The husband of Ana Walshe, who went missing in the early hours of Jan. 1, made an unexplained trip the next day to Home Depot, where he spent $450 on cleaning supplies, prosecutors said Monday.
Bail for Brian Walshe, 46, was set at $500,000 at his arraignment Monday morning in Quincy District Court. He has pleaded not guilty to a charge of misleading the police investigation into the disappearance of his wife, a 39-year-old executive at Tishman Speyer in Washington, D.C.
Prosecutors said Brian Walshe is under house arrest while awaiting sentencing on an unrelated art fraud, and he told police he left the house on Jan. 2 only to take one of the couple’s three sons out for ice cream. Instead, prosecutors allege, he went to a nearby Home Depot in Rockland and bought mops, tarps, tape, buckets, and drop cloths.
He showed up at the store wearing a mask, gloves, and paid in cash, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained Monday by The Daily Beast.
Crime scene investigators also found blood in the basement of the family’s Cohasset home, along with a knife that was damaged with blood on it, prosecutors said Monday.
Ana’s last known location was the couple’s house around 4 a.m. on New Year’s Day, prosecutors said. That’s when the real estate exec had planned to catch a rideshare to the airport so she could return to D.C. for a “work emergency.”
It was revealed Monday, however, that Ana likely never made it into a car.
Ana’s cell phone pinged in her house as recently as Jan. 2—a detail prosecutors suggested is proof she never got into a rideshare.
Brian Walshe told cops his side of the story after police conducted a wellbeing check for Ana on Jan. 4. However, the probable cause affidavit poked several holes in his outline of his activities last week.
Walshe allegedly told cops he drove to his mom’s house in a nearby city on Jan. 1 but got lost because he didn’t bring his phone with him, the affidavit said. On that same trip, he claimed he made stops at Whole Foods and CVS, but prosecutors say security cameras didn’t record him at either business, and there were no receipts to prove he’d been there.
Walshe was first captured on camera on Jan. 2, when he allegedly made his big purchase at Home Depot.
When asked about what he did on Jan. 2, Walshe allegedly told investigators he only left the house to take his oldest son for ice cream.
That alleged misdirection has led prosecutors to believe it was a ploy by Walshe to buy time for cleaning up a crime scene.
“These various statements caused a delay in the investigation,” Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland said Monday. “…That allowed him time to either clean up evidence, dispose of evidence, and causing a delay.”
Brian Walshe’s defense attorney, Tracy Miner, argued Monday that her client has worked with police and even reported his wife missing to Tishman Speyer.
“He has been incredibly cooperative,” she said.
Dozens of cops have scoured the woods near the Walshes’ home, as well as a stream and a pool, but have not found any trace of Ana.
The latest charges aren’t Walshe’s only run-in with the law. He pleaded guilty in 2021 to wire fraud and other charges after the FBI busted him selling fake Andy Warhol artworks on eBay.
Walshe appeared poised to avoid jail time in that case, but prosecutors switched gears and are now seeking 30 months after he was accused of embezzling funds from his father’s estate while he was out on bail.
Walshe was smiling as he was escorted out of the courtroom Monday morning in handcuffs.
