Husband of missing Massachusetts mother threatened to kill her in 2014, police report says

A Massachusetts man accused of misleading authorities during an investigation into his wife’s disappearance was alleged to have threatened to kill her and her friends eight years ago, according to a police report obtained Thursday.

The 2014 Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department report, obtained by NBC Washington, doesn’t identify Brian Walshe, but an agency spokesperson confirmed Walshe was the person accused of threatening Ana Walshe over the phone. 

The spokesperson said no charges were filed against Walshe because the victim refused to cooperate. 

The incident occurred before they were married, NBC Boston reported.

The case was closed, and additional details about the alleged crime weren’t available. A lawyer for Walshe, Tracy Miner, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

Brian Walshe, 47, told authorities on Jan. 4 that he last saw his wife, 39, a mother of three and a regional general manager for a real estate company, on New Year’s Day, according to a probable cause affidavit used to arrest him Sunday.

He said she left their Cohasset home for a work trip to Washington between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., according to the affidavit. 

Three days later, Ana Walshe’s employer asked police in Cohasset to check on her. She had last been seen days earlier, her car was in Washington, and no missing persons report had been filed, the caller said, according to a police log of the call obtained by the Cohasset Anchor, a local news site.

Authorities have been unable to confirm the trip, although she had a flight booked to Washington for Jan. 3, Cohasset police have said.

Walshe was later charged with misleading authorities about his whereabouts on Jan. 1 and Jan. 2. He is alleged to have spent $450 on cleaning supplies, mops and tape on the last day his wife was seen, and investigators found blood and a damaged, bloodstained knife in the couple’s basement, prosecutors have said.

In response to an earlier request for comment, an assistant for Miner declined to comment on the lawyer’s behalf, saying: “Her focus is on defending Mr. Walshe in court.”

Walshe is on probation for federal wire fraud after he pleaded guilty in 2021 to stealing Andy Warhol paintings from a college classmate and commissioning forgeries.

Julianne McShane contributed.