In Peabody on Tuesday a search in connection with the homicide investigation of Ana Walshe was prompted by two residents who contacted State Police, according to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office.

Walshe’s husband, Brian Walshe of Cohasset, is accused of killing his wife and dismembering her body following what court documents have described as an affair and a plan to leave her husband and move to Washington, D.C.

There were multiple reports of a police presence in the area on the morning of Aug. 22. The district attorney’s office said there had been a search in wooded area of the city near a strip mall and a mobile home community.

Two people in the Peabody community, who were unconnected to Brian Walshe’s prosecution had reached out to State Police and said the wooded area could be of investigative interest to Ana Walshe’s case.

However, after State Police’s SERT team and Norfolk District Attorney detectives canvassed the area, they found “nothing,” the district attorney’s office said.

Ana Walshe, 39, the mother of three young children in Cohasset, was first reported missing by her employer on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023.

Four days later, on Jan. 8, police arrested her husband, Brian Walshe, on charges of misleading a police investigation. Prosecutors stated he lied to police about his whereabouts during the timeframe of his wife’s disappearance.

In April, he appeared in Norfolk Superior Court for his arraignment after being indicted by a grand jury. He pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, misleading a police investigation/obstruction of justice and improper conveyance of a human body.

The indictment came after his initial court appearance on Jan. 9 and is a procedural step for murder cases in Massachusetts.

Prosecutors believe Brian Walshe killed his wife in the basement of the home a little after 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 1, and later removed her limbs and disposed of the evidence in a dumpster near his mother’s home in Swampscott.

During a search of the dumpster, police found, among other items: Ana Walshe’s COVID-19 vaccination card, a Tyvek suit, a hacksaw, a Hermes watch identical to one Walshe wore and rugs similar to the ones placed in the couple’s Cohasset home, court records show.