Walshe said to research body disposal
Search continues for Cohasset wife
Brian Walshe had been researching how to dispose of a body on an immediate family member’s computer before his arrest for impeding an investigation into his missing wife, according to one person briefed on the probe into the disappearance of Ana Walshe.
The person briefed on the investigation, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, made the disclosure as authorities said Wednesday that they continue the search for Ana Walshe, a mother of three from Cohasset who was last seen in the early morning of New Year’s Day. The person did not elaborate on the nature of the computer search. Brian Walshe is currently in jail for allegedly impeding the investigation.
An interfaith vigil is planned for Ana Walshe at 4:30 p.m. Thursday on the town common. It will feature residents and representatives of the religious community, said Jack Creighton, chair of the Select Board.
The town isn’t directly involved with organizing the vigil, but the select board coordinated with the Police Department to make sure the common is open for those who wish to attend, Creighton said. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church and the Second Congregational Church each posted notices of the vigil on its Facebook pages.
On Monday, investigators had recovered “a number of items” related to the investigation in dumpsters north of Boston, officials said.
Authorities searched dumpsters in Swampscott near the home of the mother of Brian Walshe, a transfer station in Peabody, and a waste-to-energy facility south of Boston in Wareham, officials said.
Two law enforcement officials who were briefed on the case, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said investigators recovered a hacksaw and blood evidence in trash at the Peabody transfer station. The recovered items will undergo forensic testing.
No new charges have been filed against Brian Walshe as a result of the recovered items, officials said.
Walshe has pleaded not guilty to misleading police who have been searching for his wife, a 39-year-old real estate executive, since she was reported missing by coworkers on Jan. 4.
In court on Monday, prosecutors said they discovered blood and a damaged, bloodied knife in the basement of the couple’s Cohasset home.
Walshe is being held on $500,000 cash bail.
Authorities have said Walshe provided changing and false accounts of his interactions with his wife dating back to the early morning hours of New Year’s Day, when he said she told him she had to fly to Washington,
D.C., because of a work emergency, according to a police report.
Walshe said his wife usually took a ride-share or taxi to Logan Airport, but Norfolk First Assistant District Attorney Lynn M. Beland said in court there are no records Ana Walshe hired a ride-share service or flew out of Logan that day. Ana Walshe had a ticket for a Jan. 3 flight to Washington, D.C., but never took that flight, Beland said.
On Jan. 2, Brian Walshe told investigators he only left his house to take one of his sons to get ice cream, authorities said. But investigators determined he went to a Home Depot in Rockland and bought $450 in cleaning supplies, including mops, buckets, tarps, tape, and drop cloths, Beland said.