Husband of missing Massachusetts mom held on bail as officials find bloody knife

The husband of missing Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe is being held on bail Monday as prosecutors say they found a bloody knife in his basement and that he purchased hundreds of dollars in cleaning supplies after she disappeared early last week.

Brian Walshe, 46, is being held on $500,000 cash bail after he was charged with misleading the police investigating the disappearance of his wife, a mother of three young children who was last seen in her Cohasset, Mass., home early in the morning on New Year's Day, Boston's ABC affiliate reported.

Brian Walshe was already being surveilled by authorities because he was under house arrest awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to federal fraud charges related to the sale of forged Andy Warhol paintings in 2018.

The suspect said he left the house to get ice cream for his son one day after his wife vanished. Surveillance video from a nearby Home Depot that day showed him purchasing $450 in cleaning supplies, including tape and mops, prosecutors said.

Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland said police executed a search warrant of the Walshe residence, where they "found blood in the basement ... as well as a knife, which also contained some blood."

Ana Walshe, 39, was last seen early in the morning of Jan. 1. Her disappearance was reported by her husband and her workplace on Jan. 3, prosecutors said.