Traces of blood and a knife were found in the basement of the missing Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe, whose husband has been arrested for allegedly hindering the police investigation.
Prosecutors claim that Brian Walshe allegedly bought $450 of items that included cleaning supplies, mops and tape from a nearby Home Depot store on 2 January.
Mr Walshe, who has previously been convicted of selling fake Andy Warhol artwork on eBay, was arrested on Sunday and appeared handcuffed in court on Monday charged with misleading a police investigation.
Prosecutors told Judge Mark Coven in Quincy District Court that the knife found by police was partially damaged and had some blood on it.
Ana Walsh, 39, was reported missing last Wednesday and has not been seen for eight days.
Police in Cohasset first announced Ms Walshe, 39, was missing on Thursday, stating that she was last seen at her home shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day.
Investigators say that she had been due to take a ride-share car from her home to Boston’s Logan Airport to take a flight to Washington DC, where she works in real estate. Her husband and her employer both reported her missing on Wednesday.
Brian Walshe, 46, pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in 2021 over allegations he took authentic Warhol paintings from a friend in South Korea and used photographs and their documentation to sell fakes on eBay.
An FBI investigation was launched after a buyer agreed to purchase two paintings from Warhol’s “Shadows” series for $80,000 in 2016. But after sending an assistant to collect the artwork the paintings were found to have no authentication stamps and the canvas appeared to be new.
The owner of the paintings told agents that Brian Walshe had offered to sell the pictures for him, but after taking them with him he was then unable to contact the suspect.
