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A convicted Massachusetts art fraudster and husband of a missing woman Googled how to dispose of a woman’s body days before she went missing.
Brian Walshe, 46, was charged with misleading a police investigation after he was seen on surveillance video shopping for heavy cleaning supplies despite telling police he had been home when his wife, Ana , 39, was last seen alive.
The investigation into Ana’s disappearance took a grim turn on Monday when it was revealed that Walshe had searched for “how to dispose of the body of a 115-pound woman.” Ana was described as being 5’2 and around 115 pounds in favor of the public after her disappearance.
Walshe told police the mother of three went missing after she took a car to Boston’s Logan Airport on January 1. However, ride-sharing services do not show pickups at the family’s home, according to WCVBand Ana’s cell phone continued to ring from there for two days after she allegedly left the house.
Brian Walshe, 46, googled how to dismember a body before his wife disappeared
Ana, 39, was reported missing on January 4 after failing to show up for work.
Ana wasn’t reported missing until January 4, when her office called the police because she didn’t show up for work.
Since then, police have been combing the coastal town of Cohasset for any sign of her.
Initially treated as a missing persons case, the investigation was upgraded to a homicide after Walshe’s internet search queries, which included how to dismember a human body, were discovered.
Prosecutors said Walshe gave police misleading statements about his and his wife’s actions at the time of their disappearance, giving him enough time to clean up a possible crime scene.
‘These various statements caused a delay in the investigation to the point that during the period of time that he did not denounce his wife and gave various statements, that gave him time to clean up the evidence, dispose of the evidence and cause a delay, ‘ said prosecutor Lynn Beland on Monday.
Initially treated as a missing persons case, the investigation was upgraded to a homicide after Walshe’s internet search queries, which included how to dismember a human body, were discovered.
The investigation into Ana’s disappearance took a grim turn on Monday when it was revealed that Walshe had searched for “how to dispose of the body of a 115-pound woman.”
Prosecutors said Walshe gave police misleading statements about his and his wife’s actions at the time of their disappearance, giving him enough time to clean up a possible crime scene.
Those statements included a confusing and rambling alibi Walshe told police about what he was doing the day he said his wife left for the airport.
She told police she left her phone at home and drove to a Whole Foods and CVS 40 miles from her home on Jan. 1, then took one of her children out for ice cream the next day.
But he didn’t appear on surveillance footage at any of those stores, and instead of going out for ice cream on Jan. 2, he was seen on video going to a Home Depot where he picked up about $450 worth of mops, buckets, tarps , tape and other cleaning products. He wore a mask and gloves during the journey.
After obtaining a search warrant for the Walshe home, blood was discovered in the basement, along with a bloody and damaged knife.
Walshe has yet to be charged in his wife’s disappearance and has pleaded not guilty to his misleading police charge. He is currently being held on a $500,000 bond.
Police search a road in Cohasset, Massachusetts, on January 7 for any sign of Ana.
Walshe appears in court on January 9 on charges related to his wife’s disappearance.
Walshe in court on January 9. He was accused of misleading a police investigation.
Walshe was already under house arrest on wire fraud charges from a 2018 scam in which he sold a pair of fake Any Warhol paintings for $80,000 on eBay.
He pleaded guilty to the scheme in 2021.
Under house arrest, Walshe had assigned hours in which he was allowed to leave the house.
During her January 2 outing to Home Depot, she was allegedly taking her children to school, even though the school was closed that day.