Brian Walshe hired investigator to follow wife Ana Walshe before murder because he suspected affair, prosecutor says
Brian Walshe, the Massachusetts man accused of killing his wife in January, hired a private investigator to follow her in the days before her murder because he suspected she was having an affair, a prosecutor said Thursday, CBS Boston reported. Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old mother of three, has been missing since New Year's Eve.
A grand jury indicted Walshe last month for the murder of his wife, misleading a police investigation, obstruction of justice, and for improper conveyance of a human body.
The indictment moved the case to Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham where Walshe appeared Thursday morning in handcuffs, CBS Boston reported. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The prosecutor said Brian Walshe started suspecting his wife was having an affair in December 2022 with one of her "male friends from Washington, D.C." where she was working at the time, the station reported. Investigators said Walshe had his mother hire a private investigator in Washington "to conduct surveillance of Ana for the purpose of proving infidelity."
Investigators have said Ana Walshe was last seen in the early hours of Jan. 1, shortly after having dinner at home with her husband and a friend. Her husband said she took a rideshare to Boston's Logan International Airport to fly to Washington, D.C., but there is no evidence that she got on the plane.
At his arraignment in January, prosecutors said Brian Walshe "dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body" on Jan. 1. The remains have not been found.
Prosecutors say they have more than 20 Google searches Brian allegedly made on his son's computer about disposing of a body, they recovered more than 10 bags of trash that included Ana's bloody clothes and personal items, and they recovered two knives and a hatchet. Several of the items were covered in blood and both Ana and Brian's DNA.
The prosecutor revealed Thursday that a bloody hacksaw they found had a bone fragment on it, but that it's still being processed for DNA.
He also said Ana Walshe had $2.7 million worth of life insurance and that her husband Brian was the "sole beneficiary."
Brian Walshe was ordered held without bail. His attorney was hoping to have him released on $250,000, saying there's no body, no murder weapon and no motive and no evidence he suspected his wife of having an affair.
