A husband who dismembered his wife and threw her body parts in nearby dumpsters has been found guilty of her murder.
Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old Serbian immigrant and real estate executive, was last seen in the early hours of January 1, 2023, after a small New Year’s Eve gathering at the couple’s home in Cohasset, Massachusetts.
Her 50-year-old husband, Brian Walshe, admitted to dismembering Ana and lying to the police, but he still insists he did not kill her.
Investigators said he apparently searched ‘How long before a body starts to smell?’, ‘Dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body’ and ‘how to dismember a body with a hacksaw.’
Ana’s body has never been found.
Mr Walshe claimed that she left for an emergency work trip to Washington DC, ordering a car to take her to Logan International Airport in Boston.
Her company, who reported her missing before her husband, said there was no work emergency.
Ana never got into the ride share and there was no evidence of her boarding a flight, prosecutors said.
After her disappearance, her cellphone, as well as her credit and debit cards, remained inactive.
Prosecutor Anne Yas told the court on Friday: ‘Ana Walshe is dead because he murdered her, and he intended her death.
‘She wasn’t going to DC for a work emergency; there was no emergency. It’s just a story that the defendant told people.’
Brian claimed that after his wife left the house, he visited his mother in Swampscott, went shopping at CVS and Whole Foods, and spent time with his children.
However, the prosecutors said that he spent New Year’s Day travelling to several pharmacies and hardware stores, buying heavy-duty cleaning supplies, a Tyvek protective suit, and a utility knife.
Brian did not report his wife missing until January 4, when her employer contacted the police.
He later admitted that he dismembered her body and disposed of it in a dumpster, saying he did so after panicking when he found she had died in bed.
Surveillance footage showed a man resembling Brian discarding heavy bin bags in dumpsters, which prompted a search of a trash facility near his mother’s home.
A hatchet, a hacksaw, towels, a protective suit, cleaning agents, a Prada purse, Ana’s Covid vaccination card and boots similar to the ones she was last seen wearing were found.
Prosecutors said many of these items tested positive for Ana’s DNA.
Ms Yas said: ‘The defendant did not want anyone to find Ana’s body and to know how she died.
‘So the defendant bought cutting tools … and he cut up Ana’s body, the woman he claimed to love, and dumped her into dumpsters.
‘He needed her dead. It was a marriage in crisis.’
During the trial, the court heard from William Fastow, a man prosecutors identified as Ana’s boyfriend.
Fastow said he met Ana in March 2022 and their relationship quickly intensified into an ‘intimate’ one.
He also said he last heard from her on New Year’s Eve.
Brian did not testify, and the defence did not call any witnesses.
During the closing arguments, his defence attorney, Larry Tipton, repeatedly called Brian a ‘loving husband and loving father’ with ‘no motive at all’ to kill his wife.
Brian, who now faces life in prison, will be sentenced on Wednesday.
There was no reaction in the courtroom as the verdict was read, with Walshe staring straight ahead. He was handcuffed and shackled before being led out of the courtroom.
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