Husband Of Missing Massachusetts Woman Searched For How To Dispose, Dismember Body Online: Report

The husband of the Massachusetts woman reported missing on Jan. 4 was found searching queries on the internet about "how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body" and how to dismember a body.

Brian Walshe, 47, was arraigned in Quincy District Court on Monday on a charge of misleading the investigators searching for Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old mother of three.

Ana's workplace reported her missing on Jan. 4 after she failed to show up to her job, authorities said. Police spent several days searching for her in the area around their home in Cohasset.

When Brian was asked during the investigation, he reportedly told investigators the only time he left the house was on Jan. 2, when he took his eldest son to get ice cream. However, police found video footage of him visiting a Home Depot store in a mask and gloves to buy tarpaulin, mops, tape, bucket and other cleaning supplies, New York Post reported citing prosecutor Lynn Beland's statement.

Investigators found a bloody knife in the basement of Brian and Ana's home. Also, during the investigation, authorities found search queries on Brian's internet records for "how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body" and how to dismember a body, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.

Investigators then focused on their suspicion that she might have been killed after receiving new information in the last three days, the sources told CNN.

On Monday night, investigators dug through the trash of a transfer station in Peabody, about an hour's drive north of Cohasset. Sanitation crews brought the trash to the station early last week.

Crime scene tape was also put outside and around dumpsters in an apartment complex near the home of Brian's mother in the town of Swampscott. Brian reportedly claimed he went to visit his mother after his wife's disappearance.

Prosecutor Beland and a criminal affidavit offered details of the investigation Monday, putting into question Brian's initial statements to police about his actions and movements on the week his wife went missing.

"These various statements caused a delay in the investigation to the point that during the time frame when he didn't report his wife and gave various statements, that allowed him time to either clean up evidence, dispose of [the] evidence, and causing a delay," Beland said.

"The intentional, willful and direct responses to questions about his whereabouts on the days of Sunday, January 1, 2023, and Monday, January 2, 2023, were a clear attempt to mislead and delay investigators," the affidavit stated. "The fact that he was asked a specific question, and he gave an untruthful answer that led investigators out of the area caused a clear delay in the search for the missing person, Ana Walshe."

Meanwhile, Cohasset and Massachusetts State Police "concluded" their ground search for Ana Saturday, following two days of searching in the woods surrounding her house. The ground search will not resume unless new information warrants, police said. The two-day search involved 20 state troopers from a specialized search and rescue unit, three K-9 teams, the State Police Air Wing and police divers.

According to authorities, Brian said he last saw his wife at their home in Cohasset on Jan. 1 when she took an Uber or Lyft to the airport to fly to Washington, D.C., for work-related purposes.

However, during the investigation, police found no Uber or Lyft ride on New Year's Day, and Ana did not arrive for her flight or in D.C., Beland said. Ana's phone also pinged at her home overnight on the 1st of Jan. into the 2nd, Beland said.

The affidavit stated Brian was on probation due to a separate federal fraud case and was required to request a leave from his home with specific times, locations and reasons. His trip to Home Depot – in which he wore a surgical mask and gloves and paid in cash – was reportedly made during the time he was supposed to pick up his kids from school, which was not open that day.

Brian entered a not-guilty plea. The judge set bail at $500,000 cash and scheduled the next hearing for Feb. 9.

Brian is separately under house arrest over wire-fraud charges stemming from 2018 when he reportedly sold two forged Andy Warhol paintings on eBay for $80,000, charges he pleaded guilty to in 2021.