Police arrest husband of missing Massachusetts woman on charge of misleading investigation

 A Massachusetts man has been detained by police for obstructing the investigation into his wife's puzzling New Year's Day disappearance from a posh Boston neighborhood.

Ana Walshe.NBC Boston

Authorities detained Brian Walshe, 46, of Cohasset on Sunday after his wife Ana Walshe, 39, a mother of three, was reported missing by both her husband and her employer on Wednesday, three days after she was allegedly last seen by an unidentified family member. Ana Walshe was reported missing by her husband and her employer at the same time.

The ground search that Cohasset Police and state police had been doing in the forested area close to Ana Walshe's home for two days has been suspended, according to NBC Boston. The ground search will resume on Sunday.

Detectives noted on Saturday that the inquiry was still ongoing and added that "the ground search will not resume unless police uncover fresh information that thus warrants it."

What the police were doing at the house on Sunday is unknown. Questions were forwarded to the Norfolk District Attorney's Office, which did not reply to inquiries when Cohasset Police declined to do so.

Questions surround story of disappearance:

Ana Walshe is claimed to have vanished, but the circumstances surrounding her alleged abduction are unclear. State and local police from various nearby towns have been involved in the hunt for her.

The day after she was reported missing and four days after she was supposedly last seen by an anonymous family member, Cohasset police announced their hunt for Ana Walshe on Thursday.

Ana Walshe, according to police, was last seen at her Cohasset, Massachusetts, home early on Sunday before reportedly taking a ride-sharing to Boston's Logan Airport, about 30 miles to the north, to catch a flight to Washington, D.C., where she was supposedly required to attend to a work emergency. Who reported the supposed details is unknown.

Police did, however, say they had established Walshe had a trip scheduled from Boston to Washington, D.C., for January 3. However, they added that they had not been able to independently confirm Walshe got into or had reserved a car service, or that she had a flight scheduled for January 1.

The last person who saw Ana Walshe, according to the police, was a "family member," and her husband was reportedly asleep when she allegedly left the house about 4 a.m.

According to the police, Ana Walshe frequently traveled to Washington, D.C. for work. According to her LinkedIn profile, she is the regional general manager at the real estate firm Tishman Speyer.

Tishman Speyer's representative could not be reached for comment.

The Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., was unable to find her, according to Cohasset Police.

Police stated on Friday that Ana Walshe had no electronic traces and that her cell phone had been off since the beginning of the year.

Husband misled investigators:

Additionally, police said on Friday that Ana Walshe's husband and family had been helpful and that there was no evidence to suggest any criminal or suspicious conduct in connection with her absence.

However, the Norfolk District Attorney's Office stated on Sunday that during the investigation into her disappearance, "police established probable cause to suspect that her husband Brian Walshe had committed the felony of deceiving police investigators."

The DA's office announced that Brian Walshe will be charged on Monday morning and that "further facts may or may not be put into the record at that time," but that "no other information is expected to be provided at this time."

NBC News contacted the DA's office for more information on the charge, but a representative for the office did not respond. It's unknown if Brian Walshe has a representative who can speak for him in court.

After stealing Andy Warhol artworks from a former college friend and ordering forgeries of them, Brian Walshe admitted guilt to three counts in 2021 in federal court in Boston, including wire fraud, according to Reuters at the time. Brian Walshe was ordered to forfeit $225,000, according to court records, although it doesn't appear that he has yet received a prison sentence in that case.

'This is completely unlike her'

According to details provided by Cohasset Police earlier this week, Ana Walshe is 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 115 pounds, has brown eyes, brown hair, and an olive complexion. She is also thought to have an Eastern European accent.

Her Instagram account has images of her young sons, scenes from past vacations, and memories from her time spent in Washington, D.C.

According to NBC Boston, Ana Walshe's friends and neighbors were alarmed by her disappearance.

According to her friend Evan Turell, "This is completely unlike her, and I think that is part of the shock." She would never skip a day of communication with her spouse and her boys.

Turell continued, "This is truly mind-boggling and heartbreaking. There are no words,

According to U.S. Census data, Cohasset is a tiny, affluent suburb of Boston with a population of just over 8,300 people, more than 93% of whom are white, and a median home value of $875,000.

In yet another strange turn of events, the Walshe family's former home on Cohasset's Jerusalem Road, which they left in April, caught fire on Friday, according to NBC Boston. Three adults and a young kid managed to flee the blaze before first responders arrived, according to Cohasset Police, who also reported that local and state investigators had confirmed the fire's unintentional origin. No one was hurt, they added.