10 New Revelations About Missing Massachusetts Mom Case: Ana Walshe
Lots of new details have been unveiled in the murder case against Brian Walshe.
On January 1, 2023, Ana Walshe, a real estate executive and mom of three young sons, vanished. According to her husband, Brian Walshe, Ana left their home early in the morning via a rideshare to catch a flight for Washington, D.C., two days earlier than her January 3 reservation due to an emergency. However, she never showed up to work and her employer, Tishman Speyer, reported her missing on January 4. Here is what we know so far about the case, including the newest revelations.
Police arrested Brian Walshe on January 8, formally charging him with murdering his wife on January 17. On January 18, he pleaded not guilty during his formal arraignment.
During his formal arraignment, prosecutor Lynn Beland outlined the evidence against Brian Walshe. She revealed that investigators discovered ten trash bags filled with evidence, including towels, rags, slippers, tape, gloves, cleaning agents, Ana's Covid-19 vaccination card, a hacksaw, and a hatchet, the prosecutor said.
They also found Ana's personal items, including a portion of a necklace known to be hers. Investigators also found two knives in the basement of the home Brian and Ana shared as well as a heavy-duty tarp and plastic liners. Additionally, prosecutors maintain they have surveillance and evidence from Brian's phone proving he bought items such as towels, bathmats, squeegees, and a trash can at Lowe's.
Some of the items found in the trash cans had human blood on them, which were tested by the Massachusetts state crime lab. Both Ana and Brian's DNA were detected on slippers and a Tyvek suit – a protective near-full-body suit.
Police used Brian's cellphone to track his whereabouts on January 3rd. They found he visited an apartment complex in Abington, 30 minutes away from her home. He allegedly tossed what appeared to be a heavy garbage bag at that location.
However, the bags and their contents had already been "picked up and taken to a location for shredding and incinerated. By the time police located them, they were already destroyed," prosecutor Beland said.
Ana's body has yet to be located. Prosecutors believe it was incinerated before they could locate her.
According to Beland, on December 27, Brian Walshe searched the internet about what state is the best for divorce. Then, at 4:55 a.m. on January 1, shortly after Ana was last seen, prosecutors believe that Brian used his son's iPad. They maintain he searched for how long before a body starts to smell, how to stop a body from decomposing, how to dispose of a body, how to throw away body parts, and how long DNA lasts.
On January 2, Walshe continued his suspicious internet searches. This time he searched for information about whether a hacksaw is the best tool to dismember, can you be charged with murder without a body, and whether a body with broken teeth can be identified.
January 3, the day Ana failed to show up to work, Brian's cell phone data put him at the apartment complex where he is suspected to have dumped a heavy garbage bag into a dumpster. He also continued with internet searches, this time about the rate of decomposition of a body in a plastic bag, and whether baking soda can make a body smell good.
Prosecutors believe that Walshe murdered his wife instead of divorcing her. They also believe he dismembered her body. "Rather than divorce, it is believed that Brian Walshe dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body."
Despite the evidence, Brian Walshe's defense attorney does not think prosecutors have enough evidence to convict her client. "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," Walshe's defense attorney Tracy Miner said in a statement released Wednesday.
