COHASSET, Mass. (WPRI) — As the search continues for the mother of three who disappeared on New Year’s Day, Cohasset residents gathered Thursday to pray for her safe return.
The vigil at Cohasset Town Common was held as the investigation into her disappearance keeps taking grim turns.
For a week, investigators have searched for the 39-year-old and it seems like one tragic detail after another has emerged.
Her husband, Brian Walshe, is currently being held on $500,000 cash bail on a charge of misleading a police investigation.
A bloody knife was found in the couple’s basement, Brian Walshe was seen buying hundreds of dollars worth of cleaning supplies the day after Ana Walshe was last seen, and possible evidence was found at a transfer station in Peabody.
CNN has also reported Brian Walshe’s online search history includes dismemberment and “how to dispose of a 115-pound woman’s body.”
The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families said the couple’s three children are currently in state custody.
Every new development has made it harder for the community to take in.
“It’s okay to have questions, it’s okay to be angry or upset or afraid, but to take that to come together helping each other and relying on each other and of course doing it with the help and the strength that comes from God that we can’t do this on our own,” Father Will Sexton of St. Anthony’s Parish said.
Zakary Purcell, who works at Atlantic Bagel & Deli, tells 12 News Ana Walshe was a regular at the shop.
Purcell said she typically bought bagels for her three young boys.
“It’s been emotional,” Purcell said. “People come in feeling all types of way about the case, and it’s just sad overall.”
“She was happy, she was great with the kids,” he continued. “I never suspected anything [was wrong].”
