A Citrus County judge has sentenced a 63-year-old woman to 40 years in prison for the brutal killing of her elderly roommate.
On Friday, Jan. 9, Judge Joel D. Fritton sentenced Tracey Lee Stanley to four decades in the Florida Department of Corrections after she entered an open plea of no contest to second-degree murder, avoiding a jury trial.
The case dates back to July 20, 2024, when Citrus County sheriff’s deputies were called to a home on East Rector Street in Inverness. Inside the residence, they found the body of 72-year-old Andrea Kathleen Day wrapped in a tarp. Investigators determined Day had been dead for some time and had suffered more than 20 blows to the head.
Authorities identified the murder weapon as the claw end of a hammer. Forensic testing later found DNA from both Stanley and the victim on the tool.
Stanley, who lived with Day, was questioned by detectives and arrested shortly after the body was discovered. The sentence brings the case to a close following her conviction for the violent killing.