Major developments came this week in the case of a missing Massachusetts mom, who prosecutors now say was killed by her husband and her body disposed of.
Explosive allegations were laid out in a Quincy District Court courtroom Wednesday when the prosecution said that Brian Walshe murdered his wife, Ana Walshe because he wanted to end their marriage.
“Rather than divorce, it is believed that Brian Walshe dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body,” the prosecutor said.
The prosecution alleged that Brian Walshe took her remains to multiple places and showed surveillance video of him throwing trash bags into at least two dumpsters.
Investigators said in the 10 trash bags they recovered from a landfill in Peabody, they found a hacksaw, a hatchet, towels, rags and slippers with stains consistent with blood, as well as cleaning agents. They also found some of Ana Walshe’s personal items, including the boots she was last seen wearing and a purse with her COVID-19 vaccination card inside.
Key evidence, including blood and a knife, were found in the basement of the couple's home after investigators executed a search warrant late last week, according to authorities.
Officials said of the numerous materials collected during the investigation, both Brian and Ana Walshe’s DNA were found on them.
“The state crime lab performed testing on certain selected items that were recovered from those trash bags," the prosecutor said. "There was human blood found on them and then sent for DNA testing. The findings are as follows: On the slippers, in the interior, Brian and Ana Walshe were contributors to the DNA on those slippers with blood on them.”
Legal experts say this evidence could become a major part of the criminal trial since a body still hasn't been found.
On top of the physical evidence, the prosecution outlined a series of disturbing Google searches made in the days after his wife was last seen alive, several of which were allegedly done using his son’s iPad.
“At 4:55 a.m. on Jan. 1, he searched 'how long before a body starts to smell," the prosecutor said. "At 4:58 a.m., 'how to stop a body from decomposing.' At 5:20 a.m., he searched 'how to bound a body.' At 5:47 a.m., '10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to.'”
Hours later, at 11:34 a.m., prosecutors say he searched “dismemberment" and "the best ways to dispose of a body” and the next day, he looked up “can you be charged with murder without a body?” The day after that, “can baking soda make a body smell good?'
The internet records also showed that in the days leading up to her disappearance, he searched “how to dispose of a 115-pound woman's body.” The prosecutor also said on Dec. 27, Brian Walshe Googled, “what’s the best state to divorce for a man?”
In a statement, Brian’s attorney said “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.” Criminal and legal experts have echoed this point.
“Those searches in and of themselves, there's nothing wrong, meaning there's nothing illegal about that. We can all go online — maybe as strange or as confusing as it is — to search out ‘how to kill someone’ or ‘how to dispose of a body,’” said Stuart Kaplan, a former agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “That can't be prosecuted.”
Ana Walshe, 39, was last seen on New Year's Day at her home in Cohasset, an affluent coastal community about 15 miles southeast of Boston.
When questioned, Brian Walshe told police that his wife was supposed to be taking a rideshare to Boston Logan International Airport to fly to Washington, D.C. where she often worked. Co-workers reported her missing on Jan. 4 after she didn’t show up at her job.
According to court records, a ride share was never ordered and Ana Walshe’s plane ticket for Jan. 3 was never used or transferred.
Brian Walshe told investigators he was running errands at a few stores for his mother on the day his wife went missing. Authorities said surveillance video showed that he wasn't at the stores he mentioned. However, he was seen on video at a Home Depot on Jan. 2 where investigators say he bought about $450 worth of cleaning supplies.
Following the discovery, police arrested Brian Walshe on charges of misleading and delaying investigators. On Tuesday, the Norfolk County District Attorney announced that an arrest warrant was obtained charging him with the murder of his wife.
“When you bundle together all the pieces of the puzzle, you start to build what the puzzle ends up looking like and that is obviously the murder of his wife,” Kaplan said. “I think that when you look at the blood stain, the fibers, DNA evidence, I think it's a very strong, overwhelming circumstantial case,” Kaplan said.
Police are actively searching for the remains of Ana Walshe. Kaplan adds that if left without a body at the time of Brian Walshe’s trial, prosecutors will have to build up their case around the physical evidence and internet searches while also eliminating any other possibilities that could explain what may have happened to Ana Walshe.
“When you have a case where you are missing what is referred to as the corpus delicti, or the body of the crime, it does sometimes make it a little harder for a jury to come back and understand, ‘wait a minute, what was the cause of death?’” Kaplan said.
“But again, as long as the prosecution team comes in with an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence and they're able to eliminate any possibility that Ana Walshe may have faked her own death or maybe she's hiding or maybe she fell off the grid," Kaplan said. "If it does rise to the level of being able to prove each and every point without a reasonable doubt, they're going to come back with a pre-meditated murder of his wife.”
Brian Walshe has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond. He is expected to appear back in court next month.