Husband of missing Massachusetts mom Ana Walshe is charged with murder

The husband of missing Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe has been charged with her murder, nearly three weeks after she vanished on New Year's Day. 

Brian Walshe is already in custody on charges of misleading police. For weeks, police have been piecing together a case against him that is believed to include evidence such as blood found in the couple's basement, and a bloody hatchet. 

Her body has not been found, despite searches of the family home, backyard and other areas of Cohasset, where she lived with her husband and three sons. 

Friends say the couple's marriage was strained as a result of Ana's grueling work schedule, which meant they spent much of their time living apart, with Ana in DC and Brian and the boys in Massachusetts. 

Ana was also photographed without her wedding ring in some of the final photos taken before she vanished on January 1. 

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Brian Walshe is already in custody on charges of misleading police. He is shown on January 9

Ana has been missing since New Year's Day 

Walshe will appear in court tomorrow on the fresh murder charge. The evidence used to obtain the murder warrant is likely to be presented then. 

In a statement on Tuesday, Norfolk District Attorney Michael W Morrissey said: 'The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with murder of his wife. 

'Mr. Walshe will be transported to the court for the charge of murder.' 

Walshe is expected in court tomorrow morning. 

So far, he has denied misleading police in his wife's disappearance. 

Ana was last seen at 1.30am on the morning of January 1.

She and her husband hosted friends for  a New Year's Eve party that their guests say was filled with toasts and fun. 

Cem Mutlu, one of the friends who attended the party, said: 'Brian had cooked an elaborate meal for us. 

'We hugged and celebrated and toasted and just what you do over New Year's. 

'There was a lot of looking forward to the New Year.'

The next day, he says Brian phoned him asking if he'd 'seen Ana' and that she was missing. 

She was due to travel to Washington DC on January 1 for work, but failed to show up for her flight or get in her rideshare to the airport. 

Ana was reported missing by Tishman Speyer, the real estate company she worked for, on January 4. 

A man who identified himself as the firm's head of security in Washington DC called police in Cohasset to request a welfare check for her. 

That man told police that he had informed Ana's husband, Brian, that she was missing. 

Ana (pictured with Paul Wharton on December 13) had stopped wearing her wedding ring in the weeks before she vanished 

The Cohasset home that Ana shared with her husband, Brian, and their three children

Walshe was enjoying her work life in Washington DC and was excited about the year ahead

It contradicted Brian's lawyer's claim in court that he had notified her work that she was missing. 

In the weeks before her disappearance, Ana had stopped wearing her wedding ring. 

Friends said there was 'tension' in the marriage because of her work schedule. 

Her friends are now appealing for care of her children.  Walshe is no stranger to legal trouble. 

Walshe in his mugshot after being arrested for misleading police 

In 2018, he was convicted of fraud for stealing and attempting to sell two fake Andy Warhol paintings that he advertised as being genuine. 

Walshe looked up 'how to dispose of a 115-pound woman’s body' online around the time of his wife's disappearance, according to investigators, and was also caught on surveillance cameras near a trash dumpster next to his mother's house. 

The hacksaw and bloodied clothes were found at a trash transfer station. 

Police wanted to test a sample of the blood found in the bag to Ana's three sons. 

Brian and Ana met in 2008 while she was working at a hotel in the Berkshires. She was the ambitious daughter of Serbian couple who'd come to America in search of a better life. 

He was the son of a wealthy family, who he is now estranged from. In court filings, his family accused him of stealing millions from his elderly father after the man suffered a stroke. 

Family friends called him a 'sociopath' and said all he ever cared about was his father's money.  

The pair married in Serbia in 2015 and later welcomed three sons together. 

Ana started working for Tishman Speyer in February last year, accepting a role as the general manager of the company's Washington DC office. 

She had previously worked for The Mutlu Group, a real estate company near their home, that is run by the friend who spent New Year's Eve with the couple.  Before that, her work experience was in hotels and housekeeping.