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MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Florida man kills wife, tries to cover it up by texting from her phone saying she's in hospital with coronavirus

The victim's texts to her friends claimed she was being 'held' by CDC in Belle Glade, but probe revealed that the agency did not have a center in the town
PUBLISHED APR 12, 2020
(Jupiter Police Department)
(Jupiter Police Department)

JUPITER, FLORIDA: A 48-year-old man allegedly murdered his wife and also sent text messages from her phone to her friends claiming she had coronavirus as a cover-up, police have said.

David Anthony was arrested last week in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in connection to his wife's disappearance and murder and according to the police report, made up those texts as a coverup.

The new shocking details emerged after a witness called Jupiter police on March 25 saying she received a "suspicious text message" from the victim, Gretchen Anthony. The text message claimed that she had COVID-19 and was being held by the "CDC" after being tested at Jupiter Medical Center. According to the arrest report, the witness told the police that she received the message from Gretchen on March 23 and had since not heard from her.

Another witness also came forward stating that he also received messages from the victim. The second witness got the texts from Gretchen on the morning of March 24 which stated that she was at Jupiter Medical Center with an "acute" case of coronavirus and was being taken to a CDC approved task force in Belle Glade, where they "sedated her". However, when police officials approached Jupiter Medical Center, they were told they couldn't find anyone under the name Gretchen Anthony in their system.

The medical center also revealed that there is no CDC center in Belle Glade, Florida, the arrest report obtained by CBS12 mentioned.

Police also went to Gretchen’s house on Sunshine Drive in Abacoa and knocked on the door several times, but nobody answered. However, they later found the victim’s blue Mini Cooper, with a purse inside, in the northeast section of the parking lot near S. Old Dixie Highway, the report added.

According to the report, apart from these two witnesses, police also heard from some more witnesses. One of them was Gretchen’s husband, David’s friend, who had access to the victim's home and when he went inside with officers, she was nowhere to be found. He also told police Gretchen normally used to share her location, but on March 21 he noticed that she had stopped sharing it and that the messages he received from her phone had a language that she normally would not use. The tone of messages sounded more like David, her 48-year-old husband.

Reports also claimed that though Gretchen and David were still married, they had recently separated and the victim had also filed for divorce on February 28.

Other texts sent from the woman’s phone that included one to her mother claimed she was on a ventilator at Palms West Hospital, but when police again went to the hospital they could not trace her. 

Shortly after that Jupiter police listed David as an "endangered missing adult” and when a communications company pinged Gretchen's phone, they found it was close by Pensacola, near which David was in on March 25.

It was also reported that the accused had tried to sell a bag of women's jewelry there. A clerk told investigators that he had noticed David had a specific David Yurman ring that likely belonged to his wife.

Meanwhile, upon checking with Gretchen's boss, it was discovered that she was last seen at work on March 20. Her boss had also checked with her insurance company to see if she was getting medical treatment anywhere, but it was found there were "no claims or authorizations" on her policy.

On March 26, police again went to Gretchen's home to investigate the matter when a woman who lives nearby approached the officials and asked them if they were investigating an attack that happened there early on the morning of March 21. She told cops she heard a "blood-curdling scream" that morning and also heard a woman saying "No! No, it hurts”.

Another neighbor also approached the investigators and told them he also heard the screams and saw David's truck parked on the road, with the bed loaded up and covered with a tarp. The neighbor also claimed that on March 23, he saw someone cleaning something inside Gretchen’s garage, as there was water "mixed with an unknown chemical" coming out of the garage door and into the alley.

While a third person who lives nearby Gretchen’s house gave police a surveillance video, that showed what appears to be David’s truck driving to and from the home around that time, the report said. “It’s a shock, I mean it’s a very quiet neighborhood here, a lot of families live here," said Susi Klement, who lives with her family in the same Abacoa neighborhood as the victim Gretchen and her alleged killer, David.

However, Gretchen’s home search led to police discovering two cleaners and a rag in the kitchen. They also found towels in the washing machine that had a "reddish substance" on them that looked like blood, the report said.

As per the arrest report, police believed that Gretchen was murdered on March 21 because one of the aforementioned witnesses had told police that she had a conversation with David on March 25 via text and he had told her he "ran into her randomly Sat am. She mentioned something about going to the beach to ground herself bc she wasn't feeling well. Then she proceeded to tell me I should 'plead insanity' on some bogus police charges I've been dealing with."

Police have marked this conversation important in the case because it puts David with his wife the same Saturday morning people in the neighborhood heard the screaming, that was March 21, the arrest report noted.

After a search operation, on March 31, David was found and arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on charges of homicide and kidnapping. The police statement accessed by The Sun also asserted that the accused has been held without bail, and is being extradited to Florida.

However, police have still not found Gretchen's body, and have asked anyone with information to contact police at 561-741-2235.

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