Ana Walshe’s husband, Brian, charged with murder: Missing woman’s body still not found
Brian Walshe has been charged with the murder of his wife, missing Cohasset, Massachusetts woman Ana Walshe, according to Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey.
Authorities have not released any information regarding the whereabouts of Ana Walshe’s body nor of how they reached the conclusion that she was dead.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office announced Brian Walshe’s murder charge in a YouTube video released Tuesday afternoon.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office has not yet responded to MassLive’s request for comment.
“Early in the investigation, the police developed probable cause to believe that her husband, Brian Walshe… had misled police investigators of material matters important to the search for Ana Walshe. He has pled not guilty to those charges, and is currently being held at the Norfolk County House of Correction,” Morrissey stated in a video release.
Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office officials stated that Walshe was to be transported to Quincy District Court on Wednesday to be arraigned on the murder warrant.
Additional details in the investigation and the evidence in support of those charges are likely to be presented during Walshe’s arraignment, according to District Attorney Morrissey.
“This marks the second allegation of domestic violence and homicide in Norfolk County in less than a month. Our thoughts are very much with the family these crimes have left behind,” the district attorney added.
Ana Walshe, 39, is believed by police to have gone missing in the early hours of Jan. 1. She has not been seen since that day, and was reported missing by her place of employment in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 4 when she did not show up for work.
Walshe’s husband, Brian Walshe, 46, was arrested on Sunday, Jan. 8, and charged with misleading a police investigation. Prosecutors in court on Monday, Jan. 9 stated Brian Walshe lied to police about his whereabouts during the timeframe of Ana Walshe’s disappearance, including the fact that surveillance footage shows him purchasing hundreds of dollars of cleaning supplies, along with mops, tarps and tapes at Home Depot on Jan. 2.
Prosecutors also stated that blood and a bloody knife were found in the basement of the Cohasset home during their investigation. Brian Walshe is currently being held for a $500,000 bail, and is expected to appear in court again in February.
News outlets, including WCVB and NBC Boston, reported Tuesday that investigators on Ana Walshe’s case had been at a trash transfer station in Peabody, where officials were combing through a dump truck of garbage at a time, sorting materials onto a tarp.
It was reported a blood-soaked rug, hacksaw and hatchet were found in the trash at the Peabody site, according to NBC Boston and other outlets.
The outlets also reported a search at the Swampscott apartment complex where Brian Walshe’s mother lives resulted in the removal of a dumpster in the complex. The dumpster is involved in the search, the outlets stated, and had been taped off as a crime scene.
A release from the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office stated Massachusetts State Police and detectives from Cohasset Police conducted a search north of Boston on Monday, Jan. 9, which “resulted in a number of items being collected,” stated Morrissey. The items found will be processed and tested to see if they are of “evidentiary value” to the investigation, the district attorney continued, but no other information on the items collected is to be shared.