Ana Walshe missing: Massachusetts police chief says 'every hour we're getting more concerned'
Cohasett, Massachusetts police chief William Quigley, who is searching for missing woman Ana Walshe, said Saturday "every hour we're getting more concerned for her well-being."
A Massachusetts woman described by a friend as being a "loving and loyal wife and mother of three beautiful boys" has now vanished after leaving her home on New Year’s Day, police and reports say.
Investigators have been told that Ana Walshe, 39, of Cohasset, left her home around 4 a.m. on New Year's Day to get into a rideshare to catch a flight to Washington, D.C., to work at her job at a real estate company, Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley said to reporters Friday. However, detectives confirmed she never got on a plane this week and searches of her homes in Cohasset with a K-9 unit and in Washington, D.C., have turned up no signs of her.
"Everyone that knows and loves Ana — we just want her home safely," Evan Turell, a friend of Walshe's who used to work with her at a hotel in Boston, told Fox News Digital on Friday.
"Her husband and her boys were someone she talked to every single day and the fact that she hasn’t been in touch with them is concerning and it’s not like her to not be in touch with anyone. It’s just really scary," Turell said, noting that she last spoke with Walshe before the holidays and viewed her as a mentor.
Ana Walshe commuted from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., each week to work at a real estate job, her friends told WCVB. (Cohasset Police Department)
"She's a loving and loyal wife and mother of three beautiful boys," Alissa Kirby, identified as another friend of Walshe, said in an interview with WCVB.
A LinkedIn profile belonging to Walshe listed her as working for Tishman Speyer.
"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 told Fox News Digital.
Quigley said that at this time, Walshe's disappearance is being treated as a missing persons case and there is "nothing to support anything suspicious or criminal."
Her husband, Brian Walshe, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Boston in 2021 after being arrested a few years earlier for selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings to a South Korean buyer for $80,000, federal prosecutors say.
However, Quigley says that case appears to be unrelated to Ana Walshe's disappearance. Brian Walshe, who said he was asleep at the time Ana walked out the door early Sunday, is cooperating with investigators, he added.
"It's not normal she is missing. We automatically feel she is in danger by the mere fact she is missing, other than that there is no evidence to support anything illegal," Quigley said.
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Cohasset Police said Friday that investigators have searched Ana Walshe's home in Massachusetts and the surrounding areas with a K-9 unit. (Cohasset Police Department)
"It's not abnormal for her to work long hours and not contact the home right away," he added, noting that "It may be a case where she just needed a break, we just need a call from her or someone who has talked to her."
Walshe is reported to have left no digital footprint since leaving her home, and her phone has been shut off since around New Year's Day, according to police.
Quigley said the mother was first reported missing Wednesday, the same day she had a plane ticket out of Boston. However, she did not get on that plane, and detectives were told she was heading back to Washington early on New Year's Day to handle an emergency linked to one of the properties she manages.
Police describe Walshe as being 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing around 115 pounds.
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"She has brown hair, brown eyes and has an olive complexion," they said. "It is believed that she speaks with an Eastern European accent."
Friends also said Walshe's normally active social media presence went silent on Sunday, WCVB reports.
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