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Murder warrant issued for husband of Massachusetts mom who went missing

Brian Walshe was previously arrested on suspicion of misleading the investigation into his wife’s disappearance from a wealthy Boston suburb around New Year’s Day.
/ Source: NBC News

Massachusetts prosecutors on Tuesday issued a murder warrant for Brian Walshe in the death of his wife, Ana Walshe, who disappeared from a wealthy Boston suburb around New Year’s Day.

Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey announced the charge, but did not disclose details on what led investigators to the decision. Brian Walshe was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of misleading the investigation and remains in police custody.

He pleaded not guilty plea to misleading investigators and is expected to be arraigned Wednesday on the murder charge. His attorney, Tracy Miner, declined to comment on the murder warrant Tuesday.

Ana Walshe.
Ana Walshe was last seen in her home on New Year's Day.via Cohasset Police

“Additional details of the investigation and the evidence in support of those charges are likely to be presented at arraignment but will not be disclosed at this time,” Morrissey said. Ana Walshe was last seen in her home early Jan. 1 before she took a ride-share from her Cohasset home to Boston’s Logan Airport, police in the suburb previously said. She was simultaneously reported missing by her husband and employer three days later.

It’s unclear who provided the details of her last known location, when she was allegedly leaving for a work emergency.

Her cellphone has been turned off since the beginning of the year, police said, and she has not left an electronic footprint since her disappearance.

The day after her disappearance, Brian Walshe allegedly purchased $450 of goods that included cleaning supplies, mops and tape from a nearby Home Depot, prosecutors said last week. 

Authorities also said they found blood and a damaged blood-stained knife in the Walshe’s home basement. 

Police said Jan. 6 that investigators were not able to independently confirm Ana Walshe got into or even booked a car service on New Year’s Day. She did, however, have a flight booked for Jan. 3 from Boston to Washington, D.C., police said.

Metropolitan police in D.C. were unable to find her, police said.

Authorities have not disclosed who offered the details of her leaving her home for the airport, stating only that it was a “family member.” Brian Walshe was sleeping at the time she allegedly left the house, which was around 4 a.m.

Cohasset police conducted a two-day ground search of the area around her home in conjunction with state police, NBC Boston reported.

Ana Walshe’s friend, Evan Turell, told the news station that it was completely unlike her to go a day without contacting her husband and children.

“This is honestly just really mind-boggling, and gut-wrenching,” Turell said. “There’s no words.”

Before Ana and Brian were married, she accused him of threatening to kill her in 2014, according to a report filed with D.C. police. The report didn’t identify him, but an agency spokesperson confirmed he was the person accused of threatening Ana Walshe over the phone.

The case was closed after a lack of cooperation from the victim and no charges were filed, the spokesperson said.

Brian Walshe was also previously involved in a federal wire fraud case, pleading guilty to three counts in 2021, Reuters reported. He stole Andy Warhol paintings from a college roommate, then commissioned forgeries of them.

Court documents show that Brian Walshe was ordered to forfeit $225,000, but does not yet appear to have been sentenced to any prison time in that case.

In 2018, after Brian Walshe’s father died, he was involved in a bitter probate battle over his father’s oceanside home in Hull, Massachusetts, NBC Boston reported.

Image: Brian Walshe, of Cohasset, Mass., faces a Quincy Court judge charged with impeding the investigation into his wife Ana' disappearance from their home, on Jan. 9, 2023.
Brian Walshe, of Cohasset, Mass., faces a Quincy Court judge charged with impeding the investigation into his wife Ana's disappearance from their home, on Jan. 9, 2023.Greg Derr / The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool

Family and friends testified in the case that he was written out of the will and was accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of his father’s money.

Fred Pescatore, a friend of Brian Walshe’s father, said in a sworn affidavit that he saw Brian Walshe attempt to smuggle antiquities out of China while on a trip together.

“When Brian was confronted, he picked up a stanchion and literally attempted to kill four or five guards that had come to talk to him about his crime,” the affidavit said. “Brian is not only a sociopath but also a very angry and physically violent person.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.