WAS THE PANDEMIC THE PERFECT COVER-UP FOR A FLORIDA MURDER?

"48 HOURS" Investigates in "The COVID Cover-Up: Searching for Gretchen Anthony" Saturday, May 8, on the CBS Television Network

When friends and family of a Florida mother began receiving texts revealing she had a serious case of coronavirus, they grew worried. 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?

Correspondent Peter Van Sant and 48 HOURS investigate what happened to Gretchen Anthony in "The COVID Cover-Up: Searching for Gretchen Anthony" to be broadcast May 8 (10:00 PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

The disappearance of Gretchen Anthony and the text messages shocked her friends and neighbors in the well-to-do community of Jupiter, Fla. 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."

And someone who seemingly vanished at a point when the world was told to stay home.

"All I wanted to do was to be able to find her," Mixon says.

Investigators learned Gretchen had filed for divorce from her husband, David Anthony, a fitness trainer, just weeks before she disappeared.

The texts from Gretchen Anthony's phone to friends and family began on March 23, 2020. "Good morning. Tested positive for coronavirus early this morning. That means I have to stay here for at least two weeks ... " The texts over the next couple of days described a worsening condition and admitting herself to the Jupiter Medical Center's emergency department. Another text claimed she was transferred to another facility run by the CDC, which didn't exist.

After days of texts and no response by phone, Gretchen Anthony's family and friends reached out to law enforcement and asked them to do a welfare check at her home. What police learned from a neighbor was disturbing.

"I heard a really serious woman's scream, just screaming, like she was being attacked," a neighbor told police.

Inside the home police noticed security cameras had been removed from the walls. They asked Anthony's service provider to pull the video from the cloud and the images showed a man lurking on Gretchen Anthony's patio the morning the neighbor heard the scream.

"There comes a point where this person that we see grab(s) Gretchen, muffle(s) her screams and take(s) her into the garage," says Mixon. "This person looks up and we see David Anthony looking up into the camera."

Where was Gretchen Anthony? And where was her estranged husband, David Anthony? Did he send those texts pretending to be Gretchen to cover up her murder?

Van Sant and 48 HOURS report on the case through interviews with Anthony's family and friends, investigators, attorneys and more. "48 HOURS: The COVID Cover-Up: Searching for Gretchen Anthony" is produced by Chris O'Connell and Mary Ann Rotondi. Ryan N. Smith, Cindy Cesare, Claire St. Amant, Tamara Weitzman and Sara Ely Hulse are the development producers. Michelle Feuer is the field producer. Shaheen Tokhi and Chelsea Narvaez are the associate producers. Marcus Balsam, Michelle Harris and James Taylor are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior broadcast producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

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