Ana Walshe’s family and friends in Boston and Washington say they are worried about her disappearance.
The 39-year-old real estate manager works in the district during the week and flies to the Boston area, where her husband and three young children live, on weekends.
Police say a relative told them Walshe planned to leave the family home in Cohasset, Mass., around 4 or 5 a.m. on New Year’s Day to catch a flight to DC to cope. to a workplace emergency. This person told the police that she was sleeping when Walshe left.
DC police searched her townhouse in Friendship Heights, around the corner from the Chevy Chase Pavilion, on Wednesday, the day she was reported missing.
Neighbors said police came to their door to ask if they had seen Walshe or if they had any idea where she was.
At a press conference, Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley provided an update on the investigation.
He said detectives were unable to find any documentation indicating Walshe had taken a carpool from Boston’s Logan Airport, which the relative said was standard procedure.
He said they found no evidence that she had boarded a plane that day, January 3 (the day she had a ticket for), or any day since. He also said Walshe’s cell phone was off.
“It’s very difficult, as you know, these days not to leave an electrical footprint,” Quigley said.
Searches in the woods of Cohasset and nearby towns turned up nothing.
News4 spoke with Walshe’s longtime friend Abdulla Almutari as he prepared to board a plane from DC to Boston to help Walshe’s husband and three very young children.
“We’re just waiting for a better day tomorrow, and hopefully she’ll be on a flight back to DC with me very soon,” Almutari said.
Walshe’s employer, international real estate firm Tishman Speyer, released a statement that read, “We are actively assisting local authorities in their continued search for our dear colleague, Ana, and praying for her safe return.”
Massive attention was drawn when a fire broke out this afternoon at a Cohasset home Walshe and her family lived in but sold in March. Police said Saturday that investigators determined the cause of the fire was accidental.