A Boston-area man was sentenced Thursday to life in a Massachusetts state prison for the grisly murder of his wife, who disappeared nearly three years ago and whose body has never been found.
Brian Walshe was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the killing of Ana Walshe. The sentence carries no possibility of parole.
He pleaded guilty in November to misleading police and illegally disposing of a body after admitting he had dismembered her body and disposed of it in a dumpster. He said he did so only after panicking when he found she had died in bed.
Ana Walshe, a real estate agent who immigrated from Serbia, was last seen early Jan. 1, 2023, after a New Year's Eve dinner at the couple's home.
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During the trial, prosecutors leaned heavily on digital evidence found on devices connected to Walshe, including online searches for "dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body," "how long before a body starts to smell" and "hacksaw best tool to dismember."
Investigators also found searches on a laptop that included "how long for someone missing to inherit," "how long missing to be dead," and "can you throw away body parts," prosecutors told the jury.
Surveillance video also showed a man resembling Walshe throwing what appeared to be heavy trash bags into a dumpster not far from the couple's home. A subsequent search of a trash processing facility near his mother's home uncovered bags containing a hatchet, hammer, sheers, hacksaw, towels and a protective Tyvek suit, cleaning agents, a Prada purse, boots like the ones Ana Walshe was last seen wearing and a COVID-19 vaccination card with her name.
Prosecutors told the jury that the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory examined some of the items and found Ana and Brian Walshe's DNA on the Tyvek suit and Ana Walshe's DNA on the hatchet, hacksaw and other items.
Prosecutors floated several possible motives for the killing.
An insurance executive testified that Brian Walshe was the sole beneficiary of Ana Walshe's $1 million life insurance policy, suggesting a financial motive. But prosecutors also portrayed a marriage that was falling apart; Brian Walshe was confined at their home in the affluent coastal community of Cohasset, about 15 miles southeast of Boston, awaiting sentencing on an art fraud case. Ana Walshe meanwhile commuted from their home to Washington, D.C., where she worked.
The year before she died, his wife had started an affair, details of which were shared in court by her boyfriend William Fastow. Brian Walshe's attorney denied that his client knew about the affair.
In his opening, Walshe's attorney, Larry Tipton, argued it was not a murder case but what he called a "sudden unexplained death." He said the couple loved each other and were planning for the future.
But Walshe's defense never called a witness and Brian Walshe declined to testify.
When initially questioned by investigators, Walshe said his wife had been called to Washington on New Year's Day for a work emergency. But witnesses testified there was no evidence Ana Walshe took a ride service to the airport or boarded a flight. Walshe didn't contact her employer until Jan. 4.
The couple's three young children are in state custody.
