Mystery over missing mom Ana Walshe’s ‘big surprise’ for New Year after she sold big assets for cash

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Three days before Ana Walshe was reported missing, she and her husband Brian told their longterm tenants they were abruptly selling their rental property.

Mike Silva told CBS Boston it felt like a personal betrayal as he had been led to believe the Walshes would eventually sell the apartment they had lived in for four years in Revere, Massachusetts, to he and his fiancée Mandi.

Ms Walshe, 39, was last seen in the early hours of 1 January at her home in Cohasset, Massachusetts.

Friends told NBC Washington that she had been rushing to get rid of assets including an apartment and her car in late-December and had promised “a big surprise” in the New Year.

Mandi Silva said that Ms Walshe seemed off in the months leading up to her disappearance.

“Nothing is adding up,” she told NBC Washington.

When the couple told the Silvas that they were selling off all of their assets, they had a heated argument, Mike Silva said.

After cooling off, he sent Brian Walshe a text wishing him a happy new year.

Mr Silva received a reply on 2 January. “It said ‘happy new year, sorry for the delay. I misplaced my phone and my son just found it.’”

There was no mention that his wife was missing, he told CBS Boston.

It’s unclear why Ms Walshe began selling off her assets, and police are yet to comment on the mystery.

Mr Walshe, a convicted arts fraudster, reported his wife missing on 4 January, telling police he last saw her when she left for the airport on New Year’s Day. He was arrested on 8 January and charged with misleading the police investigation.

Investigators said in a criminal complaint they had found blood and a knife in the basement of the couple’s Cohasset home. Police discovered bloodied clothes and a hacksaw at a nearby trash site.

Prosecutors also say Mr Walshe spent $450 at Home Depot on cleaning supplies on 2 January.

The couple’s three young children have been placed with protective services.

A prayer vigil for Ms Walshe is being in the Cohasset Town Common at 12.30pm on Thursday.