Crime

How police say Brian Walshe misled the Ana Walshe missing person investigation

Brian Walshe also purchased hundreds of dollars worth of cleaning supplies, authorities said.

Brian Walshe, of Cohasset, faces a Quincy Court judge on Monday. Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool

updated on January 10, 2023

Ana Walshe:

Watch: Brian Walshe’s arraignment for allegedly misleading police
Brian Walshe, husband of missing Cohasset woman Ana Walshe, arrested for misleading police. A timeline of the case.
What we know so far about the disappearance of Ana Walshe, the missing mother from Cohasset

In their search for Ana Walshe, the 39-year-old Cohasset mother last seen on Jan. 1, investigators discovered blood and a bloody, damaged knife in the basement of her home, prosecutors said in Quincy District Court on Monday.

The detail emerged during the arraignment of Walshe’s husband, Brian Walshe, 47, who is charged with misleading a police investigation as his wife’s whereabouts remained unknown.

Authorities alleged Monday Brian Walshe made several false statements about his own whereabouts last week that delayed the investigation.

He pleaded not guilty and was held on $500,000 cash bail.

Brian Walshe was arrested Sunday, a week after his wife was reportedly supposed to take a ride share to Logan Airport to hop on a flight to Washington, D.C. for work, as she does weekly, police said. She initially had a ticket for a Jan. 3 flight but police were told she intended to leave days earlier due to a work-related emergency, authorities said.

But Ana Walshe, a property management executive in the nation’s capital city, never boarded a plane and police have so far found no record of her entering any vehicle, investigators have said.

A family member saw her at home early that morning, although Brian Walshe was asleep at the time, police said last week.

She is described as 5 feet, 2 inches tall, and weighing 115 pounds.

Law enforcement officials say she has brown hair, brown eyes, and “an olive complexion.” Walshe is believed to speak with an Eastern European accent.

What prosecutors said

On Monday, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland said Brian Walshe told investigators he left his house on Jan. 1 to visit his mother in Swampscott but that it “took him a lot longer because he got lost.”

He furthermore told police he made stops at Whole Foods and CVS locations, but police found no surveillance footage or receipts proving he actually did, Beland said.

“These statements caused a lot of delay as part of the investigation as police now were focusing on the North Shore,” she said.

Brian Walshe also allegedly told police he took his son out for ice cream on Jan. 2.

But investigators found, through video surveillance footage, that sometime after 4 p.m. that day, he went to Home Depot in Rockland, where he bought approximately $450 worth of cleaning supplies, including mops, a bucket, tarps, drop cloths, and other materials, prosecutors said.

“During the timeframe when he didn’t report his wife (missing) and gave various statements, that allowed him time to either clean up evidence or dispose of evidence,” Beland said. “As of this time, Ana Walshe has not been found.”

Both instances of Brian Walshe leaving his home are also apparent violations of the conditions of his house arrest after he pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2021 for scamming a California buyer by selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings for $80,000.

Through a search warrant, police found the blood and the bloody knife in the basement of the couple’s home, authorities said. Prosecutors did not provide further details of the discovery in court.

Investigators, as of Friday, said they had found no digital history for Ana Walshe since she went missing, with no transactions posted from her credit and debit cards, and no cell phone records.

According to Beland, investigators were able to ping Ana Walshe’s cell phone location “in the area of her house” on Jan. 1 and 2, although Brian Walshe had told police his wife left on New Year’s Day.

What Brian Walshe’s attorney said

Tracey Miner, an attorney representing Brian Walshe, said her client has been “incredibly cooperative” with the investigation.

Miner confirmed Ana Walshe’s D.C.-based employer contacted police on Jan. 4 “as a result of Brian Walshe contacting the employer to say, ‘I haven’t heard from my wife.’”

“Mr. Walshe has given several interviews,” Miner said. “We have consented to searches of his home. We have consented to searches on his property. We have consented to searches of his cell phone.”

Miner also acknowledged Brian Walshe went to Home Depot on Jan. 2, but added he is on home confinement because of his federal crime and wears a tracking bracelet.

“He’s been in the house, with police, almost 12 hours a day. I’ve been at the house with him, with police, for at least eight hours a day … Friday and Saturday I was at his house for at least eight hours with police officers present,” Miner said. “So it’s not that he’s been there changing evidence or somehow impeding the investigation.”

Miner requested no bail or a low bail be set, as should Brian Walshe be released, he would be held by federal authorities for violating his home arrest anyway.

But Judge Mark Coven promptly set bail at $500,000 cash or $5 million surety at prosecutors’ request. Brian Walshe is due back in court on Feb. 9.