UNBIASED - TRUE CRIME: Gretchen Anthony

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

(0:25) Intro(1:20) The Disappearance (8:27) The Runaway(13:11) The DealLinks to sources can be found on www.jordanismylawyer.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. You are listening to the Jordan is My Lawyer. This is your host Jordan, and I give

you the legal analysis you've been waiting for. Here's the deal. I don't care about your political views, but I do ask that you listen to the facts, have an open mind and think for yourselves. Deal? Oh, and one last thing. I'm not actually a lawyer. Welcome back to another True Crime Tuesday on the Jordan is my lawyer podcast. Before we get into today's story, I just want to quickly remind you guys that I now have comments available on my website jordanismylawyer.com so you can go to the episode description page for this episode and that's where you'll see the episode format, the episode player, the links to sources, and then at the very bottom of the page now you will see a comment section where you can comment your thoughts and we can discuss the episode further.

So make sure to take advantage of that once you listen to today's episode and also if you haven't already don't forget to leave my podcast a five-star review on whichever platform you listen. And with that, let's get into today's story. On March 23rd, 2020, friends and family of Gretchen Anthony received a text from Gretchen that said she had tested positive for COVID and had to quarantine at home for two weeks. This included a text to her 12-year-old daughter who was staying with her father at the time. That is the daughter's father, so Gretchen's ex-husband. Within three days of those initial texts going out, Gretchen sent another text that said she had gotten a bit worse and had admitted herself

into the Jupiter Medical Center emergency room after consulting with a virus screening hotline. Then Gretchen sent a text that said she was transferred to a facility in Belle Glade, Florida, which is about an hour away from Jupiter that was run by the CDC. But the problem was there was no CDC facility in Belle Glade. And on top of that, during this time, not one person had received a phone call from Gretchen, not even her daughter. Nor did Gretchen pick up anyone's calls when they would call her. So naturally, her family and friends started to get a bit worried. They made the decision to reach out to law enforcement to

do a welfare check on Gretchen. Detective Jared Kennerson was working the night shift that night and caught the call. He reached out to Jupiter Medical Center and there was no record of a Gretchen Anthony during which the time Gretchen said she was there. The police decide to head over to the hospital to see if they can find any sort of clues as to whether Gretchen was ever there. And there, in the parking lot, they spot Gretchen's Mini Cooper. When they take a closer look, they see Gretchen's purse sitting in plain sight inside of the car. According to Detective Kennerson, this was weird because a woman typically carries her purse with her, especially if checking into the hospital, right? At this point, there's no telling if Gretchen really was in a medical facility somewhere, if she had gone to

Jupiter Medical Center herself and was transferred out like she said, or if she ran away and something terrible happened. The police decide to reach out to Gretchen's estranged husband, David. But David couldn't be reached either. And just as a side note, David is not her ex-husband who her daughter was staying with at the time. Gretchen was remarried after she had her daughter to this man named David, who she was recently estranged from. David Anthony was a personal trainer at a local gym. He played basketball in college, and after college, he pursued a career in fitness. In fact, Gretchen first met David at the gym where he worked. According to friends, David was the young, hot trainer at the gym. He was 6'7", good-looking, intelligent, well-spoken,

and charming. And there was no denying that there was chemistry between David and Gretchen. Everyone knew it. Before long, the two got married at an Elvis chapel in Las Vegas in 2015. Their friends said they seemed like the happiest couple ever, and that David was a great stepdad to Gretchen's daughter. But apparently, the happiness began to fade in 2019, when, according to friends, both David and Gretchen lost themselves a little bit and were kind of searching for more of their own self-identity. The two separated in late 2019 and Gretchen filed for divorce in February 2020. Then within weeks, the mysterious text messages are sent from Gretchen's phone. On March 26th, 2020, five days since Gretchen was

last seen, Jupiter police went searching her neighborhood wearing body cameras, trying to find clues. As they searched, a woman approached them to tell them what she heard in the early morning hours of March 21st. I heard a really serious woman scream, like just screaming, like she was being attacked. The woman goes on to tell officers that she heard a woman screaming the word no and heard something about it hurts, stop it. Despite this, the woman didn't call the police that morning. Another neighbor told the police that he noticed a soapy substance flowing from underneath Gretchen's garage door. The police approached the house, and something to note is that in this area of Jupiter,

some of the houses have a courtyard layout, meaning that when you walk up to the house, you first enter an enclosed patio area. And from that patio, you can go one way towards the garage or another way, like the opposite way towards the front door of the house. So this front patio area basically is in the middle of the garage and the house itself and connects the two. When the police approached the patio entrance, they noticed that the garage door is locked and has the key broken off in the deadbolt. Investigators thinking Gretchen could be inside of the garage forced down the door, but Gretchen wasn't there. What was there though was the strong smell of a cleaning agent. Investigators then went into the house.

They found a broken picture frame, shards of glass on Gretchen's bed, and a stained towel, indicating a struggle. They also noticed that the security cameras had been taken off the walls. And then came a huge break. Neighbors had taken photos of a black Nissan pickup truck parked near Gretchen's home after the screams were heard. And who owns a black Nissan pickup truck? You probably guessed it, David Anthony. Investigators learned that David had moved in with his mom following his separation from Gretchen. So the police go knocking on David's mother's front door. When David's mom, Susan Warner, opens the front door, the police begin to ask her questions about Gretchen. Susan tells the police that she had also received texts from Gretchen

about her COVID diagnosis. When police asked Susan where David was, she told them that on March 24th, he packed up his truck, grabbed his dog Kobe, and headed to Costa Rica. Shortly after police found out that he was essentially on the run, they also obtained video footage from Jupiter Medical Center, which shows Gretchen's dark blue Mini Cooper pulling into the hospital parking lot, pull into a parking spot, and then a tall figure exits the driver's side door and walks away from the car. At this point, David becomes a suspect. The detectives track Gretchen's phone and it's pinging off of a tower near Pensacola, Florida, which for reference is about 600 miles away from Jupiter, about a 9 or 10 hour drive. But despite this distance, the pings coming

from Gretchen's phone helped investigators track David's moves across the state. And actually a camera at a jewelry store in Jupiter recorded him stopping in to sell off some of Gretchen's jewelry. One of the store owners told investigators that David came in wanting to sell jewelry that had been left to him by a family member that had died from COVID. But although these tips were helpful, investigators knew that by now, David could be long gone from Florida. So they tracked both Gretchen and David's cell phone signals, which were traveling together. By now, the signals were heading west across Texas. During this time, detectives were also looking into David's criminal record. His record started in 1997 when he held up a Blockbuster video store, armed with a squirt gun of all things, and assaulted a police officer.

More recently though, in March 2020, just one week before Gretchen disappeared, police received a report that David was allegedly following teenage girls at a shopping center. When police approached him, he wasn't too happy and he was ultimately charged with resisting arrest. He only spent a few days in jail before he posted bail and was released. And then just a few days after that, Gretchen was gone. On March 28th, 2020, so about a week after Gretchen was last seen, David's phone pinged in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Detective Kennerson, who if you remember was the detective working on the case in Jupiter, immediately contacted Las Cruces police and gave them the description of David's truck. Because Jupiter police were still tracking his phone, Las Cruces police were able to find David's truck relatively quickly

and pulled him over. When Las Cruces officers asked David about Gretchen, he told them she had COVID and that the last he heard was that she was in a CDC facility getting treatment. Despite not having enough evidence to bring David in for questioning, Las Cruces police seized David's truck and his possessions. His possessions included his cell phone, Gretchen's cell phone, some security cameras, and a few Amazon devices. Without a car, David had no choice but to walk. So now David and his dog Kobe are on foot in Las Cruces, New Mexico. During this same time, Jupiter police are waiting to get the footage back from the security cameras at Gretchen's home. Because remember, the cameras had been

ripped out of the walls. But luckily, the police were able to contact the maker of the cameras and provide them with a search warrant to get the footage from a cloud. Then on March 30th, 2020, two days after Las Cruces police seized David's car, Jupiter police were finally able to watch the footage from the cameras at Gretchen's house. The footage was pretty telling. What you see is a tall man dressed in black pacing on Gretchen's patio before the sun came up. Whoever it was, was clearly waiting. Then Gretchen opens her front door and steps onto her patio. That's when the man is seen forcing Gretchen into the garage. Gretchen is heard screaming into her Alexa device to call 911. But what Gretchen didn't know is that Alexa had to be specifically programmed to call 911 when told. Until now, police aren't

able to tell who the man is from the footage. And then, when the man reaches for the camera to take it off the wall, he looks directly into it, and his face is in plain sight, and it's David Anthony. And with that, investigators had what they needed to make an arrest. Detective Kennerson headed to Las Cruces to make the arrest himself. Luckily, David wasn't hard to find because him and Kobe were still on foot. And on March 31st, David was detained and Kobe was taken to a shelter. Kobe is okay, by the way. A family adopted him shortly after that. When Detective Kennerson told David that there was a warrant out for his arrest, David played dumb. So at this point, they have David in custody, but there's still one question.

Where was Gretchen Anthony? David wasn't going to come clean, and that became clear pretty quickly. He stuck to the same answer throughout the entire questioning, that Gretchen was alive, David wasn't going to come clean, and that became clear pretty quickly. He stuck to the same answer throughout the entire questioning, that Gretchen was alive, but he didn't know where she was. When Detective Kennerson asked David about the texts that were sent from Gretchen's phone and followed that up by telling him there are no records of Gretchen being at any hospital, David replied, okay, doesn't mean anything. And when investigators told David about the video footage from the garage, David's only response was that Gretchen is alive. Investigators tried a different tactic, an emotional tactic.

They held up a picture of Gretchen's daughter, who David was very close with. Investigators told David that he needed to tell them the location of Gretchen's body for the sake of Gretchen's daughter. Again, David's response was, Her mother is still alive. I'm telling you. Eventually, after tensions built between David and Kenerson, David asked for a lawyer. David was charged with second-degree murder and extradited to Florida. While David was in custody in Palm Beach County, Florida, a grand jury indicted him

on the charge of kidnapping and raised the murder charge from second degree to first. But there was one problem. Investigators still didn't have a body. Without a body, murder would be extremely hard to prove. And that was David's greatest advantage. By December 2020, investigators still hadn't found Gretchen. At this point, investigators were starting to realize that they might never find her. They felt they had no choice but to negotiate with David's lawyer and work out a deal with David. And finally, they settled. David would plead guilty to second-degree murder and tell investigators where Gretchen's body was in exchange for 38 years behind bars.

On December 21st, nine months to the day that Gretchen went missing, David pled guilty and pointed the police to a location that they had been searching for all along. A patch of grass tucked in some trees behind a local retirement home. As someone who lived in the area, it really boggles my mind that he placed her body there. It's blocks away from one of the most populated roads in the city. And there are tons of cameras in and around the area, given the fact that the retirement home is right there. And there's also homes in the area. I mean, I personally would have never expected the area that he chose, but maybe that was exactly his trick, to pick the area that no one expects. The autopsy came back and showed the cause of death was stab

wounds to the neck and torso, which would explain the blood curdling screams heard by the neighbor on the morning of March 21st. On January 14th, 2021, Gretchen's family faced David in court at his sentencing hearing. Gretchen's sister spoke to David and said, in part, You used what you did to negotiate something for yourself. You are pure evil. You stole a mother away from her child, a daughter away from her mother. You are a monster. You are a coward and you can never be forgiven. David's aunt spoke to the judge in an effort to get some leniency. She told the judge that David was always bigger than the other kids his age and because of that, he had to play on sports teams with the older kids and was always picked on. She said that her and David's mother, Susan,

started to notice behavioral issues and signs of mental illness when David was in his teens and twenties, and he was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She said they sought help for David and David sought help for himself. She said that Gretchen and Gretchen's daughter became their family and that they genuinely grieve Gretchen, but now their focus is on David and getting David the help that he needs. David's cousin Jillian spoke to the judge crying. She spoke about their relationship and their bond. David's younger sister Carly also spoke to the judge about David's struggle with mental illness. David's mother had a statement, but it was only by a note read by her sister. She did not speak herself. Then, while sobbing, David gave a

statement in an attempt to explain why he did what he did. He said in part, quote, I could have taken years to write this, but it comes from the heart. Coming from me, what words can console a family that lost someone so dear, so tragically? Is there anything I can say that will comfort a daughter that lost their mother? Are there any words that will ease the burden of a mother who's lost their daughter? My illusions saw the COVID pandemic as an end of the world prophecy, an Armageddon that I felt compelled to escape no matter the cost. When actions become detached from consequence, that's when madness occurs. Every day I'm reminded of Gretchen. Gretchen tried to be my friend, tried to be my wife, and was someone who brought light into this dark world.

Instead of being a man, I chose to be a coward. I tried to steal what wasn't mine, and in the process I ended a life. Her life had value, her life had meaning, and I stole that life. I can't give her life back. I can't fix this. At the close of the hearing, Judge Kirk Volker sentenced David to 38 years in prison with credit for the 295 days of time already served. David will be 81 when he's released from prison. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of True Crime Tuesday on the Jordan Is My Lawyer podcast. If you haven't already, make sure you listen to yesterday's episode, which covers the top news stories from the past week in an unbiased fact-based manner. So you can form your own opinions without any outside noise. Don't forget to share your thoughts

with me on this episode on Jordan is my lawyer.com. So we can discuss this case in more detail. I will talk to you guys on Monday.