Man Murders His Estranged Wife & Texts Her Friends She’s in the Hospital With Covid-19
By: Fatim Hemraj
Tags: Covid 19, Domestic Violence, True Crime, Crime, Murder

True Crime, Justice

Man Murders His Estranged Wife & Texts Her Friends She’s in the Hospital With Covid-19

Gretchen Anthony & David Anthony. Source: People

March 21, 2020, was the last time anyone heard from 51-year-old mother Gretchen Anthony. She had planned to meet her friend for lunch that day, but she never showed up.

On Monday, March 23, Gretchen didn’t show up for work, and on March 24, several of Gretchen’s friends and relatives received text messages from her claiming she had checked herself into Jupiter Medical Center in Florida where she was recovering from an ‘acute’ case of Covid-19. Later text messages wrote she would be transferred to a ‘CDC approved task force’ where she would be quarantined for 14 days.

Gretchen’s loved ones didn’t know who sent the messages, but they knew it wasn’t her; the text messages were ‘unusually worded’ and did not sound like Gretchen.

What Gretchen’s friends and relatives did know, was that Gretchen had filed for divorce only a month prior, and had confided in them she was afraid of her estranged husband, David Anthony. They knew something wasn’t right, and on March 26, they reported her missing.

Investigators found Gretchen’s mini cooper abandoned in the parking lot of Jupiter Medical Center, yet she was nowhere to be found. The hospital staff claimed there were no records that Gretchen had been admitted or received any treatment, and that there was no CDC approved task force in the area. When investigators checked the parking lot cameras, Gretchen’s loved ones’ fears were confirmed; it had been left there by David Anthony — Gretchen’s estranged husband, on March 24.

Investigators quickly retained a search warrant and entered Gretchen’s home with a cadaver dog who picked up the scent of decomposition. Large bleach stains were found in the garage, blood-stained towels were in the washing machine and there was blood splatter on the walls of the master bedroom. At this point, investigators knew they were looking at a homicide and David had become their prime suspect.

Gretchen’s neighbours told investigators that on March 21 they had heard a woman scream “No! No, it hurts!” coming from Gretchen’s home. The next morning, the strong smell of chemicals emanated from her garage.

Luckily, Gretchen had installed a camera both on her front door as well as in her garage. The front door camera showed Gretchen answering the door at 6:15 am and getting into a verbal altercation with David. The garage camera showed a female with blonde hair on the ground, not moving, at which point David reached up, and pulled the camera down.

On March 25, investigators discovered that David had attempted to sell his wife’s jewelry at a pawnshop when his phone pinged near Pensacola. According to the owner of the pawnshop, David had claimed the jewelry was his mother’s who had recently died from Covid-19. The owner told him they didn’t buy jewelry and turned him away.

Investigators had more than enough evidence that 44-year-old David Anthony had murdered his wife and on March 31, he was arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico while walking his dog. Traces of blood and the smell of decomposition was found inside his vehicle.

David pled guilty to second-degree murder and led the authorities to Gretchen’s body in exchange for a plea deal that helped him evade a first-degree murder charge.

He will be sentenced to 38 years in prison on January 14, 2021.

Sources: NY Post, People, ABC News