Search continues for Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe missing for nearly a week

(BOSTON) — The search continues for a Massachusetts mother of three who was last seen on New Year’s Day leaving for a flight she never took, police said.

Ana Walshe, 39, was reported missing on Wednesday by her husband and employer, police said. She was reported last seen by a family member around 4 or 5 a.m. on Jan. 1 at her Cohasset home and was supposed to take a ride share to the airport for a flight to Washington, D.C. — though police have not been able to confirm that she took a ride share, according to Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley.

Police confirmed she never boarded a flight out of Boston Logan International Airport this week, he said.

“So far there’s been no electronic footprint at all,” Quigley told reporters during a press briefing on Friday, saying that neither her cellphone nor credit cards have been active since Jan. 1.

Local and state police continued the search in Cohasset on Saturday for Walshe, an executive with a property management company in D.C. who would travel to the city several times a month, according to Quigley.

Police were conducting a ground search in the area of Walshe’s home on Friday for “any clues” to her whereabouts, Quigley told reporters. A police K9 unit has also been involved in the search, authorities said.

Walshe originally had a flight to D.C. booked for Jan. 3, but police were informed she was attempting to head down earlier to deal with “some type of emergency” with a property she manages, Quigley said. There have been no signs of her in D.C. so far, he said.

Walshe’s husband and her employer are cooperating in the investigation, Quigley said.

“At this point it’s a missing person investigation. We’re just trying to locate Ana and get her home safely,” Quigley said. “We have nothing to support anything suspicious or criminal.”

On the three-day lag between when she was last seen and reported missing, Quigley said it’s not unusual for Walshe to work long hours and not contact her home.

Walshe has three boys between the ages of 2 and 6, said Quigley, who suggested that between the holidays and demands of working out of state, this “may be a case where she needed a break.”

“Sometimes life gets chaotic,” he said. “If that’s the case, we need a call from her or someone who has talked to her.”

Though one friend said this was out of character for Walshe, whom she described as a “loving and loyal wife.”

“She loves her family, and I know in my heart that of her choice, she would not go a day without speaking to her husband and her kids,” the friend, Alissa Kirby, told ABC Boston affiliate WCVB.

“Honestly, I’m scared. Really, really scared,” Kirby told the station.

Amid the search, a fire broke out Friday afternoon in the attic of a Cohasset home where Walshe and her family used to live, authorities confirmed, with Quigley calling it a “very strange coincidence.” Though on Saturday, Cohasset and state fire investigators said they determined that the blaze started in the area of damaged piping connected to a natural gas fireplace insert and was not suspicious.

Walshe is described by police as 5’2″ and weighing 115 pounds with brown hair, brown eyes and an olive complexion. Anyone who has seen Walshe or has information on her whereabouts is urged to contact the Cohasset Police Department at 781-383-1055 x 6108.