JUPITER, Fla. – A Florida man has been arrested for reportedly murdering his wife and attempting to cover up the crime by using her cellphone to send text messages that appeared to come from her, telling family and friends that she was in quarantine after contracting the coronavirus, police said.
At least four family members, friends and neighbors of Gretchen Anthony received text messages from her around March 23 saying that after being diagnosed with the coronavirus, she was transported from the hospital into the custody of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for further observation, according to the Jupiter Police Department, ABC News reported.
The Jupiter Medical Center told police and family members that Gretchen Anthony had not been a patient there since 2008, even though her vehicle was parked in their lot with her purse in the front seat, according to the police report. Moreover, hospital officials said that it was not their protocol for coronavirus patients “to get transported to a CDC approved task force,” according to the police report.
The criminal investigation began March 25 when family members called the Jupiter Police Department and reported the 51-year-old woman missing. At the time, they expressed concern that her estranged husband, David Anthony, may have had something to do with her disappearance, according to police.
According to online records, the Anthony’s mutually filed for divorce on Feb. 28. The couple lived separately, but family members told police that “David Anthony had ‘issues’ and [were] afraid that he may have done something to Gretchen Anthony, based on prior knowledge of his behavior,” the police report said.
A week before Gretchen Anthony went missing, David Anthony was allegedly seen by police approaching 15-year-old girls while “sweating profusely,” before altering his license plate with black electrical tape, according to the Riviera Beach Police Department, ABC News reported. When officers approached him about the license plate manipulation, he allegedly blamed it on his 12-year-old daughter and disobeyed orders to not go into his car.
As another police officer attempted to arrest David Anthony, he allegedly slammed the car door on the officer’s arm, according to the March 15 police report. Consequently, he was arrested for resisting an officer with violence and released on $3,000 bail.
As police investigators began the missing person probe, Gretchen Anthony’s neighbor reported hearing a woman’s “blood curdling screams” along with shouts of “No! No, it hurts!” The witness said the screams came from Gretchen Anthony’s patio or garage on March 21. The neighbor also took photographs of a car that was backed into the driveway. Law enforcement confirmed this was David Anthony’s vehicle.
Investigators subsequently determined that Gretchen Anthony was killed on March 21 and named David Anthony as the prime suspect, Jupiter Police said on their Facebook page. Gretchen Anthony was last seen at work on March 20, “in good spirits,” according to the police report.
A neighbor told police that she last saw David Anthony on March 23 when he picked up his dog and asked her to watch his cat because Gretchen Anthony was in quarantine for 14 days, according to the police report.
Police searched the house and found towels soiled with reddish stains, small droplets of blood in the master bedroom, and large bleach stains on the floor of the garage.
Cellphones belonging to David and Gretchen Anthony pinged off a tower on March 27 in Texas. New Mexico State Police caught up with David Anthony on March 31 in Las Cruces and took him into custody.
However, detectives have not found Gretchen Anthony’s body, nor have they located David Anthony’s black and white Husky that was reported to be with him.
As of Tuesday David Anthony was in the Doña Ana County Detention Center awaiting extradition back to Palm Beach, Florida, where he faces second-degree murder and kidnapping charges.
