Massachusetts prosecutors issued a murder warrant Tuesday 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 about what led investigators to the decision. Brian Walshe was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of misleading the investigation and remains in police custody.
More coverage of the disappearance of Ana Walshe
He has pleaded not guilty to misleading investigators and is expected to be arraigned Wednesday on the murder charge. His attorney, Tracy Miner, declined to comment on the murder order Tuesday.
«Additional details of the investigation and evidence in support of those charges will likely be presented at the arraignment, but will not be released at this time,» Morrissey said. Ana Walshe was last seen at her home early Jan. 1 before taking a carpool from her Cohasset home to Boston’s Logan Airport, police in the suburb previously said. Her husband and her employer simultaneously reported her missing three days later.
It is unclear who provided the details of his last known location, when he was supposedly leaving for a work emergency.
His cell phone has been turned off since the beginning of the year, police said, and he has left no electronic trace since his disappearance.
The day after she went missing, Brian Walshe allegedly purchased $450 worth of items including cleaning supplies, mops and duct tape at a nearby Home Depot, prosecutors said last week.
Authorities also said they found blood and a damaged blood-stained knife in the basement of Walshe’s home.
Police said on January 6 that investigators could not independently confirm that Ana Walshe entered or even booked a car service on New Year’s Day. However, she had a flight booked for January 3 from Boston to Washington, DC, police said.
The DC Metro Police could not find her, police said.
Authorities have not revealed who provided the details of his departure from his home to the airport, saying only that it was a «family member.» Brian Walshe was sleeping at the time he allegedly left the house, around 4 a.m.
Cohasset police conducted a two-day ground search of the area around his home in conjunction with state police. NBC Boston reported.
Ana Walshe’s friend, Evan Turell, told the news station that it was completely out of character for her to go a day without contacting her husband and children.
«Honestly, this is really mind-blowing and heartbreaking,» Turell said. «There are no words».
Before Ana and Brian were married, she accused him of threatening to kill her in 2014, according to a report filed with DC police. The report did not identify him, but an agency spokesman confirmed that he was the person accused of threatening Ana Walshe over the phone.
The case was closed after the victim’s lack of cooperation 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 and later commissioned forgeries of them.
Court documents show that Brian Walshe was ordered to forfeit $225,000, but he does not yet appear to have been sentenced to prison for that case.
In 2018, after the death of Brian Walshe’s father, he was embroiled in a bitter legal battle over his father’s seaside home in Hull, Massachusetts. NBC Boston reported.
Family and friends testified in the case that he was expunged from the will and charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of his father’s money.
Fred Pescatore, a friend of Brian Walshe’s father, said in an affidavit that he saw Brian Walshe try to smuggle antiquities out of China during a trip together.
“When Brian was confronted, he took a prop and literally tried to kill four or five guards who had come to talk to him about his crime,” the affidavit reads. «Brian is not only a sociopath, but also a very angry and physically violent person.»
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
