Brian Walshe is a killer from Massachusetts who was convicted of the murder of his wife Ana Walshe
According to court documents Ana Walshe went missing around New Years 2022. Brian Walshe would tell the jury he found his wife dead in bed, freaked out and hid her body. He would plead guilty before his murder trial of illegally disposing her body
However prosecutors put forth a case that Brian Walshe murdered his wife Ana, dismembered her and disposed of her body. The remains of Ana Walshe have never been far
The jury believed the prosecution and convicted Brian Walshe of first degree murder meaning he is more than likely will be sentenced to life in prison
Brian Walshe Case
Brian Walshe was found guilty of murder on Monday in connection with the death and dismemberment of his wife, Ana Walshe, around New Year’s Day of 2023.
There was little visible reaction from Brian Walshe as the jury foreman announced that the group of six men and six women found him guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife. Jurors worked for about six hours across two days on their deliberations.
The jury was also given the option of second-degree murder, which requires a lower burden of proof. First-degree murder required prosecutors to prove premeditation.
As jury selection was beginning two weeks ago, Brian Walshe abruptly changed his plea to guilty on charges of misleading police and moving his wife’s body.
The change of plea was an admission that Brian Walshe knows his wife is dead. The defense said he found her dead in bed after the family’s New Year’s party, but the prosecution argued that the circumstantial evidence showed she was killed.
“We’ve seen other cases where we’ve not had a body, but this is the first one I can remember where we’ve had a first-degree conviction, and I just want to thank them profusely,” District Attorney Michael Morrissey said about the investigators after the verdict.
Jurors submitted one question during their deliberations, seeking the exhibit number corresponding to a photo of Ana Walshe lying on a rug, which the prosecution said was later found bloodied in a dumpster.
After Monday’s verdict, Morrissey thanked the jury for their work.
“This was a very difficult case from the beginning,” he said. “To take time out of their schedule to hear days of evidence, complex evidence, and a difficult case, and to come up with the decision they did — without the jurors, our system doesn’t work. And my heartfelt thanks to each and every one of those who participated, and the alternates who were chosen as well.”
Afterward, Brian Walshe was marched out of the courthouse and into a waiting van from the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office. He did not respond to shouted requests for comment.
Sentencing was set for Wednesday. He faces a mandatory life sentence for murder in the first degree.
He will also be sentenced for charges of misleading police and illegal disposal of a body, which he pleaded guilty before the start of the trial.
Ana Walshe’s remains have never been found, and at sentencing her family may ask for him to reveal what he did with her. But even if he does, he’s not likely to receive a lighter sentence, according to former Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley.
“If her remains are secreted someplace, that certainly would give her family a great deal of closure. But I am unaware honestly in the annals of criminal justice history here in Massachusetts that such a negotiation has occurred,” he said.
The Cohasset man is accused of killing and dismembering Ana Walshe, 39, around New Year’s Day in 2023. Prosecutors allege that Brian Walshe disposed of his wife’s remains in dumpsters around the area.
Ana Walshe was last seen alive on New Year’s Eve in 2022. What began as a missing person search in Cohasset and Washington, D.C., quickly escalated. Within days, Brian Walshe was arrested and accused of misleading investigators.
Prosecutors said he killed his wife, believing she was having an affair, then dismembered and disposed of her body, which was never found.
During the trial, Massachusetts State Police investigators testified about internet searches made on Brian Walshe’s devices, including “how to saw a body,” and “is it possible to clean DNA off a knife.” Audio of police interviews with Brian Walshe was played, and photos of Ana Walshe’s belongings were shown, which were found in the trash after she went missing.
Will Fastow, a real estate broker in Washington, D.C., where Ana Walshe was living and working, testified about his romantic involvement with her.
“We quickly became close friends, confidants and then an intimate relationship,” Fastow said.
The defense argued that Brian Walshe was unaware of the affair, with Fastow confirming that Ana Walshe spoke positively about Brian Walshe and cared for him deeply.
Close friends of Ana Walshe also took the stand, with one woman describing Ana Walshe’s stress about her marriage. Prosecutors highlighted that Brian Walshe and their three children had to remain in Massachusetts while he faced a federal art fraud case.
“She told me how upset she was and how frustrated she was and how she was really at a breaking point,” the friend said.
The jury was shown surveillance video of Brian Walshe shopping for items prosecutors claim he used to dismember Ana Walshe, including a hacksaw, a hammer and a hatchet.
