Brian Walshe, husband of missing woman Ana Walshe, charged with murder
Mother of three, 39, disappeared on New Year’s Day in Cohasset, Massachusetts
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Brian Walshe, the husband of missing Massachusetts woman Ana Walshe, has been charged with murder over two weeks after her New Year’s disappearance.
Michael Morrissey, the Norfolk District Attorney, said in a video statement on Tuesday that his office has “been involved in an intensive investigation into the fate of Anna Walshe” since she was reported missing on 4 January.
The DA added that earlier in the probe, police found sufficient evidence “to believe that her husband Brian Walshe, age 47, had misled police investigators on material matters important to the search for Anna Walshe”.
“He has pled not guilty to those charges and is currently being held at the Norfolk County House of Corrections,” Mr Morrissey said. “The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with the murder of his wife.”
Mr Morrissey added that Mr Walshe “will be transported to the Quincy District Court for arraignment [on] the charge of murder”.
“The evidence in support of those charges is likely to be presented at arraignment but will not be disclosed at this time,” the DA said.
The office of Norfolk County District Attorney revealed that the arraignment may take place at 9am ET on Wednesday, CNN reported.
In a press release, the office said the arraignment is “dependent on defense attorney availability”.
“Our thoughts are very much with the family these crimes have left behind,” the DA said.
Ms Walshe was last spotted two weeks ago, on the first day of the new year. She was reported missing a few days later.
The mother of three was supposed to have commuted back to Washington DC, where she worked for a high-end real estate company, on New Year’s Day.
But police say that there is no evidence she ever took a ride-share to Boston’s Logan Airport as planned and she has not been seen since the early hours of 1 January.
When she was reported missing on 4 January, a police search was launched in and around the family’s property in Cohasset, Massachusetts, as well as their home in Washington’s Chevy Chase neighbourhood.
Her husband, a convicted art fraudster, was arrested on 8 January on charges of hindering the police investigation after prosecutors say that traces of blood and a knife were found in the basement of her family home.
It later emerged that Mr Walshe searched the internet for “how to dispose of a 115-pound woman’s body”, two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation told CNN, and bought $450 of items that included cleaning supplies, mops and tape from a nearby Home Depot store on 2 January.
The case took an even darker turn after Mr Walshe’s arrest as investigators began searching a trash transfer station - and reportedly recovered blood, a hatchet and a hacksaw.
Ms Walshe was born in Belgrade, Serbia, and was working at the Wheatleigh Hotel in Lenox when she met Mr Walshe in 2008. After their 2015 marriage, they had three sons between two and six years old.
The couple’s three young boys were placed in the care of the Department of Children and Families following Mr Walshe’s arrest.
They also claim that Brian Walshe allegedly bought $450 of items that included cleaning supplies, mops and tape from a nearby Home Depot store on 2 January.
A criminal affidavit in the case states that Mr Walshe told police that he last saw his wife at their home early on January 1 when she took an Uber or Lyft to the airport.
He also told authorities that he went to a Whole Foods and CVS in Swampscott, Massachusetts, 40-miles away, on 1 January and took his child to get ice cream the following day.
The affidavit states that police did not find that any Uber or Lift ride had taken place on New Year’s Day, and she never took a flight to DC or arrived in the city by any other means of transport.
Prosecutors also say they reviewed video footage of Whole Foods and CVS and did not see Mr Walshe at either location when he said he was there.
“These various statements caused a delay in the investigation to the point that during the time frame when he didn’t report his wife and gave various statements, that allowed him time to either clean up evidence, dispose of evidence, and causing a delay,” prosecutor Lynn Beland said.
A not-guilty plea was entered for Mr Walshe on the charge of misleading the authorities and he was released on $500,000 bail before the announcement of the murder charge on Tuesday.