A friend of the missing woman from Florida has recently spoken out about the missing persons and homicide case, according to multiple reports.
Gretchen Anthony, a 51-year-old woman from Jupiter in Florida has been missing since March 26, according to ABC News. However, authorities investigating the case of the missing woman have since ruled the case a homicide and identified Gretchen’s estranged husband, David Anthony, as a prime suspect.
As indicated by several police reports issued by the Jupiter Police Department, officials responded to the residence of Gretchen after family reported her missing.
An investigation was launched and as it progressed, evidence of the case led officials to believe that Gretchen Anthony’s estranged husband was responsible for her disappearance.
Officials believe that the homicide might have occurred on March 21, according to the police statement.
During the investigation, a neighbor told police that on March 21, they heard “blood-curdling screams” from Gretchen’s patio or garage, and along with that, shouting, ABC News reported. According to the neighbor, they heard a voice shouting, “No! No, it hurts!”
When a search warrant was served for the residence on Sunshine Drive—the home that the couple no longer shared—investigators uncovered towels in the washing machine stained red, along with what officials believed to be droplets of blood on the walls of the master bedroom, and bleach stains on the garage floor, according to ABC News.
Jennifer Rogers, friend and colleague of Gretchen, told ABC News and Good Morning America that it was strange the 51-year-old had not informed any of her colleagues that she was not going into work.
They told reporters that they saw Gretchen Anthony at work on March 20, and according to them, the 51-year-old was in good spirits.
“She was at work on that day, you know, like a normal, normal working day. And then Monday, the 23rd, she didn’t come to work, which was very unlike her. She didn’t call or text or anything. She just didn’t come to work,” Rogers told ABC News.
Rogers also told the news outlet that on March 24, she and several others received a strangely-worded email from Gretchen’s work email saying that she had developed a low-grade fever over the weekend of March 20, and on the morning of March 24, woke up with shortness of breath.
Rogers recalled that the way the email was phrased was very usual and didn’t seem at all like the way Gretchen would usually write.
“The language in the email was, it was alarming. Didn’t sound like her, you know, it was very strange,” Rogers said.
In addition, ABC News reported that other people, including Gretchen’s boss, had received texts from the 51-year-old’s phone which said she was being taken to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for observation because she had an acute case of COVID-19.
Gretchen Anthony’s boss eventually decided to alert the missing woman’s mother to the situation before contacting the police to conduct a welfare check on the 51-year-old, which is when officers discovered that both Gretchen and David Anthony were both missing.
Furthermore, when friends and colleagues contacted hospitals to verify what the text has told them, they found that no one under the name of Gretchen Anthony had been checked in, reported The Florida Times-Union.
The news outlet also reported that Gretchen Anthony’s car was found parked outside of the Jupiter Medical Center on March 26, but according to the surveillance cameras, a tall white male who officials believe to be David Anthony was the one seen dropping the car off and leaving on foot on March 24.
It wasn’t until March 27 that officials were notified of a possible location of David Anthony when both his and his wife’s cellphones gave off a signal to a cell tower in Texas.
Soon after, on March 31, officials arrested David Anthony in New Mexico. He was extradited back to Jupiter, Florida, on May 14, according to the police.
David Anthony was charged with murder and kidnapping. ABC News reported that the couple had filed for divorce in February.
The search for Gretchen Anthony is still an ongoing investigation, and authorities are asking anyone who might have information regarding the case to come forward.
