Who is Brian Walshe, husband of missing DC realtor Ana Walshe?
WASHINGTON - Brian Walshe, the husband of missing D.C. real estate executive Ana Walshe has been formally charged with murder according to the Norfolk. MA district attorney.
Walshe appeared in court on new charges related to her disappearance last Monday.
Ana Walshe, who split her time between Washington, D.C., and her family home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, was last seen on New Year's Day when she reportedly got into a rideshare to catch a flight to D.C., to deal with a work emergency. Police in Massachusetts confirms Walshe never got on the plane.
Walshe is reported to have left no digital footprint since leaving her home, and her phone has been shut off since around New Year's Day, according to FOX News.
Missing DC real estate executive: Ana Walshe's husband arrested in Mass. for misleading police
A search continues for Ana Walshe, a D.C. real estate executive from Massachusetts who worked and lived in D.C., after she disappeared on New Year's Day, and as police have taken her husband into custody for misleading a police investigation.
Why is Brian Walshe in police custody?
On Sunday, police in Massachusetts announced that Walshe's husband, Brian Walshe, was taken into custody for misleading a police investigation.
During the hearing Monday at Quincy District Court, it was revealed that investigators found blood in the basement area of the Walshe home in addition to a partially damaged knife which also contained some blood. At the hearing, prosecutors told Judge Mark S. Coven that Walshe went to a Home Depot in the area and purchased $450 worth of painting and cleaning supplies.
At the hearing it was also learned that Ana Walshe's cell phone pinged in the area of the home both on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2.
Prosecutors asked for $500,000 cash bail, which was granted under a $5 million surety bond.
What do we know about Brian Walshe?
Walshe was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2018 for attempting to sell two fake Andy Warhol paintings on eBay. He pleaded guilty in April 2021 to one count each of wire fraud, interstate transportation for a scheme to defraud, possession of converted goods and unlawful monetary transaction.
He allegedly took two authentic "Shadow Paintings" by Andy Warhol from a friend in South Korea and later offered the art for sale on eBay for $100,000. A buyer on eBay received the paintings, and found no Warhol Foundation authentication stamps and also noticed that the canvasses and staples looked new, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. When the buyer compared the paintings to the photographs from the eBay listing, they did not look identical and the buyer concluded the paintings were not authentic.
Walshe was on house arrest and wearing a location monitoring device while he awaited sentencing for the wire fraud case.
Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley said on Friday that Walshe’s legal history is "not believed to have any relation to this case."