Brian Walshe, the husband of a missing Massachusetts woman who is facing murder charges in relation to her disappearance, allegedly searched online for what the best ways are to get rid of human remains and what tools are best to dismember a body, a prosecutor revealed on Wednesday.
Walshe, 47, is the husband of Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old mother of three who was last seen on New Year’s Day and reported missing several days later by her employer in Washington, where the couple has a home from which she often commutes during the week for work at a real estate company.
As of Jan. 18, the woman’s body has not been recovered.
In the case’s latest update, prosecutor Lynn Beland said in a court on Wednesday that investigators found Brian Walshe searched on Google for terms such as “how long before a body starts to smell,” “best ways to dispose of a body,” and “hacksaw best tool to dismember.”
Walshe reportedly searched for this information on Jan. 1, and for several days after, which is around the same time he claims his wife left their home early in a ride-hailing service for the airport to go to Washington for work.
Investigators have not found any evidence that she took such a ride.
Meanwhile, security footage at a Home Depot showed that Walshe purchased $450 worth of cleaning supplies and a hatchet on Jan. 2. A day later, surveillance video obtained by investigators showed a man resembling Walshe throwing away what appears to be trash bags into a dumpster located in Abington.
“Surveillance shows the defendant’s Volvo, as well as a man fitting the defendant’s appearance, exit the car near the dumpster,” Beland said. “He walks to the dumpster carrying a garbage bag. He’s leaning, and it appears to be heavy, as he has to heft it into the dumpster.”
The prosecutor also revealed that investigators have made several horrid discoveries at the couple’s family home.
On Jan. 4, when the investigation was still considered a missing person case, police noticed Walshe’s car had its seats folded down and a plastic liner in the back when they went to the home to perform a well-being check. Officials later found the presence of blood in the car and on a knife in the home’s basement.
As police continued their investigation, they found trash bags on Jan. 8 at a facility not far from Walshe’s mother’s home.
Beland said some of the bags Walshe disposed of have likely been incinerated, but authorities found several bags that contained a hatchet, a hacksaw, towels, a Prada purse, boots belonging to the missing woman, and her COVID-19 vaccination card, among several other items.
The prosecutor also noted that the items had what appeared to be human blood on them, and testing determined that both Ana and Brian Walshe were “contributors” to the DNA on them.
On Tuesday, Walshe was ordered to be held without bail in Quincy District Court after prosecutors charged him with his wife’s murder. He was initially arrested on Jan. 8 and held on $500,000 bail for misleading police investigating the missing mother’s disappearance.
“Additional details of the investigation and the evidence that supported those [murder] charges are likely to be presented at arraignment, but will not be disclosed at this time,” Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a video statement on Tuesday.
Prior Convictions
Walshe’s prior criminal offenses include wire fraud, interstate transportation for a scheme to defraud, possession of converted goods, and unlawful monetary transaction, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. He pleaded guilty in 2021 to those charges.
The case revolved around Walshe allegedly taking two original Andy Warhol paintings from a friend in South Korea and putting them on eBay. He allegedly sold fake copies of the paintings, and he is still awaiting sentencing in that case.
Walshe had been on home confinement with some exceptions while awaiting sentencing in the fraud case.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.