'Sick to my stomach,' Friends of Ana Walshe shocked by developments in search for missing mother
COHASSET -- Investigators finished searching and processing Ana and Brian Walshe's Cohasset home Tuesday afternoon. Ana Walshe has been missing for over a week.
Police left the scene just before 3 p.m. after days of going through the house, where they found blood in the basement and a broken knife.
The completion of the search comes one day after investigators visited different disposal facilities across the state, looking for evidence in connection to the case. The WBZ I-Team learning trash bags with blood, a hatchet, a hacksaw, a rug, and used cleaning supplies, were found at the Peabody Transfer Station Monday night.
The news shocked Ana's friend, Alissa Kirby.
"I keep praying at these trash facilities she's not found there, so we have somewhere to go to honor her, and for her children to have somewhere to go to honor her," said Kirby.
State police also searched SEMASS in West Wareham. The waste-to-energy facility converts trash to electricity -- a process that takes about a day. If anything was brought to the incineration plant days prior, it has already been converted to electricity.
"With every passing moment I'm sick to my stomach seeing the news hour to hour," added Kirby.
Sources told WBZ-TV that Brian Walshe's car has been impounded. The I-Team learned there is evidence that shows the car was recently cleaned.
Prosecutors said Brian told investigators Ana left their home in Cohasset to head to D.C. for work the morning of January 1st.
Alissa Kirby said that story never added up with what Ana told her the Thursday before she disappeared. "She wanted to be home with the family and the kids. She told me she wrapped up everything with work, so my intuition told me that wasn't right," said Kirby.
Investigators said Ana's phone pinged at the family's house on New Year's Day and the day after. Brian is also on video at Home Depot purchasing $450 worth of cleaning supplies according to prosecutors.
"For me, I'm on a delayed reaction because that's not the person that we know," said family friend Pamela Harght.
Harght told WBZ-TV she is trying to keep occupied while waiting for her friend and fellow mom Ana to be found.
"We're just trying to stay busy and keep track of the kids and make sure the kids are taken care of," said Harght.
Both Kirby and Harght said the couple had a good relationship.
"There was never even remotely a red flag," said Harght.
Kirby added, "Just knowing her and having known them as a couple, it's shocking."
She told WBZ the couple called each other multiple times a day, even with Ana working in D.C.
The three Walshe children, ages 2, 4, and 6, are still in state custody.
Brian Walshe is being held on $500,000 bail.
