Brian Walshe Charged With Wife Ana Walshe’s Murder. Here’s What to Know

Ana Walshe’s husband murdered and dismembered her, then disposed of her body in dumpsters, prosecutors say.

The new allegations about the fate of the 39-year-old real estate investment manager and mother of three young boys from Cohasset, Mass., were released Wednesday at the arraignment of her husband Brian Walshe.

On Tuesday, Brian Walshe, 47, was charged with her murder. He appeared in court on Wednesday morning. “Rather than divorce it is believed that Brian Walshe dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body,” prosecutor Lynn Beland said Wednesday at Brian’s arraignment. The judge granted Beland’s request to deny Brian bail.

Investigators are still searching for Ana’s remains in dumpsters around the Boston area.

Ana reportedly had dinner with her husband and a friend on New Year’s Eve, and

Brian told authorities that she left the couple’s Massachusetts home early the next morning for Washington D.C.—where her company is based—for one of her frequent work trips. On Jan. 4, Brian reported her missing.

Prior to being charged with murder, Brian was arrested on Jan. 8 for misleading authorities in the investigation. The day after he reported last seeing his wife, he allegedly bought hundreds of dollars worth of cleaning supplies, according to prosecutors. Blood weapons were found in and near the couple’s home—all of which Brian failed to disclose to the police, authorities said. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of lying to authorities.

Here’s what to know about the case.

When did Ana Walshe go missing?

Ana Walshe was reported missing on January 4, according to Cohasset Police Chief, William Quigley, who spoke on the case at a press conference on January 6. Quigley said the authorities received missing person reports from Walshe’s employer and her husband simultaneously that day.

Brian told police that Ana took a ride share from her home in Cohasset to Boston Logan International Airport for a flight bound to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Quigley said that police have been in contact with rideshare companies, but have been unable to confirm if Ana actually got a ride to the airport or ever got on a flight. None of Ana’s debit or credit cards have been active since January 1.

Quigley shared that Brian reported that Ana was called to fly to Washington on January 1 due to a work emergency. Ana was originally supposed to fly out on January 3. Detectives found evidence of the January 3 booking, but confirmed that Ana never got on that flight.

The case against Brian Walshe

Police allege that many of the statements Brian gave after his wife’s disappearance were untruthful. Brian has been confined to his home for the past several months, while awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty in a federal fraud case involving counterfeit art.

Brian’s federal fraud charges from 2018, include allegedly selling fake Andy Warhol artwork. While awaiting sentencing, Brian’s movement has been restricted and he’s only permitted to leave his home for court approved reasons, such as to pick his kids up from school.

Brian told police that on Jan. 1, after his wife left, he made a trip about 30 miles north to see his mother in Swampscott, Mass., also buying groceries and getting home that evening. Police could not verify Brian’s trip north, and allege that he didn’t appear in any surveillance footage of stores he said he stopped at, nor produce any receipts for the groceries.

According to Brian’s arraignment, he was seen on video surveillance on Jan. 2 making an unapproved trip to Home Depot buying $450 worth of cleaning products in cash, including tarps and buckets. When authorities searched the couple’s home, they found blood and a broken knife in the basement and matched Ana’s DNA to blood samples collected. Brian’s car has been impounded and it shows evidence of having recently been cleaned, according to CBS.

Authorities also found materials such as hacksaw and bloodstained cloth in a dumpster in nearby Peabody, Mass., which they believe are linked to Ana’s disappearance. Investigators also uncovered Brian’s internet search from that week, which included questions about divorce, inheritance, and how to dismember a body, according to law enforcement.

Beland reported that Ana’s phone pinged from her home on January 1 or 2, a day or two after Brian alleged that Ana had left the state.

In the aftermath of Ana’s disappearance, a police incident report from 2014 filed in Washington D.C. has come to light regarding the couple’s past. In it, Ana alleges that Brian threatened to kill her and her friends, but the case was later closed. According to affidavits from 2019, when Brian carried out an unsuccessful fight to contest his father’s will, relatives and friends of the family described Brian as untrustworthy and sociopathic.