A man from Pennsylvania has been taken into custody for the killing of his spouse nearly a decade following her vanishing, following an examination by law enforcement of a seemingly forged text he allegedly dispatched from her mobile device.
Allen Gould, aged 60 and residing in Malvern, which is in close proximity to Philadelphia, was apprehended on Wednesday, marking eight years subsequent to authorities originally implicating the father of one with the homicide of his then 43-year-old wife, Anna Maciejewska.
He was charged with first and third-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, false reports, and more, according to ABC 6.
On April 12, 2017, Gould contacted the authorities to report his wife as missing – a day following her coworkers doing the same. According to Gould, he informed law enforcement that she had hurried off to work frantically and never returned to their residence.
However, police believe he had killed his wife weeks before that, all because of a text message Gould allegedly sent to Maciejewska’s Polish father on March 30, 2017, allegedly pretending to be her.
The happy birthday text was written in broken Polish, which Maciejewska was fluent in. Authorities later discovered the text had been written using Google Translate, CNN reported.
‘The Polish grammar doesn’t make sense. It’s off,’ Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe said, according to CNN. ‘Anna had no reason to use Google Translate.’
Her parents, who still live in Poland, were relieved to hear of Gould’s arrest, having long given up that their daughter’s case would move forward.
Allen Gould, 60, of Malvern, near Philadelphia, was arrested on Wednesday, eight years after police initially accused the father-of-one of murdering his 43-year-old wife Anna Maciejewska
Maciejewska’s body has not been found, but police cadaver dogs had alerted authorities to the possibility of human remains being near the northeast corner of Gould’s property in 2017
‘Anna’s mom didn’t sleep last night,’ Ellen Lee, a friend, told CNN. ‘They thought it was a cold case, it was never going to happen.’
Gould’s attorney, Evan Kelly, told DailyMail.com that the father is looking forward to clearing his name in court.
‘The case against Mr. Gould is based on multiple assumptions. Mr. Gould is looking forward to clearing his name in court after eight years of accusations and innuendo,’ Kelly told DailyMail.com.
Maciejewska’s body has not been found, but police cadaver dogs had alerted authorities to the possibility of human remains being near the northeast corner of Gould’s property in 2017, the outlet reported.
The soil near the area had been disturbed when the dog alerted police in July of that year.
When state troopers showed up at his door at the time, they noted that the husband ‘did not have a visible reaction’ when they told him they were there ‘because you murdered your wife,’ CNN reported.
Authorities did execute another search warrant on the day of his arrest, having shown up at his property shortly after Gould dropped his son off at school, ABC 6 said.
Maciejewska had looked into divorce and allegedly had custody concerns regarding their son prior to her death.
Gould reported his wife missing on April 12, 2017, telling police that she had gone to work in a panic and never came home. However, police believe he had killed his wife weeks before that, all because of a text message Gould allegedly sent to Maciejewska’s Polish father
The happy birthday text was written in broken Polish, which Maciejewska was fluent in. Authorities later discovered the text had been written using Google Translate
After reporting her missing, police discovered no one had seen Maciejewska since March 28, 2017, but Gould allegedly told them he hadn’t seen her since April 10 of that year.
‘I’m not sure where my wife is,’ he told state police while reporting her missing, the probable cause affidavit said. ‘She, she uh, didn’t come home from work on Monday night uh as expected.’
He allegedly told investigators that his wife had taken the previous week off due to a ‘stomach illness’ and left for work in a panic the morning of April 10.
She took off in her blue Audi, which was later found near her home, and never came back, CNN reported.
Gould also told authorities at the time that Maciejewska left her phone at home to update.
Investigators also grew suspicious of Maciejewska’s disappearance because they said she had no reason to go missing, as she was a devout mother and sister.
‘There’s nothing to indicate that she would stop corresponding with her family, stop spending any amount of money to go visit them, and essentially abandon her son,’ the district attorney said, according to ABC 6.
De Barrena-Sarobe suspected Gould knew his marriage was failing and divorce papers had been found inside his home.
The soil near the back area near the home (pictured) had been disturbed when the dog alerted police in July of that year. Gould reported his wife missing on April 12, 2017. However, her coworkers reported her missing the day before
Another piece of evidence that made investigators suspicious was that Gould had written a $75,000 check to his attorney with the memo: ‘Trial defense if needed.’
He also looked at an attorney’s Twitter page that then directed him to ‘violent crimes strangulation.’
Authorities noted this was particularly interesting, as no one had ever suggested Gould wife had been strangled, ABC 6 reported.
Maciejewska’s body is still missing, meaning prosecutors have a long road ahead of them to prove Gould actually did it.
It was another reason it took authorities eight years to charge the father-of-one with murder.
‘We wanted to make sure it’s not just about prosecuting people because we have a strong feeling that they did it. We have to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt,’ the district attorney said.
Gould is expected back in court on May 27.
