The trial began this morning for a Lehigh County man who is accused of killing 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.

Heath is representing himself at the trial in the Lehigh County Courthouse.

In his opening statements, he told the jury, "I wanted to let Mr. Steigerwalt and his family know I am not a monster."

First Assistant District Attorney Steve Luksa described how Heath killed Steigerwalt, strangling her with an electrical cord, after they argued about whether she would take him to a child custody hearing.

Composed and prepared for the trial, Heath said he would cross-examine witnesses, and told jurors they would be seeing photographs that are "hard for me to look at, very hard."

Heath is aided in his defense by the chief public defender.

Heath told the jury he is here to "bring the truth" so Angela's family "can have closure."

Her death was an "accident," he said.

"I got scared, I panicked," he told jurors.

The jury is composed of seven men and five women, with four alternates, two men and two women.

In November Heath 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.

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

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

He said he then drove to Flagstaff Mountain in 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.