The Gym Rat, The Pandemic and The Text Messages

the Pandemic, and the Text Messages. In the upscale and scenic seaside community of Jupiter, Florida, live Gretchen Crane. As an HR administrator. Gretchen got paid to help employees fix their issues. She was a thoughtful and empathetic person and this was her dream job. At work, Gretchen was loved by colleagues and considered them her second family. The blue eyed, blonde haired fifty one year old was described as a

beautiful person who cared deeply about people. But perhaps the person Gretchen love more than anyone was her twelve year old daughter Ava. Gretchen was a devoted mother and would proudly say that Ava was her greatest accomplishment. After a divorce from Eva's father, Gretchen was looking to reset her life, Hoping to get herself in shape for her second chapter. Gretchen joined Orange Theory. Orange Theory is a popular gym chain that involves high intensity workouts. It was there that

she met David Anthony. While chatting with the honky six ft seven inch trainer, Gretchen found that her runs on the treadmill weren't the only thing getting her heart raising. There was an undeniable spark between the pair. They complimented each other. David was calm and reserved and Gretchen was outspoken and self assured. They were both also active. David was a zealous outdoorsman who relish cycling, deep sea fishing, and kayaking. Gretchen adored going to the beach, paddle boarding

and doing yoga. By December fourteen, the pair were engaged. They got married at the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas. In Aside from his strapping good looks, David was also an exceptional stepparent to Gretchen's daughter. The little girl called him her bonus parents. Here's Stephanie. This was a couple who had a lot going for them. They were both very into the gym, so they did this together both as a hobby and in David's case, he was also

a personal trainer. Gretchen was in incredible shape and David was a popular trainer who got a lot of female attention. Apparently he really commanded the attention of most rooms that he walked into, and when his energy was high, it felt contagious. If anyone who's ever been to personal trainer, you know, these are people who take their bodies extremely seriously, and they're usually big personalities and magnanimous because they really

need to inspire people. I'm looking at a photograph of them right now that will post on our website, and she has long blonde hair and is in his arms, and she just looks incredibly at ease, and he is very, very tall, and again, first impression seemed like they're a happy couple. Despite all the good they had in their relationship, by Gretchen and David had hit sort of a rough patch and decided to split. According to their friends, they had lost themselves in the relationship and they each wanted

to focus on finding their own self identity. And this was not the first time the pair had parted. They once had a six month separation, but eventually found their way back. In December, Gretchen texted a friend about this split and said that she thought David needs to learn how to love himself before he can love anyone else, and desp the fact that they had broken up and

gotten back together before. It seemed like this split might actually have stuck, because on February Gretchen filed for divorce. Just a few weeks after filing, the impending divorce would be the last thing on anyone's mind. The world was now dealing with COVID nineteen. Businesses in schools shut down, and people were forced to quarantine in their homes. Thousands

of Americans were getting sick and dying every day. It seemed no one was immune, not even healthy and active fifty one year old Gretchen, who came down with coronavirus. On Monday, March nine am, Gretchen sent a text to her daughter Eva, good morning, awoke to shortness of breath, checked into e R awaiting test kits hopefully by ten am.

Wish me luck. I'll keep you posted. Here's Jeff. For the next few days, it seemed gretchen state was getting worse, and she continued to text family and friends with her health updates. She texted her daughter, good morning. Tested positive for coronavirus early this morning. That means I have to stay here for at least two weeks. It also means

our house is quarantined for two weeks. Another text read, I am on a ventilator due to coronavirus, and yet another text read after checking into the R today, I passed out due to high fever hundred and two degrees and low oxygen levels. Because it was an acute case, they transferred me to an off site medical facility being

run directly by the CDC and Coronavirus Task Force. According to Gretchen's text, this facility was more than an hour away in Bell Glade, Florida, and this seemed really serious. We remember what the early days of coronavirus were like and it could be considered life and death. So it was no surprise when Gretchen's loved ones were really alarmed

and worried. Not only did it seem like her health was deteriorating, but aside from just a few short texts, nobody could get hold of her, and when they pressed her for why, she wasn't answering her phone or couldn't actually speak to anybody. Gretchen wrote, and this is a direct quote, the coronavirus is causing my right lung to

work extra hard to help me breathe. No visitors, no phone calls, and I'm limited to a little bit of cell phone use because the doctors think the radiation from my phone is causing my immune system to not fight the virus like it should. I'm staying strong as it could be worse. I promise you'll all stay strong for me, Okay.

End quote. On March, fed up with not being able to talk to her, Gretchen's ex husband and the father of her daughter, a man named Jeff went to the Jupiter Medical Center to see if he could track Gretchen down. In the parking lot, he spotted her dark blue Mini

Cooper on the passenger side floor was her purse. When he went inside to ask the r physician to speak with Gretchen, the employee told him that she was in fact once a patient, but hadn't been to the facility since two thousand and eight, so despite texting people that she was at the hospital, she hadn't actually been there. In years, Jeff, the ex husband, thought perhaps she was

at the CDC facility instead. As it turns out, despite texting people and really clearly stating that she was at the CDC facility in Bell Glade, there was no such facility in that area. Now people are really starting to worry. We're going to take a break. We'll be back in just a moment. Was Gretchen so sick she was losing her mind? Was she trying to keep her actual location secret? Or was someone holding her hostage and forcing her to send those texts? With many more questions than answered, it

seemed only one thing was clear. Gretchen Anthony was missing. Now officially terrified, Chin's family called nine one one on March, the police went to her house for a welfare check. There they spoke to a few neighbors, one of whom had a story worth telling. A few days ago. On the morning of March, this neighbor had heard a woman screaming. It sounded like she was being attacked. The screaming lass in about fifteen minutes, and despite the serious nature of

the noises, this neighbor never called men one one. Eventually, that neighbor gave a statement to police but their statement wasn't the only thing that they were concerned about, because police also noticed a trail of some sort of soapy substance coming from Gretchen's garage, and remember her garage is closed at the time, and at the side of the door, they also found that a lock had a key broken off into it, meaning somebody had tried to break the

lock and probably the key snapped inside of it. And as police found their way into the garage, they found bleach footprints accompanied by an overwhelming smell of cleaning products, and it looked like something really messy had obviously happened there and that someone had attempted to really clean it up. After looking around the garage, the police went into the house.

They were hopeful that Gretchen might be inside, but what detectives found was signs of a violent struggle, a broken picture frame, shards of glass on Gretchen's bed, and a stained towel. The towel had BLS on it, and what BLS means is a blood like substance. The police also noted that security cameras around the home had seemingly been ripped off of the walls. They contacted the company to see if they could retrieve the video from the cloud.

It was clear that something bad had happened to Grutchen in the home, but there were still no signs of the mother. Police got another huge break when a different neighbor told them they had seen this sketchy looking black truck the same morning that the other neighbor had heard blood curdling screams. In fact, they were so creeped out by this truck they even took a picture of the vehicle. In the picture, which is a black Nissan up truck.

Police could actually make out the license plate. Well, who did it belonged to? Stuff Gretchen's a strange husband, David Anthony, and this photo meant that David had been very close to Gretchen's house the last day she was seen alive. But at this point, where is David because nobody knows where he is. So police started to figure out David's movements, and what they found was that after Gretchen filed for divorce in February, David moved in with his mom, so

police went to her home to find David. When they arrived, David's mother told the police that she had last seen him on March. Now Remember that was three days after Gretchen has last and seen alive. David's mom told the detectives that she didn't know where her son was. He had packed up his truck and left. David's mom notably asked detectives if the visit was about Gretchen, as she had gotten texts from her saying that she had seemed pretty sick. So all this didn't look good for David.

He was last seen outside of Gretchen's home the last time she was seen alive, and then he seemingly disappears. Can you imagine? And to add further suspicion, police were able to retrieve the security footage from the Jupiter Medical Facility where Gretchen's car had been found earlier. They could see her Minnie Cooper, pulling into the lot, but she never got out of the car. Instead, a very tall man exited the vehicle and walked out of frame. And

remember David is six seven. With David looking like a likely suspect, police got a notification that Gretchen's phone was pinging about six hundred miles away in Pensacola, Florida. Her and David's phones were both moving across the state and into Louisiana. Detectives wondered if the pair could be on the run together. As the detectives worked to track down David and Gretchen, police began looking into David's past. They found that he grew up with a single mother in

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Painfully shy, he usually didn't speak unless spoken to. David was overweight as a young man and had a low self esteem, which made him a constant target for bullies at school because he was so much bigger than other kids. He hadn't and allowed to join recreational sports leagues. As he got older, he continued to struggle with severe depression and showed signs of bipolar disorder. He refused to take any medication, instead becoming obsessed with fitness.

He got in great shape and got a scholarship to play at basketball in college. It was there he fell in love with Kobe Bryant. He idolized the athlete and even int his dog after the star. He fell into some trouble when he held up a Blockbuster video store with a water gun. Another point, he also assaulted a police officer. He reached a plea deal in both of those cases and spent a short time in jail. As we know, he eventually got it together and became a

popular and successful trainer at Orange Theory for over six years. However, that seems to have ended pretty poorly as well. While at first his clients seemed to love his high energy and his good looks, at some point his behavior changed. David was usually the first person at work and at the gym in the morning, but in January he started to come in later and later and later, apparently, and

according to his coworkers, his behavior vier shifted noticeably. Those closest to him said they believed it was a combo of his relationship issues with Gretchen and also the death of Kobe Bryant. As we heard, he was a huge fan, but didn't know him personally, and apparently Kobe's death really sent him into its hail spin. And we can all agree that that was a hideous tragedy, but David took it harder than most, almost as if they were best friends,

when in fact they had never met. David continued to go to work and to try to get other people, but it was clear something was off. He became involved in a controversial self improvement program called Gratitude Training, which

has been compared to a cult. There, he spent thousands and thousands of dollars on seminars That all seemed to come to a head on February when David failed to show up at work at all, leaving everybody at his gym completely locked out, and at that point his boss confronted him him he erupted into a bit of a rage. As a result, he was fired, and it turned out that wasn't the first time he had been in trouble at work. A research shows that David had been fired

at least twice for aggressive behavior towards women. That's a big deal, and he was able to convince his boss to give him another shot, But this time the not showing up to work with the final straw. Yes, his boss was so shaken by that encounter the morning that he didn't show up to work that she actually texted Gretchen in all caps saying stay away from him. Just four days after that text, Gretchen filed for divorce and the plot thickens. Just a few weeks later, David was

arrested for following teenage girls at a local mall. Think about that. Listen to the body camp footage from when he was arrested. Yeah, yeah, like a place. You know, it's really shocking to hear. And David spent just a few days in jail before posting bail and was released just three days before Gretchen disappeared. It's clear he is spiraling.

So back in March of twenty, with both Gretchen and David missing, the police were actually able to track down David using his cell phone, using the cell phone towers that they were able to locate him on various surveillance cameras, one of which was at a local pawn shop where he could be seen selling Gretchen's possessions. When the police went to the store, the manager actually remember David because

of the story he told. Apparently, he said that the jewelry he had been selling was left to him by a loved one who had died from COVID nineteen. Unfortunately, by the time the cops had gotten there, David was long gone and they always seemed to be just one step behind him. It really was becoming a huge game of cat and mouse at this point. You know, David would turn on his cell phone and then that would send a ping, and then detectives would run to that location,

and then he would turn it off and disappear. So again this kept happening, but finally, on March, David's phone pinged in New Mexico, nearly one thousand, nine hundred miles away from Jupiter, and local officers were able to track him down in his truck and in the passenger seat was his dog, Kobe. Take a listen to what he told the cops who arrested him lost. I heard she was in a CDC facility treatments for coronavirus. Even worse than that. Without having enough evidence to hold him, David

was released. By March, Jupiter police finally received the surveillance footage from Gretchen's home. Remember cameras had looked like they'd been ripped out of the walls. At least contacted the company asking to retrieve the footage, and what they found painted a truly disturbing picture of what happened to the fifty year old mother. In the video, David could be seen pacing outside the home shortly after six am, seemingly waiting for Gretchen. Six minutes later, Gretchen enters the frame.

What are you doing, she demanded to her estranged husband. The video then showed David forcing her into the garage. Off camera, she could be heard screaming. Gretchen began yelling for her Amazon Alexa device, Alexa, turn on the garage light she called. The camera then picked up a loud thud sound and Gretchen's muffled cries. At this point, she shouted three times for Alexa to call nine on one.

By her third play, her voice was fading before finally it went silent tragically an unbeknownst to Gretchen, you actually have to enable Alexa to call nine on one before being able to do so. For anyone who owns one of these devices, you can do that on your Alexa app. As the detectives combed through the footage, they located one shot where Gretchen was covered in blood as David paced

around her in the garage. At the end of the video, David realized he could be seen on the surveillance In the shot, he walks up to the camera and then pulls it down. The freeze frame of this shot is one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. It's literally David seconds after killing his estranged wife. We've posted it on our Instagram at Katie Underscore Studios if you want to see it for yourself. Let's stop here for another break. With the surveillance footage, the police finally had

enough to get a warrant for David's arrest. In New Mexico, officials comb the streets looking for the man they believe killed Gretchen. At a little before midnight on March they found him outside a comedian store. Listen to audio from the moment David was taken into custody. There's a warrant for your arrest, and I'm gonna explain that when we get down to go back to that. Excuse me, what homicide for whom? Who do you think? That's why I said much we'll talk about the dead quarters. Okay. It

really is one of those photos. If you do a side by side with this picture, to your point, he literally just murdered Gretchen and the original photo that we have of them in happier days. It just goes to show you really can't judge any book by its cover, and beautiful as they may look, this is the face of pure evil. Back at the station, David told the police that he hadn't harmed Gretchen, but she was actually alive. He said. Gretchen had uncovered illegal activities at the company

where she worked and someone was after her. According to him, this caused the couple to split down, and at some point she freaked out and bolted. David told the police that was the last time he had seen her lives, but the cops were not buying any of this. When detectives asked David about the COVID texts, this is what he said. You have her phone, you sent the text messages. You planted her car to put her medical center. Because you're on video doing it, you have it. She had

me do it. You put your hand over her mouth and racked her into the garage on video DA During the two hour interrogation, David told cops Scretchen was alive, literally thirty five times thirty five times. It was almost as though he was willing her back into existence and convincing himself of his own lies. The detectives attempted to take a different approach and appealed to his softer side by using Gretchen's daughter, the one he had a great

relationship with. I was the one who taught her how to ride it by school, and you know what's right for her, Well, you're hurting her indirectly by not letting us know where her mom is. You have to ask her. We can't ask her. She's dead. She's dead, her mother still alive, alive? You are you didn't even like you didn't even you're not even you and everybody who's going

to look at you like that. At one point, the cops played a recording that Ava, Gretchen's daughter had made for David, pleading with to tell the police what he had done, but David had none of it. After two hours, David stopped the interrogation and asked to see a lawyer. At this point, it really didn't matter, as he was charged with second degree murder at last, and was extradited to Florida. However, the prosecution know they had a big issue.

Without an actual body, it's so difficult to get a guilty verdict, so step in December, officials ended up offering David a pleadale. If he pled guilty to second degree murder, he would serve only thirty eight years in prison, but in exchange for that, he would help lead authorities to locate Grussians remains. It was a deal he accepted. I hate this deal. This makes me crazy, but I could imagine as Grettians loved ones want answers, but the idea

that he would one day walk free is so haunting. Yeah, it's a fine line because you want to give the family closure and help ensure that the right person gets put away for the crime. So prosecution walks. You know, a fine line between getting answers and also putting the right person in jail. On December, nine months to the day after Gretchen went missing, David pointed authorities to a patch of grass behind a walmart. Buried there was his wife, Gretchen.

She had been wrapped in a blanket and buried in a shallow grave. Her cause of death was stab wounds to the neck and torso. At his sentencing, David made a statement about why he murdered Gretchen wylusiens and I guess an end of the world policy, an armagat that I bought Compelo skate amount of the cost. Instead of being a man, I chose of your coward, I try

to steal what was a line. In the process, I ended his life for Lifehoad Volume for life had leading still that life, Gretchen's loved ones bought none of it. When it was her sister's time to speak, she didn't hold anything back. Now, I would like to say some words to the defendant, whose name and being are not worthy of the air we all breathe. Your statement will never mean anything to anyone. You are a fraud. Gretchen had a huge heart and saved your life when your

car fell on you. Yet you killed Gretchen in that same garage where she saved your life. You are pure evil. You stole a mother away from her child, a daughter away from her mother, a sister away from my brother and me, and aunt's away from my children, and a friend away from so many, all who loved her abundantly.

You are a monster. You are a coward. Every birthday, Holliday, graduation, milestone, marriage, birth, ava and our family experience will that will be the same because what you did you robbed this of these experiences with Gretchen. You don't deserve to have a life. You're pathetic and not worthy of happiness. One thing is definite. Gretchen believed in karma, and therefore we can take some comfort knowing. But every day you spend in prison will

be as horrific as the murder you committed. You can never be forgiven. You are disgusting. David Anthony is scheduled to be released from prison. You will be one years old Shameless Plug. If you're enjoying Crazy and Love, leave us a review and listen to season three of our hit series, The Piked and Massacre. Episodes there every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to follow

us on Instagram at Katie Underscore Studios. Crazy in Love is produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Jeff Shane, Chris Graeves and me Courtney Armstrong. Editing and sound design by Jeff Ta. Crazy in Love is a production of I Heart Radio and Katie Studios. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Stay safe, lovers,