A jury of seven men and five women will determine whether an Allentown man did indeed kill a Tamaqua woman last year.

Anthony Darrell Heath, 26, is charged in the death of 35-year-old Angela Steigerwalt, whose body he brought from Allentown to a secluded area of Jim Thorpe and tried to burn.

The 12-person jury, with four alternates, two men and two women, was selected by Monday afternoon and is expected to begin hearing testimony at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday before Lehigh County Judge Kelly L. Banach.

Heath confessed to state troopers that he strangled Steigerwalt in his apartment with an electrical cord after she refused to take him to a chid custody hearing. In November rejected a chance to plead guilty-but-mentally ill to a charge of third-degree murder.

He could have gotten 28 to 56 years had he done that. If the jury finds him guilty of first-degree murder in Steigerwalt's death, he could get a life sentence.

Heath is representing himself at the trial.

According to police, Heath killed Steigerwalt late on Jan. 31 or early Feb. 1, 2014, sometime after she left after her 3 to 11 p.m. shift at Kraft Foods in Macungie.

He put her body in her car, drove to a Walmart where he used Steigerwalt's credit card to a plastic tote, lighter fluid, a lighter and other items.

He then drove to Flagstaff Mountain, Jim Thorpe, where he rolled her body down an embankment and set it ablaze.

Steigerwalt's body was discovered at about 10:30 a.m. Feb. 1 by firefighters who arrived to extinguish the brush fire ignited by Heath as he set fire to her body.

A Walmart shopping bag and receipt linked Heath to the crime. Store security video showed him using Steigerwalt's credit card to buy a plastic tote, lighter fluid and a lighter there shortly before traveling to Jim Thorpe.

State troopers caught Heath the next day in North Carolina.

On their way back to Pennsylvania, Heath told the troopers he had killed Steigerwalt.

Lehigh County officials on Feb. 7 charged Heath with homicide, theft by unlawful taking or disposition, receiving stolen property, access device fraud, abuse of a corpse and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. He has been jailed in Lehigh County prison, without bail.

Heath has a 2012 conviction for biting his infant son.