Brian Walshe accused of gruesome online searches after allegedly killing wife Ana in Cohasset
QUINCY - Brian Walshe was formally charged Wednesday with murder in the disappearance of his wife Ana Walshe in Cohasset as new disturbing details about his internet searches were released in the case.
Walshe, 47, pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in Quincy District Court. (You can watch the entire arraignment here.)
Related: '10 ways to dispose of a dead body' among Brian Walshe's alleged online searches
Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Lynn Beland said Walshe "dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body" on January 1. The remains have not been found.
The prosecutor said Walshe started an extensive series of online searches on his son's iPad to learn how to dispose of a body at 4:55 a.m. on January 1, beginning with "how long before a body starts to smell." The searches allegedly included several questions about decomposing bodies and DNA, such as:
- How to stop a body from decomposing
- 10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to
- How long for someone to be missing to inherit
- How to throw away body parts
- How long does DNA last
- Can identification be made on partial remains
- Can you be charged with murder without a body
- Can you identify a body with broken teeth
Beland laid out a more detailed timeline of the case Wednesday. She said beginning on December 27, five days before Ana disappeared, Brian Walshe googled, "What's the best state to divorce for a man?"
Investigators said Ana Walshe, 39, the mother of three young sons, was last seen in the early hours of January 1, shortly after having dinner at home with her husband and a friend. The friend left around 1:30 a.m. about three hours before the internet searches began.
RELATED: Who is Brian Walshe?
Brian Walshe allegedly told investigators his wife left around 6 a.m. on New Year's Day in a ride share to Logan Airport for a flight to Washington to deal with an emergency at work. Police said she never got into a ride share or on a flight.
Beland said Wednesday that investigators believe Brian Walshe killed his wife on January 1, dismembered her body and then disposed of it. Anna Walshe's phone was untouched in their Cohasset home until 3:14 a.m. on January 2nd when it was turned off, the prosecutor said. There was also no activity on her credit or debit cards.
On January 2, Brian Walshe was allegedly seen on surveillance video at a Home Depot pushing a cart with cleaning products including brushes, mops, tarp, buckets, goggles and a hatchet. He paid $450 cash for the items before leaving the store, according to investigators.
The next day, Beland said Walshe's phone data showed he traveled to an apartment complex in Abington, exited a car near a dumpster and walked to it carrying a garbage bag that appeared heavy and left it. He allegedly went to two more complexes, one of them in Brockton, and threw items into dumpsters as well.
Beland said Walshe then did more Google searches about decomposition including, "what happens to hair on a dead body?"
The prosecutor said on January 4, Walshe went to a store and bought towels, bath mats and men's clothes and then went to Lowe's where he purchased squeegees and a trash can.
Anna Walshe was reported missing by her co-workers in Washington on January 4 when she did not show up for work.
When Cohasset Police went to the Walshe home that day for a well-being check, Beland said officers noticed the seats in his Volvo were down and there was a "plastic liner in the back of the car." The prosecutor said chemists later analyzed the car and found blood in it.
Walshe's phone records allegedly show he went to his mother's home in Swampscott on January 5 and stopped at a dumpster there.
On January 8, police searched the couple's Cohasset home and allegedly found blood in the basement and a damaged knife with blood on it. A second knife was also found, Beland said. Brian Walshe was arrested that day and initially charged with misleading investigators. He pleaded not guilty and was held on $500,000 bail.
Beland said Wednesday that when police when to track down the bags thrown in the trash in Abington, they had already been picked up and incinerated.
RELATED: "Roadmap to his crime", Legal experts say circumstantial evidence is strong
Items put in the dumpster in Swampscott ended up at a transfer station in Peabody, where police recovered ten trash bags. Beland said there were blood stains on the items inside, including towels, rags, slippers, tape, a Tyvek suit, gloves, cleaning agents, carpets, rugs, Hunter boots, a Prada purse, Ana's COVID-19 vaccine card, a hacksaw, a hatchet and some cutting shears.
"The purse and boots are described as what Ana was last seen in," Beland told the court, adding that a "portion of a necklace" was also found.
The items were tested by the state crime lab and both Ana and Brian Walshe's DNA were found on them, Beland said.
Brian Walshe stared blankly as she read through the overwhelming evidence collected in the case. Afterwards, he was ordered held without bail.
Walshe is officially charged with murder, assault with intent to murder and disinterring a body without lawful authority and digging up human remains. He's due back in court February 9.
Walshe's attorney Tracy Miner released this statement to WBZ-TV after the arraignment Wednesday:
It is easy to charge a crime and even easier to say a person committed that crime. It is a much more difficult thing to prove it, which we will see if the prosecution can do. I am not going to comment on the evidence, first because I am going to try this case in the court and not in the media. Second, because I haven't been provided with any evidence by the prosecution. In my experience, where, as here, the prosecution leaks so called evidence to the press before they provide it to me, their case isn't that strong. When they have a strong case, they give me everything as soon as possible. We shall see what they have and what evidence is admissible in court, where the case will ultimately be decided.
Although it is probably fruitless, I ask that you not inundate my office, my home or my cell phone with media requests. I will not be giving any media interviews or comments. I intend to win this case in court, not in the media, which has already tried and convicted Mr. Walshe.
According to the Norfolk County District Attorney's office, this is the second suspected case of domestic violence homicide there in less than a month. If you or someone you know needs to escape abuse at home, call 800-799-7233. Click here for more information.
