elderly person.

Attorneys for Day and the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office selected a jury Monday. Opening statements are expected 9:30 a.m. today in the Osceola County Courthouse.

Hawkins was reported missing on Sept. 20, 2015. Day, who had been living with her, told deputies that her mother packed her belongings and moved to Colorado with a friend from church named Rose.

But deputies were never able to prove Rose existed, records show. The following day, they found Hawkins’ body buried in the back yard on Lake Shore Drive, under a patch of fake flowers.

Day spoke with deputies and made “inconsistent statements,” a sheriff ’s spokeswoman said at the time. She said she was with her fiance near Gainesville the day her mother went missing, but when deputies called the man she said she was dating, he said he had never met her.

Deputies also found bank surveillance video showing Day the morning of Sept. 20, driving her mother’s car and withdrawing $400 from an ATM using her mother’s debit card, records show.