Florida murder-suicide mom Amanda Hicks was ‘bubbly, positive’

A shattered pal of the Florida mom and budding bikini model killed in a murder-suicide remembered the victim Tuesday as a “bubbly and positive” person who adored teaching children to read.

“She was just a great person,” Raquel Magallon told The Post of slain mom Amanda Hicks, who had just started modeling swimwear in addition to teaching. “She was really excited to be a teacher. We’re all just shocked.”

Hicks, 26, was found dead in a Port St. Lucie apartment that she had moved into along with her boyfriend and 10-month-old daughter, Alani, just weeks ago.

Police performing a welfare check heard the infant’s cries before they entered the home and found Hicks and her unidentified beau dead. The baby was unhurt.

Investigators have divulged little about the case, other than confirming that the man murdered her before killing himself.

Magallon first met Hicks in 2017 while working at Crawdaddy’s, a Jensen Beach restaurant, where both women toiled as servers.

“She was a great person,” Magallon said. “We would go out together, we told each a lot of stuff about our lives. Everyone liked her. No one can believe this happened.”

Magallon said Hicks was ecstatic after getting her first substitute teaching assignments at a local school beginning in 2020.

“She was really excited, she couldn’t wait,” she said, adding that her pal worked hard to support herself and came from modest means.

Hicks, who lost her mother to cancer several years ago, eventually earned a full-time education position and was currently employed as a reading teacher at Dr. David L. Anderson Middle School.

Magallon said she last corresponded with Hicks on Facebook in March and said her friend never mentioned being pregnant or having a serious boyfriend.

HIcks later deleted her account.

“I was surprised to hear that she had a baby,” the friend said. “I have a side baby clothing business, so I would have thought she would have brought it up. But she never did.”

Magallon said she thought it was odd that Hicks abruptly deleted her social media account but assumed it has something to do with her teaching position.

“None of it makes sense,” the friend added. “It’s just really sad.”

Cops were initially called to the apartment at 11:45 a.m. Saturday after a concerned relative of the male resident asked for a welfare check, the Port St. Lucie Police Department said.

A neighbor later told local outlets that she heard a loud, “screechy” scream coming from Hicks’ apartment the day before the bodies were found.

Other building residents said they had limited interactions with the couple but described the pair as pleasant and seemingly upbeat.

Hicks posted a GoFundMe page several years ago asking for donations to help pay for her mother’s care as she lay dying of cancer.

“For the past 4 years she battled for her life and made sure to be there for her children when we needed her most,” Hicks wrote. “I love my mom more than anything and the last thing I now need to take care of for her is a nice burial.”

HIcks’ brother, Eric, is now asking for help in paying for his sister’s final expenses.

“Y’all plz help us raise money for my sisters funeral and service and everything,” he wrote on social media.

Alani, who was found crying in her crib as police discovered the bodies, has been placed with relatives.