A Jupiter man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping, and killing his wife, then fleeing to New Mexico.

43-year-old David Anthony was booked into the main Palm Beach County jail on Thursday morning around 1 AM after being extradited back to South Florida.

He was arrested in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on March 31 for the murder of his wife, Gretchen Anthony, 10 days prior.

According to an arrest report, at least five people received “suspicious” text messages that were allegedly from Gretchen on March 23 and 24. In the texts, Gretchen said she was infected with an “acute case” of COVID-19 and was being held by the “CDC” after being checked out at Jupiter Medical Center.

One of the text messages showed that Gretchen said she was being “quarantined” for 14 days.

On the arrest report, one of the people who received a text message said Gretchen’s husband “David Anthony had ‘issues’ and she was afraid that he may have done something to Gretchen Anthony.” Another witness said Gretchen and David were separated and had filed for divorce back in February.

Investigators said Jupiter Medical Center had no record of Gretchen Anthony in their system, but her car was located in the parking lot of the hospital.

Investigators were able to track down Gretchen Anthony’s phone near Pensacola on March 25, and they also discovered that David Anthony tried to sell a bag of women’s jewelry at a jewelry store in Pensacola the same day.

When detectives interviewed David and Gretchen Anthony’s neighbors, one neighbor told them that on March 21 between 6 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. they heard a scream coming from Gretchen’s home “she heard a woman’s voice let out a blood curdling scream” and she heard a woman yelling “No! No it hurts!”, according to the arrest report.

When police searched the home they found, two bottles of cleaner and a rag on a kitchen countertop. Inside the washer “were towels that had a reddish substance on them that appeared to be blood.” The arrest report also said there were droplets of blood around the house.

Police said surveillance video from Gretchen’s home on March 21st showed “a blood soaked head of light colored hair” lying on the ground and not moving. In the video, David Anthony, could be seen walking in the background of the garage, police said.

David Anthony’s arrest report stated that on March 30, he called a Jupiter police detective and said Gretchen was receiving treatment for the coronavirus. He also told police that Gretchen had uncovered illegal tax fraud at her employer, and she contacted the IRS about it and she was “terrified for her life and someone was sent to her house to hurt her the other weekend,” the arrest report said.

Police issued an arrest warrant for David Anthony who fled to New Mexico, where he was arrested.

David Anthony was extradited and booked into the main Palm Beach County jail on charges of second-degree murder and kidnapping.

He was denied bond.

Officials say, Gretchen Anthony’s body has not been found.

Anyone with information that can help detectives is asked to call the Jupiter Police Department at 561-741-2235.