Prosecutor: Bloody knife found in missing Cohasset woman's home

This is a developing story and will be updated.

QUINCY − The husband of a missing Cohasset woman accused of misleading investigators violated his bail on a federal fraud conviction when he withheld information from police trying to find his wife, and a bloody knife was found in their home, according to allegations at his arraignment Monday in Quincy District Court.

Judge Mark Coven set bail at $500,000 cash for Brian Walshe, 47, the husband of Ana Walshe, who hasn't been seen since New Year's Day. Brian Walshe pleaded not guilty and was held.

A prosecutor said blood and a damaged knife with blood on it were found in the basement of the couple's Cohasset home on Chief Justice Cushing Highway.

Brian Walshe didn't tell investigators he had spent hundreds of dollars on a tarp and cleaning supplies at a store after his wife disappeared, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland said.

He told officers that he only left the couple's home the day after his wife disappeared to get ice cream for his son, but surveillance video at Home Depot in Rockland showed him buying $450 worth of cleaning supplies, including mops and drop cloths and various kinds of tape.

"He's on surveillance at that time on Jan. 2, even though he said he never left the house," Beland said. "Police obtained a search warrant and actually searched the house with crime scene services. During that time, they found blood in the basement. Blood was found in the basement area, as well as a knife, which also contained some blood."

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Brian Walshe is on probation pending sentencing in a 2021 wire fraud case in which was convicted of selling fraudulent Andy Warhol paintings. The terms of his probation include monitoring and home confinement, according to an affidavit filed by Cohasset police Detective Harrison W. Schmidt.

Walshe was arrested in 2018 and accused by federal prosecutors of stealing two Andy Warhol paintings from a former college classmate and then using them to produce knockoffs that he sold on eBay. He pleaded guilty and has been awaiting sentencing.

Beland said Walshe told investigators that his wife took a rideshare service to Logan airport on the morning of Jan. 1 to respond to a work emergency in Washington, D.C., where she works for a real estate firm. Police have determined that no Uber or other rideshare picked her up, and that Ana Walshe had purchased a plane ticket to Washington for Jan. 3, which she did not use.

Beland said Ana Walshe’s cellphone pinged at the Cohasset home Jan. 2, a day after Brian Walshe reported that she left.

Beland said Brian Walshe told investigators he went to Swampscott on the afternoon of Jan. 1 to visit his mother but got lost on the way. Walshe said that he ran errands for his mother, including trips to Whole Foods and CVS, Beland said. Investigators retraced his itinerary to corroborate his statements and allegedly found no video evidence of Walshe visiting Whole Foods or CVS.

Investigators reported they later found video evidence of Walshe wearing a black surgical mask and blue surgical gloves at the Home Depot in Rockland, where he made cash purchases of over $400 of painting supplies, including buckets, tape and other items. According to the affidavit, the trip was made “in violation of his probation conditions.”

Investigators said Walshe made unauthorized trips to Abington and Brockton during the week of Jan. 1.

Beland said Walshe’s untruthful statements to investigators “allowed him time to clean up and dispose of evidence.”

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Ana Walshe was last seen by a family member in her Cohasset home between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Jan. 1, Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley said previously. He said Walshe's cellphone, as well as her credit and debit cards, have been inactive since New Year's Day.

Police initially said she was reported missing Wednesday, simultaneously by Brian Walshe and her employer, Washington, D.C.-based real estate company Tishman Speyer. But in court Monday, Beland said the employer made the initial missing person report.

"Police were notified around Jan. 4 by her employees in Washington, D.C., that she had not shown up for work on Jan. 4. That was the first time that (police were) notified that she was missing," Beland said.

Walshe is scheduled to return to court next month. His lawyer is Tracey Miner, who said Brian Walshe “has been incredibly cooperative” by giving interviews and consenting to searches of his home, property and cellphone.

She said he is not charged with murder, but for not saying that he went to the Home Depot. Miner asked that his bail violations stemming from the wire fraud conviction be dealt with in federal court.

WCVB contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Prosecutor: Bloody knife found in missing Cohasset woman's home