Authorities are investigating the disappearance of 39-year-old Ana Walshe, a Cohasset resident and married mother of three who went missing early on Jan. 1.
Here’s a primer on what we know about the case, which is under investigation by Cohasset and State police with assistance from the FBI.
Time and location of Ana Walshe’s disappearance
Walshe was last seen by a family member around 4 a.m. on Jan. 1, when she was expected to take a rideshare to Logan International Airport for a flight to Washington, D.C., where she works for an international real estate developer and property manager, officials said Friday.
But Walshe didn’t make it to the airport and Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley told reporters that investigators haven’t determined that she took a rideshare from her home. “We can’t confirm that a rideshare actually picked her up,” he said.
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He said Walshe hasn’t used her cellphone since New Year’s Day.
The search for Ana Walshe
Police have used dogs to search the grounds of the family’s home in the 500 block of Chief Justice Cushing Highway and adjacent properties in Cohasset, and police in Washington, D.C. have searched a townhouse that Walshe owns there.
Another search was launched Friday afternoon from the parking lot of a nearby Stop & Shop store at 400 Chief Justice Cushing Highway in Cohasset. It involved State Police and regional police units trained in search and rescue efforts, officials said. That search continued Saturday until around 4:30 p.m., when it was called off. Sunday morning, police went to the family home. Detectives from Cohasset and State Police also are in Washington D.C. as part of the investigation.
The FBI is assisting in the search for Walshe but not as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, authorities said.
Fire at Walshe’s former property
A fire at a property that Walshe bought and then sold is not suspicious, officials said Saturday. The fire broke out Friday during the search for her.
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Jake Wark, a spokesman for the state Department of Fire Services, said a fire at 725 Jerusalem Road started near piping that had been damaged close to a natural gas fireplace insert.
Walshe bought the property for $800,000 in 2020 and sold it for $1.385 million in March 2022.
Ana Walshe’s work
Walshe, according to her LinkedIn page, is a regional general manager for Tishman Speyer, a high-end property management and real estate brokerage. In a statement, Tishman Speyer said the company is cooperating with the search.
“We are actively assisting the local authorities in their ongoing search for our beloved colleague, Ana, and are praying for her safe return,” the company said.
The website of eXp Realty also listed her as an agent serving the Cohasset area. A company spokesperson said that as “a matter of policy, we do not comment on ongoing investigations but we join the community in hoping for her safe return.”
Ana Walshe’s husband and his previous legal issues
Authorities arrested her husband Brian R. Walshe for misleading the police investigation into her disappearance, officials said late Sunday afternoon.
Brian Walshe, who in 2021 pleaded guilty in US District Court in Boston to scamming a Los Angeles buyer out of $80,000 by selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings, according to court documents. Brian Walshe is currently awaiting sentencing, records show.
Quigley said Friday that Brian Walshe has been cooperating with police and that investigators see no connection between Ana Walshe’s disappearance and her husband’s crime.
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In a June letter to the federal judge presiding over Brian Walshe’s case, Ana Walshe credited her husband with saving her mother’s life after she suffered a “major neurological event” in December 2021.
“Brian was the one who heard my mother’s sighs for help within seconds and immediately called me and emergency,” she wrote. “Now, months later, she has made about 95% recovery and she keeps repeating that she wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for her son-in-law, Brian.”
Ana Walshe’s mother, Milanka Ljubicic, also wrote the judge to credit her son-in-law with saving her life during her medical emergency. Ljubicic wrote in the May letter that she’s currently living in Serbia, which is Ana Walshe’s native country, according to legal filings.
In June, the presiding judge in Brian Walshe’s case issued a forfeiture order compelling him to turn over “Two Shadow Paintings by Andy Warhol,” along with $225,000.
The paintings, which are legitimate, “have not yet been recovered, and therefore, are not in federal custody,” read a footnote to the order.
Ana Walshe’s former co-worker
Abdullah Almutairi, a close friend in Washington D.C. who got to know Walshe when they worked together previously, said Friday that he last spoke to her on New Year’s Eve, hours before she was last seen.
“We spoke right before midnight a little bit; I spoke to friends that were there [with her], and spoke to her husband, and rung in the New Year,” Almutairi said.
He described her as a devoted mother who takes pains to maximize time with her family.
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“You’re talking about somebody that worked 50-60 hours a week, got an Uber to [the] airport, and took a two-hour flight and then took a cab to Cohasset to spend a day and a half with her kids,” said Almutairi, who said he was planning to come to Boston to help assist Walshe’s husband. “She’s amazing.”
Dugan Arnett of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.