Fiend killed his wife then used the pandemic as a cover-up
When Gretchen Anthony’s loved ones got texts to say she was in hospital with Covid-19, they were suspicious. Then the police made a grim discovery
It was March 2020 and the world was waking up to the seriousness of the Covid-19 pandemic. Social distancing and wearing masks quickly became commonplace, while the sick were isolated in hospitals as they fought for life on ventilators. It was a time of chaos and fear – and the unknown.
When the loved ones of Gretchen Anthony, 51, started to receive text messages from her phone saying she was in hospital with
Covid-19, they were understandably worried. But all wasn’t quite as it seemed, as the
51-year-old wasn’t at the hospital she named. So where was she?
Gretchen lived in Jupiter, Florida, with her fitness coach husband David Anthony, 44, and loved the beach life they enjoyed in the Sunshine State. While she had spent some time working as a teacher, she now had a role in the human resources department at a utility firm. Gretchen also had a 12-year-old daughter from a past relationship, who she was very close to and said was her greatest accomplishment. She and Anthony had married in Nevada in 2015 but at the end of February 2020, they had both jointly filed for divorce. It was the start of another new chapter in life.
On Friday 20 March, Gretchen was in good spirits as she left work for the weekend. But on Monday, she didn’t turn up. Her colleagues got texts saying she was unwell with a fever and shortness of breath, and needed to get a Covid-19 test.
And they weren’t the only messages. Another one said she had been diagnosed with an “acute” case of coronavirus and was being held at the Jupiter Medical Center in quarantine for 14 days.
But as well as being worried about her wellbeing, those receiving Gretchen’s messages were suspicious as the wording wasn’t typical of the language she normally used. The police were contacted and an officer was sent to Gretchen’s home for a welfare check – but no one came to the door.
When they contacted the Jupiter Medical Center to enquire about Gretchen’s health, they were told there was no patient there under her name. Another message then said she was being taken to a facility in Belle Glade and was being sedated. But this also turned out to be untrue.
Police “pinged” Gretchen’s mobile and on 25 March. It was placed near the city of Pensacola. Then another friend got a message saying that Gretchen was on a ventilator at Palms West Hospital – but officers couldn’t find her there either.
When police asked Anthony whether he’d heard from Gretchen, he said he thought she was being treated for Covid-19, like the texts suggested.
He also claimed that Gretchen had uncovered tax fraud at her workplace, which she had reported and then become paranoid about – suggesting that someone might come to the house and harm her for being a whistleblower. But that wasn’t true. On 26 March, Gretchen’s
‘A bloodcurdling scream was heard coming from the house’
family officially reported her missing, as they were convinced something terrible had happened.
Blood in her car
Police then found Gretchen’s abandoned blue Mini Cooper at the Jupiter Medical Center and CCTV footage showed it had been parked there on 25 March – by a man. Disturbingly, blood was found on the steering wheel and gear stick.
Officers returned to Gretchen’s home and stepped up their investigation – and there were further troubling discoveries. The security footage from the door of the house showed that on 21 March there was a man on her doorstep at 6.15am. At around the same time, neighbours heard shouting.
One neighbour told police that on that day, they heard a “bloodcurdling scream” coming from the direction of the house.
They also said they heard a woman shouting,“No! No! It hurts,” either from Gretchen’s garage or garden. And they said they could
smell a strong chemical odour coming from her garage.
Security footage from the garage showed the head of someone with light hair on the floor, not moving. There was a water jug nearby, which appeared to have blood on it. Then a gloved hand reached up and pulled the camera down.
There were bleach stains in the garage, where someone had tried to clean up, and “red-stained” towels were found in the washing machine in the house.There were also broken items in the property – and a cadaver dog that was brought in detected the scent of a dead body. With so much security footage, police started to piece together their evidence.
The man in all the images looked the same. He was tall – just like Gretchen’s 6ft 7in estranged husband, Anthony.
A neighbour said Anthony’s pick-up truck had been at the house with a piece of tarpaulin covering a load in the back.
And at the time Gretchen’s phone was pinged in Pensacola, Anthony was also placed in the city trying to pawn some of his missing wife’s jewellery. Then his phone and Gretchen’s phone were both pinged in Texas on 27 March. Police were now confident that Gretchen had been killed on 21 March and Anthony was the prime suspect.
They believed he had sent messages to people using the coronavirus crisis to explain Gretchen’s disappearance.
CAUGHT 1,900 MILES AWAY
Detectives were closing in but when they went to take Anthony into custody, he had fled. Finally, on 31 March – 10 days after Gretchen was killed – he was arrested 1,900 miles away in Las Cruces, New Mexico, while out walking his dog.
A cadaver dog found evidence of a dead body having been in his Nissan Frontier pickup. But as Anthony was taken into custody, police had one last missing piece – where was Gretchen? Her devastated family were desperate to know.
Anthony faced first-degree murder charges and in Florida that meant he could potentially get the death penalty – so he made a plea deal.
In December, Anthony pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping, which would result in a 38-year sentence. In return, he agreed to tell the police where Gretchen’s body was.
It wasn’t a deal that the prosecution was very happy with – the sentence was short for what Anthony had done and it could not be changed, or upgraded, even if an autopsy revealed further crime.
However, Gretchen’s family were desperate to give her a proper burial and agreed to it.
Once Anthony had revealed the location of Gretchen’s remains in court, police were sent out – and after driving three miles from her home, they found her remains dumped in woodland.
Her grieving family were finally given closure but her cause of death wasn’t revealed publicly.
In January, Anthony was officially sentenced and read out a statement in which he said he knew he was“hated beyond words”.
“What do you say in a situation like this?” he said. “How can my words have any weight, given my crime? When will the pain end, knowing that I’m the cause of it?”
Anthony talked about how his paranoia and drug use had caused a“loss of control”.
He even claimed that the Covid-19 crisis had increased his delusions and mental health problems, making him believe it was an“end of the world prophesy”.
But he also admitted“there is no excuse ever for what I’ve done”.
Gretchen’s sister, Sarah Carey, spoke about how she had a beautiful heart and told Anthony,“You are pure evil, you are a monster.”
She added that he didn’t deserve to“breathe the same air”as everyone else and told about a time when a car fell on top of Anthony in the couple’s garage and Gretchen rescued him.“You killed Gretchen in the same garage where she saved your life,”Sarah said in disbelief.
She also spoke about Gretchen’s love for her daughter – who was staying with her biological father at the time of the killing – and how she would now have to grow up without her amazing mum.
Anthony was given the agreed 38 years in prison and told that he would have to serve at least 85% of the time before being considered for parole.The killer had used the pandemic to try to cover up his crime and there are still unanswered questions over Gretchen’s murder – the true motive and her cause of death remain a mystery.
But the fact still stands that Gretchen and Anthony’s marriage had ended weeks before her death.
And tragically, while her loved ones thought she had been struck by a deadly virus, the threat to her life was far closer to home.
‘A cadaver dog found evidence a body had been in his pickup truck’
His weekends used to be taken up by introducing Shawn Mendes on the radio, but now Rob Howard, 31, is getting to grips with a more demanding routine after welcoming daughter Bonnie with presenter wife Gemma Hill.“I have moments where I’m absolutely terrified,”he admits.The presenter, who comes from the West Midlands, chats about asking to hang out with Stormzy and the celebs he hopes to meet at some point in the future.
Hi Rob! How are you doing at the moment?
Lockdown three has been really tough. When I look back at lockdown one, I was sitting in my paddling pool in 30 degrees with a cold beer and answering emails. What was I whingeing about? But yeah, if you’re living in a smallish flat and it’s raining a lot, you can’t even go out and go for a walk. It’s tricky.
Who has been your favourite guest on Capital?
It has to be Stormzy. He is such a great guy. He’s really fun and chilled out. When you have a chat with him, it feels like you’re chatting to a mate down the pub.Then you’re thinking, “Hang on, this is a guy whose tour sold out in minutes…” and he’s just chatting there with me about Man United. He was really cool. It’s one of those slightly tragic things where afterwards you want to say,“Could we become friends please?”I sent him a little DM – I’m still waiting to hear back. But he was lovely.
What did you say to him?
I just said,“Hey, mate.That was really great. It was the best interview I’ve ever done. If you ever fancy hanging out let me know!” I mean, Stormzy, if you read this, the offer is still open…
Which other celebs would you love to have on your show?
With any interview, it’s not so much for the output, it’s more,“Can we become friends?”I’d love to be friends with Barack Obama, however, I don’t know if he fits in on Capital. We’d be talking about world affairs and then going on to the new track from Camila Cabello. Alternatively, I’d quite like to get Stephen Merchant on air because he’s my comedy hero. I’ve got into this habit where every night I listen to his and Ricky Gervais’s podcasts to help me fall asleep. So, it would be great to finally have a conversation with him. Although, I could well be nodding off during the interview.
Have you got any other standout memories with Capital?
It’s got to be Capital’s Summertime Ball. It’s absolutely crazy working on it.The line-up is always amazing and the weeks leading up to it are so exciting. I usually do the show in the morning and I get loads of people calling in who are on their way. I always try to go up into one of the stands to watch a bit of the show. It’s this thing you’re talking about on the radio into a microphone for ages and then you walk out and you see 80,000 people going crazy.
You and your wife Gemma have just become parents – how are you feeling?
I go through waves. I have moments where
I’m absolutely terrified. I’m quite forgetful and clumsy, which doesn’t seem to be a winning formula! The number of times we’re sitting on the sofa and I can’t find the remote and then I’ll be sat on it. So I’m terrified it’s going to be the same with Bonnie.
Will your colleague Sonny Jay win Dancing On Ice?
Sonny Jay is smashing it already. He looks fantastic and he’s been training for months now. He’s doing really well. He’s never in a bad mood – he always has a huge smile on his face. Everybody knows he has such a nice nature about him.
You’ve launched a new podcast with Gemma. How’s it going?
It’s great. It’s about being new parents and having a baby in lockdown. We speak about what it’s been like for couples, including us, without the scans and the NCT classes. We’d like to speak to guests who are in a similar situation. Marvin Humes would be great, as he and Rochelle had their boy in October. It’s a bit of a bantery podcast too. We’ll be chatting about everything that goes wrong. On Instagram, so many mum and dad influencers make out they are perfect parents and it looks like their lives are amazing. But, actually, when you speak to them, they say, “I’m exhausted. This morning I brushed my teeth with moisturiser.”
‘I’d like to get my comedy hero Stephen Merchant on air’
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