MARKLE, Ind. (WISH) — Authorities on Monday were searching for a 37-year-old man accused of murdering the 72-year-old grandmother he lived with in Huntington County.

Bernice D. Eubanks was found stabbed to death Sunday night in her home in the 4100 block of East County Road 300 South. That’s in a rural area about 3 miles southwest of the town of Markle, and about a 35-minute drive southwest of Fort Wayne.

An arrest warrant on a preliminary charge of murder was issued Monday in Huntington Circuit Court for Anthony Castleman, online records show. Investigators were told he had fled the county and was trying to get out of the state, perhaps going to Kentucky.

The Huntington County Coroner’s Office believes Eubanks had been dead for “a period of time” before she was found. A deputy coroner said she died of “sharp force injuries sustained as a result of an attack on her person.”

Court documents say Eubanks’ daughter contacted the sheriff’s office after going to her mother’s home and finding items out of place. The daughter also noticed a missing section of rug near the fireplace, which she later found covered in blood behind a shed outside the home. She’d also found her mother’s purse in the driveway.

Eubanks’ body was later found about 6 p.m. Sunday along the east side of a small barn outside the home. Her body was under some carpet and pieces of lattice. Her home’s front entry had lattice. A fixed-blade knife that appeared to be clean was also found wrapped up with her body.

Investigators were told that Castleman had contacted a cousin on Saturday at the cousin’s home, and Castleman asked if the cousin could help clean up a mess and if the cousin had any bleach. The cousin declined to help.

Castleman was at the cousin’s home for about an hour Saturday before he was picked up by someone in a gold or silver car, the cousin said.

The cousin told the daughter that Castleman had indicated “he will be going to prison for a long time,” court documents say.

The cousin on Sunday received a call from Castleman, who said he was in Lexington, Kentucky. The phone number on the call was listed as “restricted,” the cousin said. He also told investigators that his recent call history on his phone had inexplicably disappeared.

Anyone with information on Castleman’s whereabouts was asked to not approach him, Instead, authorities asked anyone with information to call 911, or contact Detective Capt. Malcom Jones or Detective Dylan Lagonegro with the Huntington County Sheriff’s Office or Detective Matt Teusch with the Indiana State Police at 260-356-2520.