Trigger Warning: This article contains disturbing details of violence. Reader discretion is strongly advised.
Over the course of time, there have been some pretty intense and violent crimes that continue to stagger the minds of investigators and crime enthusiasts. In 2024, a brutal Florida murder shocked authorities and residents. They weren’t just shocked at the cruelty, but also the chilling fact that the killer lived with the corpse after it.
Let’s dive into the gruesome aftermath for the Florida woman who murdered her roommate by repeatedly striking her head with the claw end of a hammer and then lived with the corpse. Law & Crime reviewed official court documents that led to the killer’s sentencing.
On January 9, 2026, 63-year-old Tracey Stanley was sentenced by a Florida judge to spend 40 years in prison for brutally killing her roommate, 72-year-old Andrea Kathleen Day. The Office of the State Attorney, Fifth Judicial District, revealed the sentence Stanley received.
The Florida woman was the first to dial 911 several days after she lived with the rotting corpse of her roommate on July 20, 2024. She had murdered her roommate in cold blood at their home at 6033 East Rector Street, Inverness, Florida. Police found Day’s body wrapped in a tarp upon arriving. The crime scene was a bloody affair with the substance smeared everywhere.
Woman who spent days with her roommate’s dead body after she whacked her 20 times with a hammer will spend more than a few days in prison https://t.co/uTFjhUJ5lG
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) January 14, 2026
According to the court documents, there was blood in the hallway, ceiling, and floor. There were also “obvious” drag marks between the hallway and where the body was found – in the kitchen. The true gruesome nature of the crime was revealed after forensics saw what was inside the blue tarp.
The late 72-year-old’s head was bludgeoned and had been wrapped in three layers of plastic bags. In addition, Day had been in “stages of decomposition” and had been dead for days before her roommate made the 911 call.
The suspicion toward Stanley actually began when investigators found “scratch marks” and “fresh blood” on her face. But what really put her on the cops’ radar was when she demanded a lawyer after police began asking her questions about those marks.
Shortly after local authorities discovered the murder, investigators wasted no time in getting to the truth. The investigation led authorities to the murder weapon – a hammer which was covered in blood.
As soon as it was sent for DNA testing, the lab reports found the DNA of two women. One belonged to the victim, and the other shockingly belonged to her roommate, Stanley. This confirmed it was the same hammer Stanley used to repeatedly and violently end her roommate’s life.
Immediately, a warrant was issued for the Florida woman’s arrest. Apart from the murder weapon connecting Stanley to the crime, the warrant highlighted the killer’s motive. Apparently, weeks before killing her roommate, Stanley bumped into a mail delivery worker.
The Florida woman had found out that Day had reportedly been planning to evict Stanley. This was after she had been served an eviction notice on June 24, 2024. The aftermath of Stanley discovering the truth was the gruesome murder of her roommate.
It appears that Stanley will spend the rest of her life in prison after she got 40 years in prison, three months after entering a no-contest plea to second-degree murder. She is currently being imprisoned at the Florida Department of Corrections.
