A Massachusetts man accused of killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 suddenly changed his plea on lesser charges of disposing of her body and misleading police, just before jury selection was set to begin in his murder trial on Tuesday.
Brian Walshe will still stand trial for murder in the presumed death of his missing wife Ana Walshe, whose body has never been recovered.
Ana Walshe, who is originally from Serbia, was last seen on January 1, 2023 after a New Year’s Eve dinner at her Massachusetts home with her husband and a family friend, prosecutors said.
Brian Walshe said she was called back to Washington, D.C., that same day for a work emergency. The company, the first to notify police that she was missing, said there was no emergency, prosecutors said.
For several days after Ana went missing, her husband made multiple online searches for “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body,” “how long before a body starts to smell” and “hacksaw best tool to dismember.”
Jury selection is underway in the Dedham, Massachusetts courtroom.
Key Points
- Trial begins today for Brian Walshe
- Walshe changes his plea – what what means
- Connection to Karen Read case
- What we know about the Brian Walshe murder trial
What we know about the Brian Walshe murder trial
16:48 , Andrea CavallierAs Brian Walshe’s murder trial gets underway in Massachusetts this week for the murder and dismemberment of Ana Walshe, he has pleaded guilty to misleading police and improper conveyance of a human body. He will still stand trial for murder. Jury selection is underway.
Here’s what we know:
- Ana Walshe, 39, vanished from her home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2023.
- Her husband Brian Walshe said she was called to Washington, D.C., that same day for a work emergency. There was no evidence of an emergency, investigators later said.
- For several days after Ana went missing, her husband made multiple online searches for “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body,” “how long before a body starts to smell” and “hacksaw best tool to dismember.”
- Police said they found a damaged and bloody knife in the basement of Walshe's home.
- Prosecutors said Walshe went to a Home Depot to buy more than $400 of painting and cleaning supplies around the time of Ana’s disappearance.
- Prosecutors allege Walshe killed his wife because he discovered that she was having an affair.
- They say Walshe lied to investigators about some of his actions and whereabouts in the days following her disappearance.
- Prosecutors have also said that Ana Walshe had taken out $2.7 million in life insurance naming her husband as the sole beneficiary.
- Investigators have recovered trash bags of evidence they allege Walshe threw away, which contained a hacksaw, a hatchet, and several items with both Brian and Ana’s blood and DNA on them.
- Ana Walshe’s body has not been found to this day.
- Walshe was arrested on January 8 and charged with misleading police, and later that month he was charged with her murder.
- Walshe faces a maximum sentence of 10 years on the misleading police charge with up to a 20-year sentence enhancement if convicted of murder. He faces up to 3 years in prison on the conveyance charge.
- Earlier this years, Walshe was sentenced earlier to more than three years behind bars over an unrelated art fraud case involving the sale of two fake Andy Warhol paintings. He was ordered to pay $475,000 in restitution.
9 jurors seated in first day of Walshe trial
22:39 , Andrea CavallierNine jurors were seated on the first day of jury selection, an impressive feat for a trial that wasn’t supposed to start its opening statements for another two weeks.
Jury selection will continue tomorrow.
ICYMI: Ana Walshe’s harrowing final note to husband revealed
18:45 , Andrea CavallierAna Walshe reportedly left a note to her conman husband on a bottle of champagne wishing him “love, compassion and joy” in 2023.
The message was written in bright red letters on a Lanson Noble Cuvee champagne box that appears to have been left unopened after a New Year’s Eve party at the family’s home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, the New York Post reported.
“Wow! 2022 … What a year! And yet, we are still here and together! Let’s make 2023 the best one yet! We are the authors of our lives … courage, love, perseverance, compassion, and joy. Love, Ana,” the note reads.
A note on another side of the box reads: “Gem Ana Brian 2023!”
Read more:
Missing mom Ana Walshe’s harrowing final note to conman husband revealed
Who was Ana Walshe?
18:02 , Andrea CavallierAna Walshe, 39, a mother of three and married to Brian Walshe, lived with her family in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and worked in real estate in Washington D.C. during the week.
Born in Belgrade, Serbia, she was working at the Wheatleigh Hotel in Lenox when she met Walshe in 2008. After their 2015 wedding, they had three sons.
The couple’s three young boys were placed in the care of the Department of Children and Families following Walshe’s arrest.
In 2022, Ana became a regional general manager at the real estate company Tishman Speyer, splitting her time between her home and a residence in Washington, D.C.
Authorities said that she was last seen at her home shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day, and described her as being 5 feet 2 inches tall, 115 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes and an olive complexion. She has an eastern European accent.
On January 4, both her company and husband reported her missing. Walshe told police Ana had left the house early on January 1 for a flight after a work emergency. Investigators later said there was no evidence of a work emergency or that she had ever boarded a flight.
What to expect as trial moves forward
17:42 , Andrea CavallierJury selection on the murder count is underway.
About 70 potential jurors will be questioned each day with the goal to have to have 12 jurors and four alternates seated before Thanksgiving.
As of Tuesday around noon, one juror has been seated.
Opening arguments are slated to begin on December 1.
“During the course of the trial, they need to agree not to be on any social media, and they need to agree not to watch the news in any medium,” Judge Diane Frenier said about the jurors. “That’s a big ask.”
On Monday, the judge ruled on several issues about what the jury will be allowed to hear, including statements from Ana's friend about a fight the couple had just days before she was killed. The fight allegedly involved Ana wanting Walshe to resolve his art fraud criminal case.
Walshe waved and smiled at his mother, who was in the courtroom on Monday. She is not on the witness list.
The judge said she expects the trial to last three to four weeks.
Brian Walshe’s disturbing Google searches
17:02 , Andrea CavallierWhen Walshe was arraigned on murder charges, prosecutors read in court some of the Google searches they say he made on his child’s iPad the morning of his wife’s disappearance.
The first search read, “How long before a body starts to smell,” according to prosecutors. That was at 4:55 a.m.
Other disturbing searches included:
4:58 a.m.: “How to stop a body from decomposing”
5:20 a.m.: “How to embalm a body”
5:47 a.m.: “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to”
6:25 a.m.: “How long for someone to be missing to inherit”
6:34 a.m.: “Can you throw away body parts”
9:29 a.m.: “What does formaldehyde do”
9:34 a.m.: “How long does DNA last”
9:59 a.m.: “Can identification be made on partial remains”
11:34 a.m.: “Dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body”
11:44 a.m.: “How to clean blood from wooden floor”
Ana Walshe vanished on New Years 2023. Now her fraudster husband is on trial for murder. What happened?
16:36 , Andrea CavallierA week after Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe vanished, her husband Brian was arrested for hindering the police investigation.
Investigators discovered weapons and blood, and a troubling internet search history, and he was charged with murder.
Graeme Massie reports
What we know about the disappearance of Ana Walshe after arrest of husband
Walshe changes his plea – what what means
16:32 , Andrea CavallierMoments before jury selection was set to begin on Tuesday, Walshe changed his pleas on lesser counts of willfully conveying a human body in violation of state law and misleading police.
Prosecutors claimed that his interference led to the destruction of his wife's remains.
“The delays resulted in the contents of dumpsters in which the defendant disposed of Ana Walshe’s remains being incinerated,” the prosecutor said.
Judge Diane Freniere asked Walshe: “Mr. Walshe, did you, in fact, willfully remove or convey the body of Ana Walshe or her remains, not being lawfully authorized to do so?”
‘Yes, your honor,” he answered.
Walshe continues to maintain his claim of innocence on the charge of murder.
Connection to Karen Read case
16:29 , Andrea CavallierSeveral Massachusetts State Police troopers who investigated the Karen Read case are listed as potential witnesses in Walshe’s trial, including former State Police Trooper Michael Proctor.
Proctor, who was fired for his conduct during the Read case, is on the list as a defense witness.
On Monday, at a pre-trial hearing, defense attorneys said they plan to point out to jurors that when Proctor's integrity was called into question, the Commonwealth “moved away from him.”
Who is Brian Walshe and what is he charged with?
16:23 , Andrea CavallierWalshe, 50, was charged with murder, misleading a police investigation and improper conveyance of a human body in the disappearance of his wife Ana Walshe.
Walshe told police his wife left early January 1, 2023 to travel to Washington, D.C. for a work emergency. Investigators said there is no evidence she went on the trip.
Investigators said that Ana was having an affair before her death and had told a friend she planned to leave her husband.
Walshe’s google searches included things like “how long before a body starts to smell” and “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body.”
Police said they found a damaged and bloody knife in the basement of Walshe's home.
Last week, Judge Freniere said that Walshe, who spent 40 days in the Bridgewater State hospital, was deemed competent to stand trial.
In a separate case last year, Walshe was sentenced to three years in prison on art fraud charges.
Trial begins today for Brian Walshe
16:07 , Andrea CavallierIn January 2023, Ana Walshe vanished after her husband claimed she left for an emergency work trip to Washington, D.C. Within days, Brian Walshe was arrested and accused of misleading investigators.
Prosecutors claim he killed his wife, believing she was having an affair, then dismembered and disposed of her body, which has never been found.
His trial begins today with jury selection.
