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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Bevan Hurley

Cohasset mom Ana Walshe was first reported missing by employer – not conman husband

NBC News / YouTube

The head of security at Ana Walshe’s Washington DC real estate firm first alerted authorities about her disappearance, police call logs have revealed.

Police in Cohasset, Massachusetts, state in the call logs released to the Cohasset Anchor news site that they received a call from her employer Tishman Speyer at 11.44am on 4 January to request a well-being check for Ms Walshe.

The caller tells police that the “company has contacted the husband … he has not filed a missing person report”.

The logs appear to contradict comments made by the lawyer representing Ms Walshe’s husband Brian Walshe when he appeared in court last week to be arraigned on charges of misleading police.

Boston criminal defence attorney Tracy Miner told the court that her client had contacted Tishman Speyer to notify them Ms Walshe was missing.

“It is true that her employer contacted police on January 4. However, that was as a result of Mr Walshe, Brian Walshe, contacting the employer to say, ‘I haven’t heard from my wife,’” Ms Miner said in court, according to Fox News.

“The employer suggested that their security team, who is a former law enforcement officer, contact both the Cohasset Police and the DC Metro Police, which he did.”

Ms Miner did not immediately respond to a request for clarification by The Independent.

Police in Cohasset had previously said that Ms Walshe’s work colleagues and loved ones had “simultaneously” reported her missing.

Ana Walshe, 39, has been missing from her Cohasset, Massachusetts home, since 1 January (Instagram / Ana Walshe)

The call logs also shed new light on the initial stages of the missing persons investigation.

The head of security at Tishman Speyer reports that Ms Walshe was last in Washington DC on 30 December, and that her car is still there.

“No reason to think she is in danger at all,” the log states.

An officer then goes to the family home to speak to Mr Walshe, who tells them that Ms Walshe left for DC at around 6.30am on New Year’s Day and hasn’t been seen since.

Police then file a request for her cell phone records with Verizon, and report that it pinged at a tower a quarter mile from the family home at 3.14am on 2 January.

Brian Walshe was arrested on 8 January for making misleading statements to the police.

Mr Walshe told investigators that his wife caught a ride share to Boston Logan International Airport at around 6am on 1 January to deal with a “work emergency”.

Brian Walshe, of Cohasset, faces a Quincy Court judge charged with impeding the investigation into his wife Ana’s disappearance. (2022 The Patriot Ledger)

He said he visited his mother in Swampscott, about an hour north of Cohasset, went shopping at CVS and Whole Foods and spent time with his children.

But according to a police affidavit, he went to a Home Depot on 2 January and purchased $450 worth of cleaning products.

Police said they found blood and a knife in the basement of their home, and have recovered a hacksaw and other items from a nearby refuse centre.

Mr Walshe was on home confinement awaiting sentencing for a art fraud scam in which he tried to sell two fake Andy Warhol paintings.

Law enforcement is continuing to search for Ms Walshe.

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