Trial date set for 76-year-old Carroll County woman charged with killing husband

By Barry Simms

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    WESTMINSTER, Maryland (WBAL) — A judge has set a trial date for a 76-year-old woman charged with beating her husband to death with a cane.

Gail D’Anthony, 76, is charged with first and second-degree murder. She is accused of killing her 72-year-old husband, John D’Anthony III.

The suspect was in the court building Wednesday, but the judge was informed she was having difficulties and feeling ill, so she was taken back to Carroll County Detention Center, where a video hearing was held.

It happened in March, when a 911 call about someone in cardiac arrest sent medics to the couple’s home on Royer Road in Westminster. John D’Anthony died at the scene.

According to charging documents, blood was found on the floor and in the room where John D’Anthony was found. The medical examiner’s autopsy found he had suffered numerous blunt-force trauma injuries, including cuts to his mouth, a broken neck, a broken rib, two black eyes and large bruises on his hands and forearms.

Investigators said they believe he was pushed and hit his head on the floor, then was beaten with a cane. His wife did not call for help until he was unresponsive, investigators believe.

Court documents also said Gail D’Anthony allegedly confessed to the crime, telling a witness that after pushing her husband, she returned to the bedroom and hit him on the head with a cane. She left the room, came back and started cleaning blood from the floor.

Another hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 17, with a jury trial set to begin Jan. 8.

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