COHASSET, Mass. (WPRI) — The husband of a Massachusetts woman who has not been seen since New Year’s Day appeared in court Monday morning.
Brian Walshe, 46, was arraigned on a charge of misleading a police investigation in connection with the disappearance of his wife, 39-year-old Ana Walshe.
Prosecutors said detectives found blood, as well as a knife with some blood on it, in the couple’s basement.
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Brian Walshe said that, on Jan. 2, he only left his home to take his son to get ice cream, according to prosecutors, however, surveillance video showed him at a home improvement store where he allegedly bought hundreds of dollars’ worth of cleaning supplies.
He was ordered held on $500,000 cash bail and is due back in court at a later date.
“These various statements caused a delay in the investigation to the point during the time frame everywhere he didn’t report his wife and gave various statements that allowed him time to clean up evidence or dispose evidence,” Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland said.
Now the investigation has shifted to a trash transfer station in Peabody. Investigators were seen outside Brian Walshe’s mother’s home on Monday in Swampscott, eventually towing the dumpster from there to the Peabody Transfer Station.
Investigators and a police K-9 were seen canvassing the area and combing through the trash.
Ana Walshe was last seen by a relative early on Jan. 1, when it was presumed she was headed to the airport to go to Washington, D.C., but investigators couldn’t confirm she actually boarded a flight.
Her cellphone has not been used and there has been no activity on her credit or debit cards, police said. Her phone last pinged at the couple’s home on Jan. 2, according to prosecutors.
Ana Walshe’s former home in Cohasset went up in flames last Friday, however, the cause has since been deemed accidental and unrelated to her disappearance.
Brian Walshe was on home confinement awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to several charges related to a 2018 fraud case.