Brian Walshe held without bail on murder charge in wife's disappearance
Massachusetts fraudster Brian Walshe was ordered held without bail in the disappearance of his wife Wednesday, as prosecutors revealed he used his son’s iPad to make disturbing Google searches including “how to stop a body from decomposing” and “how long before a body starts to smell.”
Walshe, 47, appeared stone-faced and at one point shook his head as he was arraigned in Quincy District Court on charges of murder and tampering with a body without proper authority stemming from the disappearance of his wife, Ana Walshe.
Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland on Wednesday laid out Brian’s sketchy behavior in the days after he claimed Ana vanished in the early hours of New Year’s Day, when the mom of three allegedly left their Cohasset home for a “work emergency.”
Around 4:55 a.m. Jan. 1, Beland alleged, records indicate that Brian used his young son’s iPad to google “how long before a body starts to smell?” and “how to stop a body from decomposing?” He also searched “how long for someone to be missing to inherit.”
The criminal complaint against Brian, released Wednesday, claimed in one count he “did assault and beat Ana Walshe, with intent to murder such person, and by such assault and beating did kill and murder such person.”
Ana supported the family, including the couple’s three sons, ages 2 through 6, through her high-powered real estate job. Brian, who pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in 2021, was under home confinement at the time of her disappearance.
Brian’s grisly internet searches continued throughout the morning of Jan. 1, with queries including “how long does DNA last?” and “dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body.”
Brian, who was handcuffed and shackled and wearing beige pants and a gray sweater, shook his head at one point as Beland read from the damning list.
Brian made several more incriminating searches throughout the week, prosecutors alleged. After buying three carpets at Home Goods on Jan. 2, he allegedly googled “hacksaw best tool to dismember,” “can you be charged with murder without a body?”, and “can you identify a body with broken teeth?”
That same day, Beland said, Brian went to Home Depot. Previous reports confirmed that he bought $450 in cleaning supplies; Wednesday’s summary also listed a Tyvek body suit, mops and baking soda among his purchases.
On Jan. 3, a man in a Volvo vehicle matching Brian’s description was seen on surveillance placing heavy trash bags in dumpsters at apartment complexes in Brockton and Abington.
That same day, he also allegedly made searches related to hair on a dead body and the rate of decomposition of remains in a plastic bag versus those in the woods, plus the impact of baking soda on the odor of decomposition.
By the time investigators were alerted to Ana’s disappearance and checked the dumpsters in question, Beland explained, the bags had already been transferred and destroyed.
The same could not be said, however, for the trash bags Brian was thought to have disposed of at his mother’s apartment complex in Swampscott, where his phone placed him on Jan. 5.
Police traced the bags to a trash transfer station in Peabody, north of Boston. In addition to the bloodstained carpet, hatchet and hacksaw that were previously reported, Beland said law enforcement found towels, slippers, tape, and a Tyvek suit matching the one Brian purchased days earlier.
Also among the rubbish was a Prada purse and Hunter boots matching what Ana was said to have been wearing when she was last seen. A COVID-19 vaccination card in her name was found as well.
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Beland told the court that DNA analysis of the items revealed both Ana and Brian’s genetic material on the bloody slipper and on the Tyvek suit.
Beland concluded her portrait of the alleged scheme by noting that, on Dec. 27, just days before Ana went missing, Brian googled “what’s the best state for divorce for a man?”
Latest on missing mother of three Ana Walshe
“Rather than divorce, it is believed that Brian Walshe dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body,” Beland said.
The judge agreed with the prosecutors’ request to hold Brian without bail. The suspect was then escorted from the courtroom.
Brian Walshe is next expected to appear over Zoom for a status hearing on Feb. 9.
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