A search for a missing Massachusetts mother led to the discovery of blood and a bloodstained knife in the basement of her home, a prosecutor said Monday, after the woman’s husband was arrested for allegedly misleading an investigation of the traffic police.
Brian Walshe, 46, was held by a judge on Monday on $500,000 cash bail after authorities accused him of being “fake” and obstructing the search for his wife, Ana Walshe, 39, of Cohasset, went missing in January. 4.
The father-of-three gave police conflicting accounts of her whereabouts and on January 2, a day after he told detectives he had last seen her at the house, he was seen buying cleaning products worth 450 pounds. A subsequent search of the home by crime scene officials found blood and the knife in the basement, First Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Lynn M. Beland told a Quincy District Court judge during Monday’s hearing.
“These various statements caused a delay in the investigation,” said Beland, who said he gave Brian Walshe time to “clean up the evidence (or) dispose of the evidence.”
Brian Walshe pleaded not guilty to the charge and his defense team told the judge he had been “unbelievably cooperative” with law enforcement and consented to searches of his home and interviews with police.
Ana Walshe was reported missing on Jan. 4 by both her husband and her employer in Washington, DC, where she has a second office and an apartment, after she failed to show up for work that day, police said.
Brian Walshe told investigators he last saw his wife around 6 a.m. on Jan. 1 when she left to fly to Washington because of a work emergency. He said he used a shuttle service to get to the airport and was still in bed when he left, police said.
Boston Globe via Getty Images
However, there is no evidence that he used a shuttle service that morning, and investigators discovered that he had a plane ticket to Washington for January 3 that he did not use. His cell phone also rang from his Cohasset home on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2, Beland told the judge.
Brian Walshe told investigators that after his wife left on Jan. 1, he had a babysitter follow his children on the way to his mother’s home in Swampscott, which is about 32 miles north of Cohasset, according to a copy of the police affidavit.
It should have taken the driver about an hour, he said, but he forgot his cell phone and got lost without GPS, adding about 30 minutes to his trip. After seeing her mother, she said she ran errands for her at a nearby Whole Foods and CVS, although surveillance footage does not confirm she visited either store. The purchase receipts from both stores were also not found, Beland said.
The next day, he was seen at a Home Depot store, where surveillance caught him buying mops, buckets, duct tape, rags and other cleaning equipment, Beland said. He wore a surgical mask and gloves during the purchase, which he made with cash, according to the affidavit.
Brian Walshe was on probation at the time of his wife’s disappearance after being convicted in federal court of wire fraud. That meant he could only leave his home at pre-approved times, police said in the arrest affidavit. The federal charges are related to allegations in 2018 that he sold fake Andy Warhol paintings on eBay, WCVB in Boston reported.
He was approved to travel Sunday to care for his mother, but cellphone evidence showing his subsequent trip to the Brockton and Abington areas — about 20 miles southwest of Cohasset — was not approved, which authorities noted it could be a probation violation, according to the data. custody
Police pointed out that inconsistencies over his whereabouts delayed their investigation and risked damaging evidence, including surveillance footage, because video tapes can be recorded over time.
“The fact that he was asked a specific question and gave a false answer that drove investigators away from the area caused a clear delay in the search for the missing person, Ana Walshe,” the affidavit states. “[Brian] Walshe intentionally made the false statement, knowing that investigators would have to travel and confirm these claims.”
via the Associated Press
Brian Walshe’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The missing persons case has since led authorities to waste facilities in the area, according to local reports.
Investigators searching a garbage facility in Peabody, a facility about 40 miles north of Cohasset, found garbage bags with blood, a hatchet, a saw, carpet and used cleaning products, CBS Boston said, citing sources unidentified.
Another search Monday of a recycling center in Wareham, about 45 miles south of Cohasset, turned up nothing, the station said, noting that the facility turns trash into electricity, so anything a few days ago was probably destroyed.
Cohasset investigators and Massachusetts State Police said Tuesday they have completed the search of the couple’s Cohasset home and no further public updates are expected. He is due back in court on February 9.
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