Yahoo News Mass. Mom of 3 Ana Walshe Vanished on New Year's Day a Year Ago — and Now Husband Awaits Trial
Brian Walshe is accused of murdering his wife, Ana, whose body has never been found
This year, the holidays — and especially New Year’s Day — will be difficult to celebrate for family and friends of missing mom of three, Ana Walshe.
“It’s very sad with the anniversary is approaching,” says Ana Walshe’s longtime friend, Natasha Sky.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2023, Ana Walshe, 39, a successful real estate investment professional, vanished from her home in the affluent Boston suburb of Cohasset, Mass.
On Jan. 4, 2023, her employer reported her missing when she failed to show up for work and asked police to perform a wellness check.
Her husband, Brian Walshe, then 47, told police the last time he saw her was on New Year’s Eve when the couple had a friend over.
He said he was sleeping when she slipped out of their home in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2023, because she was headed to Logan Airport in nearby Boston for a work trip, police said at the time.
Related: Who Is Ana Walshe, the Massachusetts Mom Missing Since New Year's Day?
Launching an investigation, police searched the couple’s home, where they said they discovered a broken, blood-smeared knife in the basement and searches on Brian’s computer that according to authorities, included looking for ways to dispose of the body of a woman who weighed 115 lbs.
According to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, Brian Walshe told investigators he left the couple's home on Jan. 2 to get a smoothie, but he was also allegedly captured on video purchasing $450 in cleaning supplies at a Home Depot.
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On Jan. 8, Brian Walshe was arrested on accusations he misled investigators.
Already under house arrest for an art fraud conviction, Brian pleaded not guilty to misleading the police investigation.
In 2021 Brian Walshe pleaded guilty to stealing two Andy Warhol paintings from a friend and selling a pair of fake Warhols to an L.A. art dealer.
On Jan. 18, he was charged with murder in connection with his wife's presumed death, though Ana's body has not been found.
Related: Brian Walshe, Husband of Missing Mass. Mom Ana Walshe, Charged with Murder
He pleaded not guilty and is in jail without bail awaiting trial. His lawyer did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
After his arrest, the couple’s three boys, then ages 2, 4, and six, were placed into the custody of the state’s Department of Children and Families.
Related: Ana Walshe's Husband Killed Her Because He Thought She Was Having an Affair, Prosecutor Alleges
Sky and others are concerned about the children. “They lost their mom and dad in the same year,” she says. “They are traumatized. I don’t know how those boys will recover.”
Shortly after Brian Walshe’s arrest, Sky and another friend, Pamela Bardhi, lobbied DCF to keep the children together.
They were concerned because they heard that the children were going to be separated and placed into different foster homes.
“The children are still in Massachusetts,” says Sky, who said DCF told her, “They are together."
DCF wouldn’t divulge much else, she says. DCF did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Sky says she would like to know why the children weren’t placed with Ana Walshe’s sister, who now lives in Canada.
“They don’t have anybody else,” she says.
A pure professional at work, Ana Walshe never disclosed what was going on at home, says Sky.
“She kept everything private,” she says.
Ana Walshe didn’t discuss the turbulence she had allegedly experienced in her marriage. In 2014 Ana alleged to police that an unnamed man who Washington, D.C., Metro Police now say was Brian Walshe threatened to kill her. She declined to press charges, and the case was closed.
Sky says she feels “hopeful” about Brian Walshe’s upcoming trial.
“Justice needs to be served," she says.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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