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Officials: Husband of Ana Walshe indicted on murder charges

DEDHAM, Mass. — The husband of a woman who went missing in Massachusetts earlier this year has been indicted on murder charges, officials say.

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Norfolk County District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey announced Thursday that Brian Walshe, 48, had three indictments issued against him that included the murder of his wife, misleading a police investigation/obstruction of justice, and for the improper conveyance of a human body, according to WFXT.

“Brian Walshe entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of murder at his Quincy District Court arraignment in January,” District Attorney Morrissey said in a statement obtained by WFXT. “This indictment moves the case to the Norfolk Superior Court, where it will be arraigned anew in the coming weeks. That date has not yet been set.”

A grand jury indicted Walshe for the murder of Ana Walshe in January, the news outlet reported.

Prosecutors believe that Walshe killed his wife in their house in Cohasset, Massachusetts, on New Year’s Day, WFXT reported. Their three boys were believed to be home at the time.

Investigators think Ana Walshe’s remains were “incinerated in a trash facility,” the news outlet reported.

Brian Walshe told police that his wife was supposed to take a rideshare to Boston Logan International Airport on New Year’s Day ahead of a flight to Washington, where she works for a real estate company, according to WFXT. No evidence has surfaced to show that she arrived at the airport. Her cellphone and bank cards have been inactive since Jan. 1, the news station reported.

She was reported missing by her employer on Jan. 4, according to WFXT. Authorities later said they found blood and a bloody knife in the couple’s home.

Brian Walshe was under house arrest in an unrelated case when his wife vanished. Last week, prosecutors said that despite his house arrest, he was caught by surveillance cameras buying hundreds of dollars worth of cleaning supplies from a Home Depot.

At the time of his wife’s disappearance, Brian Walshe was on house arrest awaiting sentencing after earlier pleading guilty to fraud charges. Authorities said he took two Andy Warhol paintings from a friend in South Korea and attempted to sell counterfeits of them on eBay. The most serious charge he pleaded to — wire fraud — carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.