When friends and family of a Jupiter, Florida, mother began receiving texts revealing she had a serious case of coronavirus, they grew worried. But Gretchen Anthony hadn t talked to anyone and wasn t answering her phone. Was she really sending the text messages? Or was someone using COVID-19 to cover up her disappearance?
It was March 2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic was stretching across the country. This case really hit differently, says Chrichet Mixon, an assistant state attorney for Palm Beach County. I mean, we are talking about someone who is a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend.
Gretchen Anthony Facebook
Last Updated May 8, 2021 11:43 PM EDT
In March of 2020, as the world reeled in shock and fear from COVID-19, friends and family of a devoted mother from wealthy Palm Beach County, Florida, were stunned to receive texts saying she was sick with the coronavirus. But when they followed up on the text messages with unsuccessful calls and attempts to reach 51-year-old Gretchen Anthony, they began to suspect a scenario far more dire than even an acute case of COVID-19: that someone was sending messages from Gretchen Anthony s phone to cover up for her disappearance.
Investigators searching for Gretchen soon realized someone was using the COVID-19 pandemic to cover up her disappearance. Ultimately, clues from cloud storage helped police catch a killer.
BETTY GREEN [call to sheriff s office]: I need to … get some information on my son.
BETTY GREEN: My daughter-in-law called this morning and said he was killed yesterday by a German Shepherd dog, the dog jumped up and grabbed his throat.
Ray and Dani Green with their German Shepherd, Jazzy. Indiana Court of Appeals
Dani had called other family and friends too, saying it was Jazzy – the couple s own pet – who had attacked Ray. Police drove out to check, but when they arrived, neither Ray nor Jazzy could be seen, and they say Dani seemed to be just going about her day.