Brian Walshe, the husband of Ana Walshe, 39, who disappeared on New Year’s Day after failing to catch a work flight to Washington D.C. is a convicted art swindler
Brian Walshe, 49, the convicted art swindler husband of missing real estate executive Ana Walshe, has been charged with misleading police in their search for his wife and 39-year-old mother of three.
Ana disappeared on New Year’s Day after failing to board a flight from Massachusetts to Washington, where she works.
She has not used her phone or credit cards since disappearing and has not shown up for work.
Her friends say that her disappearance is out of character, as she would never abandon her three young sons.
Brian Walshe initially told police that he was asleep when Ana ordered a rideshare from their home in Cohasset to Logan International Airport in Boston however, police have now arrested him.
They had initially said that Brian was cooperating with the investigation but things suddenly changed on Sunday night.
He is set to be arraigned on Monday. It is not yet clear what additional information may be revealed at his arraignment.
‘Additional facts may or may not be entered into the record at that time,’ police said.
Brian Walshe, 49, is seen driving away from the Cohasset, Massachusetts, home where he, his wife, Ana, and their three children lived until the mother-of-three’s disappearance on New Year’s Day
A gray Volvo with the Walshe children was also seen heading out of the Walshe property on Sunday It is believed that they were escorted away by close family friends or relatives
Earlier on Sunday, camera-shy Brian appeared to be driving a red Volkswagen away from the home in Cohasset – a 45-minute drive south of Boston – a week after his wife’s disappearance.
The couple’s three children were given a ride in a separate vehicle, a gray Volvo, by people believed to be friends or family. Authorities appeared to have returned to the Walshe’s home on Sunday to dig through the contents.
Detectives from Cohasset and the State Police had also been investigating in Washington D.C., where Ana worked for real estate behemoth, Tishman Speyer.
The mother-of-three boys between the ages of 2 and 6, who is of Serbian descent, was reported missing in the small Massachusetts town of roughly 8,600 people on Wednesday by her husband and her employer.
The ground search for 39-year-old Ana has stopped a week after she was supposed to catch a flight to Washington D.C. from Boston Logan International Airport
The couple owns a home in D.C. and Ana often commuted during the week for work her friends told various outlets. Ana had booked a flight to Washington for January 3 before she was ordered by her bosses to come in sooner for an unexpected work emergency.
Last seen leaving her home at about 4am on New Year’s Day, Ana caught a rideshare bound for Logan International Airport in Boston, where her flight was taking off from.
Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley said Ana never got on that plane. Friends also noticed that Ana’s normally active social media presence went silent since the first day of the new year.
In a brief statement on her disappearance, Tishman Speyer, which Ana has been a part of since said February 2022, said: ‘We are actively assisting the local authorities in their ongoing search for our beloved colleague, Ana, and are praying for her safe return.’
She is a graduate of Cornell University and worked for various US real estate companies after obtaining a degree from the University of Belgrade. She’s described as having brown hair, brown eyes, and is five-feet-two-inches tall with an estimated weight of about 115 pounds.
Ana, who is originally from Serbia, is a graduate of Cornell University and worked in he real estate development before her vanishing. Pictured with her husband, Brian, in Europe
Friends noticed that Ana’s normally active social media presence went silent all of a sudden. She regularly posted updates on her life and family on Facebook
Police said she’s left no digital footprint since she went missing, with her cell phone turned off and credit cards unused. While police searched for Ana on Friday and Saturday, there was also a fire at a home in Cohasset she owned before it was sold in March for nearly $1.4million, according to online records.
State Police and local investigators determined the cause of the fire was accidental. The current occupants escaped safely.
Ana’s husband, Brian, is awaiting sentencing in a fraud case involving the sale of two fake Andy Warhol ‘Shadow Paintings’ to a South Korea buyer for $80,000 according to court records.
Brian took the paintings from a friend and sold them on eBay, only to switch them out for fakes. On Friday, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston.
A fire was reported this week at the Walshe’s former family home in Cohasset, which was sold for $1.4million in March 2022
On Saturday, video showed investigators furiously coming through debris that had gathered at her home’s pool after they had drained it as part of the search
Cohasset police, however, have repeatedly said Walshe’s disappearance and her husband’s case seem to be two very separate things, the Boston Globe reported.
Massachusetts State Police and local police said in a joint statement that their ground search for the mother-of-three or evidence related to her disappearance concluded Saturday.
A specialized State Police unit trained in search and rescue operations, three K-9 teams and the State Police Air Wing searched wooded areas near the Walshe’s home on Saturday.
State Police divers searched a small stream and a pool but did not find anything, the statement said.
The Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council also helped with the search.
