A 76-year-old woman from Maryland has been charged with first- and second-degree murder after allegedly causing her husband’s fatal injuries by shoving him to the ground and beating him with a cane. Gail Joy D’Anthony, who weighs 90 pounds and stands 4 feet, 10 inches, was arrested on Wednesday and has no attorney of record.
According to Carroll County prosecutors, police and EMS in the city of Westminster first responded on the evening of March 1 to a home on the 300 block of Royer Road regarding reports of someone in cardiac arrest. EMS tried saving the victim, John D’Anthony III, 72, but could not. An examination soon revealed numerous injuries inconsistent with natural death, officials said.
Authorities listed the extensive injuries that D’Anthony suffered from after an autopsy was performed. His injuries included a broken neck, a broken rib, and several contusions.
Carroll County Sheriff’s Office investigators were asked on May 24 to continue the investigation. Investigators obtained evidence from the home, which included pants and boots that Gail D’Anthony had been wearing on March 1, documents said. These had suspected blood spatter on them, according to authorities. This evidence was consistent with the blunt force injuries that John D’Anthony sustained and was consistent with him dying from homicide, investigators said.
Detectives in June made contact with a witness who said that Gail D’Anthony allegedly described killing her husband John. First, she allegedly pushed him to the ground, where he hit his head on the floor. After leaving the room, she came back with a cane and beat him with it so that he couldn’t get up. She came in and out of the room, continuing the brutal beating of her elderly husband.
Eventually, the man was was unresponsive as a result of the attack. It was at this point that the woman called 911.