Husband of Chester County woman missing since 2017 charged with murder

Malvern husband charged in murder of wife who disappeared in 2017

A Chester County man has been charged with murder after his wife vanished in 2017.

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The husband of a missing Chester County woman who vanished without a trace in 2017 has been arrested for her murder, authorities announced on Wednesday.

Anna Maciejewska, 43, was last seen by her husband leaving for work in West Chester. Her employer reported the next day that Anna never made it to work.

About a month later, investigators said Anna's car was found near a local walking trail.

Eight years after her disappearance, a breakthrough in the cold case resulted in Anna's husband, Allen Gould, being charged with her murder.

Husband of woman missing from Chester County since 2017 was charged with her murder

On Wednesday, Chester County officials says state police determined Anna’s normal life routine stopped on March 29th, 2017 and the last time anyone physically saw her or heard her voice was on March 28th.

The backstory:

Anna Maciejewska was 43-years-old when she was reported missing in April 2017. 

Investigators say her husband was the last one to see her leaving home for work in West Chester.

Her employer reported the next day that Anna never made it to work, which began an expansive search.

The Chester County District Attorney said Anna’s husband, Allen Gould, reported her missing on April 12th, 2017. He stated that he last saw her on April 10th. He claimed she had left her phone behind because it was updating. Investigators pointed out that it was actually Anna’s co-workers who first reported her missing to police, a day before her husband.

Anna's car was found about a month after her disappearance near a local walking trail, investigators reported.

Eight years later, Anna's husband, 60-year-old Allen Gould, was arrested and charged with her murder.

Court records show Gould has been charged with first and third degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and more.

Dig deeper:

On Wednesday, Chester County officials said state police determined Anna’s normal life routine stopped on March 29th, 2017 and the last time anyone physically saw her or heard her voice was on March 28th.

Among the key evidence, the DA says, Anna’s Audi was discovered near the home within a two-mile driving distance, but an internal search of the car’s data found that it had never been driven or even started on April 10th, as Gould stated.

Charging documents say Gould also visited an online article about the legal definition of strangulation in Pennsylvania.

The DA says Anna’s phone had messages that were out of character, including one message to her father wishing him a happy birthday in broken Polish, despite the fact that she spoke perfect Polish.

The DA says police later found that there was a search on how to spell that message, via Google Translate.

The DA says they also uncovered documents, including divorce papers in the home and interviewed witnesses that described a difficult marriage despite Gould telling them otherwise.

And, most importantly, the DA says investigators learned it was completely uncharacteristic of the devoted mother and sister to completely stop speaking to her family and abandon her son, who was only a few years old at the time.

What they're saying:

Chester County District Attorney Chris de Barrena stated, "It’s not just about prosecuting people because we have strong feeling that they did it. We have to prove our case beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law and we do that in a case as expansive as this, we have to make sure that we’ve covered all of our bases. We intend to show the jury that this relationship was in trouble and the defendant knew that."

"After eight years, we finally see the result of it, so it’s a huge relief for me," former co-worker and friend, Ellen Lee, said. "I was just trusting the system that eventually he would get arrested, hopefully in my lifetime and it has been, so I’m happy here."

Another friend, Nicole Kelly, stated, "Never, never stopped. Always knew this day would come. Hoped it would be in my lifetime, so happy."