A Massachusetts man already facing a charge of misleading investigators in the search for his missing wife has now been charged with murder in her disappearance, a top prosecutor said Tuesday.
47-year-old Brian Walshe, the husband of missing Boston mom-of-three Ana Walshe, has been charged with murder and the improper transport of a body, the Norfolk County District Attorney announced Tuesday. He is expected to be arraigned in court Wednesday.
“The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with the murder of his wife,” said Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey.
Morrissey said additional details and evidence will likely be presented at the arraignment but are not being disclosed at this time. Prosecutors were building a case against Brian Walshe for several days before filing charges against him.
39-year-old Ana Walshe was last seen New Year’s Day, leaving her Massachusetts home to fly to Washington, D.C., where she worked and owned a condominium. She was reported missing three days later by her husband. However, the Daily Beast reports that Ana Walshe may have been reported missing by her employer before Brian Walshe.
Just four days after she was reported missing, Brian Walshe was arrested and charged with misleading police in the investigation. He was arraigned on that charge on Jan. 9 and pleaded not guilty while being held on $500,000 bond.
Court documents showed his ankle monitor, which he was mandated to wear in relation to a previous fraud conviction, showed he went to Home Depot where investigators found he purchased hundreds of dollars of cleaning supplies.
A broken and bloody knife was found in the basement of the Walshe home and investigators say additional evidence was found at a trash transfer station near Brian Walshe’s mother’s home.
Authorities are continuing to search for Ana Walshe’s remains.
Ana Walshe’s social media portrayed a curated image of an ambitious and optimistic woman living a glamorous life. But the Boston Globe reports friends noticed she seemed tense prior to her disappearance and recent Instagram photos showed her not wearing her wedding ring.
A deed showed she had sold her D.C. condo shortly before she disappeared and a police report from 2014 shows Ana Walshe told police her husband threatened to kill her. The case was eventually dropped when she refused to cooperate with investigators.
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