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Horrifying new details have emerged about the case of missing Cohasset mother Ana Walshe as her husband Brian Walshe appeared in court on Wednesday charged with her murder.
Brian Walshe was arraigned in Quincy District Court on Wednesday morning where he pleaded not guilty to murder and improper transport of a body.
Prosecutors laid out some of the evidence against him revealing that Mr Walshe made several chilling internet searches on his son’s iPad after his wife was last seen alive.
Among the searches were “10 ways to dump a body”, “how long before a body starts to smell?” and what “ammonia” and “baking soda” does to a body.
Prosecutors believe Ms Walshe’s remains were thrown into a dumpster in Abington before being shredded and incinerated.
“It is believed that Brian Walshe dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body,” Norfolk County District Attorney Lynn Beland said.
Ms Walshe, 39, was last seen in the early hours of 1 January at her home in Cohasset, Massachusetts and was reported missing on 4 January.
Mr Walshe, a convicted arts fraudster, was arrested on 8 January and pleaded not guilty to hindering the police investigation into her disappearance.
Brian Walshe’s attorney accuses prosecutors of leaking evidence
After Brian Walshe’s court appearance, his attorney Tracy Miner released a blistering statement accusing prosecutors of leaking evidence to the media.
“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,” Ms Miner said in a statement to The Independent.
“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.”
Ms Miner said it was “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.”
“We shall see what they have and what evidence is admissible in court, where the case will ultimately be decided.”
Tracy Miner, one of Boston’s top criminal defence lawyers, is representing Brian Walshe on murder charges (Miner Siddall Lawfirm)
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 19:50
Timeline of Ana Walshe’s disappearance
Prosecutors have revealed chilling details of what they allege Brian Walshe was doing in the 72 hours between when his wife Ana was last seen and when she was reported missing.
Ms Walshe, 39, vanished from her home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Her husband Brian Walshe told investigators she left to catch a flight to Washington DC to deal with a work emergency.
Concerned colleagues reported her missing on 4 January, and Mr Walshe was arrested days later for misleading the police investigation.
He appeared in court on 18 January charged with murder, where prosecutors revealed they had DNA linking Mr Walshe to his wife’s bloodied clothing, and incriminating internet searches he had made on his son’s iPad.
The following timeline dating back to Mr Walshe’s earlier conviction on art fraud is based on information from police statements, a criminal complaint affidavit, prosecutors and defence attorneys.
Missing real estate executive’s husband Brian Walshe has been charged with her murder
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 20:20
‘What’s the best state to divorce for a man?’
In the days leading up to her disappearance on 1 January, Ana Walshe had told friends of a “big surprise” in the New Year.
She sold a rental property for cash in Revere, Boston, in late December, and had liquidated cars and other expensive possessions.
In court on Wednesday, prosecutors offered a possible explanation.
A Google search history from 27 December showed that Brian Walshe looked up: “What’s the best state to divorce for a man,” according to district attorney Lynn Beland.
Then on 1 January, Mr Walshe allegedly used his son’s iPad to lookup: “How long for someone to be missing before you inherit?”
Brian Walshe’s booking photo after his arrest by Cohasset police officers (Cohasset Police Department)
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 20:50
Brian Walshe shook his head as prosecutor revealed search history on son’s iPad
Brian Walshe appeared mostly unmoved in court as a prosecutor read out the evidence that had led them to charge him with the murder of his wife Ana.
When Lynn Beland mentioned the internet search history discovered on his son’s iPad, he began shaking his head.
Among the internet searches he performed on 1 January were “how long before a body starts to smell?”, “how to stop a body from decomposing?” and “how long for someone to be missing before you inherit?”, prosecutors said.
He has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
After his previous appearance on charges of misleading a police investigation, Mr Walshe smiled broadly as he was led from the Quincy District Court.
Brian Walshe listens during his arraignment Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023, at Quincy District Court on a charge of murdering his wife Ana Walshe. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via AP)
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 21:20
Investigators find Ana Walshe’s Covid-19 vaccination card, clothing at mother-n-law’s apartment
Prosecutors revealed they had recovered Ana Walshe’s Prada purse, rain boots and her Covid-19 vaccination card from trash cans at an apartment where Brian Walshe’s mother lives.
It’s alleged Brian Walshe disposed of several trash bags in a dumpster at his mother’s address in Swampscott, including blood-stained towels and rags, and cleaning products.
Some of the items are consistent with the cleaning products purchased by Mr Walshe at a Home Depot store on 2 January.
Lynn Beland, the Norfolk County district attorney, said DNA testing by the Massachusetts Crime Lab was consistent with Ana Walshe’s.
Ana’s DNA was also found on a Tyvek suit that investigators recovered, that Brian had allegedly purchased on 2 January.
A Tyvek suit, also referred to as a hazmat suit, similar to the one that prosecutors say Brian Walshe purchased on 2 January (Home Depot)
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 21:50
Ana Walshe’s remains were thrown in a dumpster before being shredded and incinerated, prosecutors say
Prosecutors believe Ana Walshe’s remains were thrown into a dumpster before being shredded and incinerated.
The gruesome revelation came during Brian Walshe’s arraignment for his wife’s murder on Wednesday morning
Norfolk County District Attorney Lynn Beland said Mr Walshe had been seen on surveillance footage tossing a heavy garbage bag into a dumpster near an apartment in Abington, on 3 January, according to WHDH.
When investigators reached the dumpster several day later, the contents had been picked up, and shredded and incinerated at another facility.
A spokesperson for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office told The Independent that they believed this was how Mr Walshe had allegedly disposed of his wife’s body.
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 22:05
Ana Walshe was first reported missing by employer – not conman husband
The head of security at Ana Walshe’s Washington DC real estate firm first alerted authorities about her disappearance, police call logs have revealed.
Police in Cohasset, Massachusetts, state in the call logs released to the Cohasset Anchor news site that they received a call from her employer Tishman Speyer at 11.44am on 4 January to request a well-being check for Ms Walshe.
The caller tells police that the “company has contacted the husband … he has not filed a missing person report”.
The logs appear to contradict comments made by the lawyer representing Ms Walshe’s husband Brian Walshe when he appeared in court last week to be arraigned on charges of misleading police.
Boston criminal defence attorney Tracy Miner told the court that her client had contacted Tishman Speyer to notify them Ms Walshe was missing.
Head of security at Ana Walshe’s DC real estate firm told police: “Company has contacted the husband… he has not filed a missing person report”.
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 22:20
Timeline of Ana Walshe’s disappearance
Prosecutors have revealed chilling details of what they allege Brian Walshe was doing in the 72 hours between when his wife Ana was last seen and when she was reported missing.
Ms Walshe, 39, vanished from her home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Her husband Brian Walshe told investigators she left to catch a flight to Washington DC to deal with a work emergency.
Concerned colleagues reported her missing on 4 January, and Mr Walshe was arrested days later for misleading the police investigation.
He appeared in court on 18 January charged with murder, where prosecutors revealed they had DNA linking Mr Walshe to his wife’s bloodied clothing, and incriminating internet searches he had made on his son’s iPad.
Here’s what we know about Ana Walshe’s disappearance so far.
Missing real estate executive’s husband Brian Walshe has been charged with her murder
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 23:00
Brian Walshe’s attorney accuses prosecutors of leaking evidence
After Brian Walshe’s court appearance, his attorney Tracy Miner released a blistering statement accusing prosecutors of leaking evidence to the media.
“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,” Ms Miner said in a statement to The Independent.
“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.”
Ms Miner said it was “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.”
“We shall see what they have and what evidence is admissible in court, where the case will ultimately be decided.”
Tracy Miner, one of Boston’s top criminal defence lawyers, is representing Brian Walshe on murder charges (Miner Siddall Lawfirm)
Bevan Hurley18 January 2023 23:30
ICYMI: Brian Walshe, husband of missing woman Ana Walshe, charged with murder
Brian Walshe, the husband of missing Massachusetts woman Ana Walshe, has been charged with murder over two weeks after her New Year’s disappearance.
Michael Morrissey, the Norfolk District Attorney, said in a video statement on Tuesday that his office has “been involved in an intensive investigation into the fate of Anna Walshe” since she was reported missing on 4 January.
The DA added that earlier in the probe, police found sufficient evidence “to believe that her husband Brian Walshe, age 47, had misled police investigators on material matters important to the search for Anna Walshe”.
“He has pled not guilty to those charges and is currently being held at the Norfolk County House of Corrections,” Mr Morrissey said. “The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with the murder of his wife.”
Mr Morrissey added that Mr Walshe “will be transported to the Quincy District Court for arraignment [on] the charge of murder”.