Wednesday marks a full week since Cohasset, Massachusetts woman Ana Walshe was first reported missing to police, and in those seven days, the case has gone from a seemingly straightforward missing person investigation, to a desperate effort to locate Walshe amid nationwide concern and allegations against her husband, Brian Walshe.
Ana Walshe hasn't been seen since the early morning hours of New Year's Day, and her husband now faces a criminal charge in the investigation, accused of misleading police amid their search.
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Prosecutors said during his arraignment that he lied to police about his whereabouts following his wife's last reported sighting. The state also said that blood and a knife were found in the family's home, and Walshe was seen in a Home Depot, buying hundreds of dollars in cleaning supplies.
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Since Walshe's court appearance Monday, attention has turned to the ongoing search for clues in the case, as detectives sift through garbage and uncover potential evidence.
Meanwhile, Walshe's criminal charge has thrust his past in the spotlight, with prior allegations involving family falling-outs and phony artwork now under a public microscope.
Latest on the Search for Ana Walshe
In one of several new developments announced Tuesday, the Norfolk District Attorney's Office said that search activity conducted north of Boston on Monday in connection with the disappearance of Walshe has resulted in a number of items being collected, which will now be processed and tested to see if they are of any value as evidence.
Sources confirmed to the NBC10 Boston Investigators Tuesday that included among the items found during the search of the trash facility in Peabody are a hacksaw, bloody materials including towels, and materials consistent with some of the items Brian Walshe allegedly purchased at Home Depot.
Meanwhile, law enforcement searched a second Massachusetts waste facility Tuesday. A representative for the waste-to-energy Southeastern Massachusetts Resource Recovery Facility in West Wareham confirmed the search in connection with Ana Walshe's disappearance.
The processing of the family's Cohasset home was completed by Tuesday afternoon, with police leaving the scene, prosecutors said later.
More Details Emerge on Brian Walshe's Past
The NBC10 Boston Investigators have learned more about Brian Walshe's history amid the probe to locate his missing wife.
Court records and conversations with family friends point to a history of money problems and estrangement.
According to court documents filed in Plymouth Probate & Family Court and family members that spoke with the NBC10 Investigators, Brian allegedly took off with hundreds of thousands of dollars of his father’s money.
“And the day he got that check at the closing was the last time his father spoke to him. He just disappeared off the face of the earth. And his father was in shock,” a family friend said.
That didn’t stop Brian from trying to file legal action to take control of his father’s estate after his death, when friends learned the property in Hull had mysteriously gone up for sale.
"Brian had emptied the house completely of all the goods, expensive Persian carpets, Kandinskys, and other expensive artifacts and staged it for sale," the family friend said.
In one affidavit a longtime friend wrote:
“I even went on a trip to China with Brian and Tom and my partner at the time. I witnessed firsthand what Brian was capable of. I saw Brian attempt to smuggle out antiquities from China. 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. Brian is not only a sociopath but also a very angry and physically violent person.”
Walshe was already on probation and home confinement when his wife disappeared, after pleading guilty to federal charges for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings on eBay.
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