Brian Walshe, the husband of missing wife Ana Walshe, has been charged with murdering her. Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey made the announcement on Tuesday.
Ana, 39, was reported missing from her home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, on Jan. 4, but prosecutors said she was missing since on or about New Year’s Day. During the missing person case, police accused Brian Walshe, 47, of lying to them about his whereabouts, thereby distracting them during the investigation because they, as a matter of course, had to verify his location during Ana’s disappearance.
Authorities have said that they found a bloody knife in the family’s basement. Brian Walshe allegedly spent $450 on cleaning supplies from Home Deport on Jan. 2.
“Investigators later discovered video evidence of Walshe at the Home Depot in Rockland, wearing a black surgical mask, blue surgical gloves, and making a cash purchase,” police wrote in an affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. “This trip was made in violation of his probation conditions during the time he is allotted to pick up his kids from school.”
Brian Walshe was on house arrest, pending federal sentencing for illegally offering Warhol paintings for sale. Online records show he pleaded guilty in 2021 to wire fraud, interstate transportation for a scheme to defraud, and unlawful monetary transaction. A count of possession of converted goods will be dropped after his sentencing, authorities said.
With all that hanging over him, he had to stay at home and could only leave at specific times for specific reasons and places. Home Depot in Rockland, Massachusetts, on Jan. 2 did not count. Furthermore, cell phone data allegedly showed that his device was in the areas of Brockton and Abington during the week beginning Jan. 1, 2023.
“The itinerary for WALSHE’s leave from home does not include such towns for approved travel,” they said.
Cohasset police have said that they discovered Ana Walshe was missing when they performed a welfare check on her Jan. 4. Brian Walshe allegedly claimed that they hosted a friend for dinner on New Year’s Eve. That friend arrived at around 8:30 p.m. and left at about 1 a.m. or 1:30 a.m., the defendant said in documents. The couple went to bed shortly after, Brian allegedly said.
Ana Walshe appears in a photo that police released during her missing person’s case. On left, officers are taking her husband Brian Walshe out of the police station after his arrest for allegedly misleading them in their search for Ana. (Image of Ana Walshe via Cohasset Police Department; screenshot of her husband via CBS Boston)
Ana “was texting with friends,” he said. “She was sitting next to me at the barstool at their kitchen. There was absolutely no indication that any modicum of a tragedy, of disappearance, or anything else could have happened that night.”
Brian allegedly claimed Ana had to leave home early morning New Year’s Day because of a work emergency — she was an executive at a Washington D.C.-based real estate management company.
“WALSHE related Ana got ready and kissed him goodbye and told him to go back to sleep,” authorities said. “Ana will usually then take an Uber, Lyft, or Taxi to the airport. Ana left between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m.”
Defendant Walshe said that he went later that day to his mother’s home in Swampscott, Massachusetts, documents said. He allegedly claimed not to have his cell phone, and suggested that one of his sons must have taken and lost it some time on New Year’s Eve or Day.
Walshe maintained that he left his mother’s home to run errands for her at a Whole Foods and CVS. But police said they did not find him on surveillance footage at the Whole Foods or CVS in the time frame he claimed to have been there.
As for the phone. Walshe allegedly maintained that he found it under a pillow on Jan. 2.