By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A Shelby County grand jury will decide in the coming months if it will uphold reckless murder and drug charges brought against a 43-year-old Oneonta woman after a child in the vehicle she was driving died after the car was struck by a train in Alabaster.

On Sept. 26, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Daniel Crowson bound charges of reckless murder, second-degree possession of marijuana, driving under the influence and failure to stop at a railroad crossing over to a grand jury.

After reviewing the evidence in the case, the grand jury will decide if it will uphold the charges against Oneonta resident Amy Reeves Silver, who was arrested at her home by U.S. Marshals in late August.

Silver is charged in connection with a July 30 crash on Fulton Springs Road, during which her vehicle was struck by a train at the crossing near the Martin Marietta quarry. The crash happened shortly before midnight.

Sharon Smith, 4, of Oneonta, was pronounced dead on the scene following the crash, and Silver was airlifted to UAB Hospital where she was treated and released.

The charges were brought against Silver following an investigation by the Shelby County Traffic Homicide Task Force.

According to court documents, Silver was allegedly driving under the combined influence of alcohol and a controlled substance at the time of the crash, and recorded a 0.06 blood-alcohol content and 4.3 nanograms per milliliter of THC in her bloodstream following the crash.

Silver was released from the Shelby County Jail on Sept. 7 after posting bonds totaling $154,000.