CNN
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Brian Walshe is expected to appear in court Wednesday after being charged with murdering his wife Ana Walshe in Massachusetts.
In addition to a warrant issued Tuesday charging Brian Walsh with murder, the 47-year-old faces charges of improperly transporting a body, prosecutors said. It’s unclear if investigators have found Ana Walshe’s body.
Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said evidence supporting the murder charge was likely to appear in court on Wednesday, but declined to give further details. Brian Walsh, who is being held at the Norfolk County Correctional Facility, will be taken to Quincy District Court for arraignment, which could begin as early as 9 a.m., the district attorney’s office said.
His lawyer declined to comment on Tuesday.
Walshe has been in jail since his Jan. 8 arrest and charged with misleading investigators; he has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors accused him of deliberately delaying the investigation to conceal evidence, accusing him of lying about some of his actions in the days following his wife’s disappearance.
Since Ana Walshe’s employer reported her missing on Jan. 4, authorities have searched the couple’s home, scoured the town of Cohasset and dumped in bins, looking for any information about the 39-year-old’s three children. Signs of what happened to the mother.
Law enforcement sources told CNN that the searches turned up several potential pieces of evidence, including the use of a hacksaw and apparent bloodstains at a garbage collection site and a search of Brian Walsh’s Internet records for how the mutilation and disposal corpse.
Police also found bloodstains and a bloody broken knife in the couple’s basement, prosecutors said.
Ana Walshe’s friend and former colleague Pamela Bardhi told CNN she was outraged and relieved to hear investigators believe her friend was murdered.
“I just have this horrible gut feeling and I’m praying I’m wrong,” she said Tuesday. “I pray that’s not the case. We’re here now to find out that there was a murder charge a few hours ago … it’s a heavy thing,”
Although Bardhi is afraid to learn the details of the case, she wants the truth to come out, she said.
“I think the truth is a real double-edged sword. It hurts to know it, but it’s necessary,” she said. “I think those kids deserve to know what happened to their mother, her family and friends, no matter what.”
The couple’s children, ages 2 to 6, are in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, a spokesman said.
Several possible pieces of evidence have so far emerged about Anna Walsh’s disappearance, including her husband’s alleged false statements to police and items found in and around the coastal town of Cohasset .
Brian Walsh told police he last saw his wife on the morning of Jan. 1, when she was on a business trip to Washington, D.C., according to the police affidavit.Husband said he spent the rest of the day running errands for his mother and spent on time Jan 2 with his kids.
However, prosecutors said there was no evidence Anna Walsh took her usual carpool or taxi to the airport, or that she flew or arrived in Washington. Her phone also rang overnight near the couple’s home from Jan. 1 to Jan. 2.
Additionally, investigators say Brian Walsh never ran errands for his mother on New Year’s Day and said he secretly went to a Home Depot on Jan. 2, where prosecutors say he spent about $450 on cleaning supplies, Includes mop, bucket and tarp.
Ana Walshe was reported missing by her employer, real estate firm Tishman Speyer, on Jan. 4, according to investigators. A Cohasset police log said, “The husband has been contacted by the company. He has not lodged a police report.”
Brian Walshe called his wife’s workplace before they reported her missing, saying he hadn’t heard from her, Defense attorney Tracy Miner said.
Items collected by investigators during a search north of Boston will be tested as potential evidence, the Norfolk District Attorney said, but declined to provide details.
Investigators found a hacksaw, a rag and obvious bloodstains at a Boston-area garbage collection site, law enforcement sources told CNN.
Prosecutor Lynn Beland said a bloody knife and blood stains were also found in the couple’s basement. In addition, the husband’s Internet records showed searches for “how to dispose of a 115-pound female body” and how to dismember a body, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation.
The charges against Brian Walshe over his wife’s disappearance are the latest in a series of legal battles facing the husband.
In 2021, he pleaded guilty to three federal fraud charges related to a scheme to sell fake Andy Warhol artwork online. He is under house arrest while awaiting sentencing and must obtain permission to leave the home at certain times for certain activities.
Investigators accused Walsh of taking several unauthorized trips in the week following his wife’s disappearance, which may have violated the terms of his house arrest, according to a police affidavit.
Additionally, Ana Walshe reported threats to “kill[her]and her friends” in 2014, according to a police report obtained by CNN. A spokesman for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department confirmed that Brian Walshe was the person involved in the report.
The case was closed because the victim refused to cooperate with prosecutors, police said.
In 2019, a relative and family friend also portrayed Walshe as violent and untrustworthy amid a legal battle over his father’s estate. Two friends of Brian Walsh’s father accused Walsh of financial misconduct and called him a “sociopath,” according to an affidavit filed in the case.
Current and former attorneys for Brian Walshe did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.