A bone fragment was found on a hacksaw that investigators say was tossed in a dumpster by Brian Walshe after he allegedly killed and dismembered his wife, Ana.
Brian, 47, appeared in Norfolk County Superior Court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, misleading police, obstruction of justice, and improper conveyance of a human body.
He’s accused of killing mother of three Ana, 39, on New Year’s Day. Her body has not yet been found. However, investigators say they have evidence that links Brian to the murder.
In court documents made public this week, it was revealed that they had found a ‘small bone fragment’ on the hacksaw that Brian had allegedly dumped near Ana’s mother’s home in Swampscott, Massachusetts.
A search of the dumpsters also led to investigators finding Ana’s COVID-19 vaccination card and Volkswagen keys. They found pieces of her clothing and jewelry including a Hermes watch and Gucci necklace, Hunter boots, a black Prada purse and a short black coat, according to the court documents.
A bone fragment was found on a hacksaw that investigators say was tossed in a dumpster by accused killer Brian Walshe after he allegedly killed and dismembered his wife, Ana. Pictured: from January 3: Walshe is seen tossing a trash bag in a dumpster outside an apartment complex in Massachusetts
In another image, he is shown in the parking lot of Vinnin Liquors in Swampscott (pictured) where he’s seen throwing out a black garbage bag around 5:13 p.m. on January 1
Brian’s attorney suggested that she was killed either by someone else, or that she chose to disappear. ‘It has been four months since she was last seen. As your honor knows, a person is not presumed dead because they’re missing for seven years, because it is easy for a single person to disappear if they want to disappear. ‘There has been no body found. There’s been no indication of if she died, how she died. There’s been no murder weapon. There’s no motive.’
Ana Walshe, who is originally from Serbia, was last seen early January 1 following a New Year’s Eve dinner at her Massachusetts home with her husband and a family friend, prosecutors said.
Brian Walshe said she was called back to Washington on New Year’s Day for a work emergency. He didn’t contact her employer until January 4, saying she was missing. The company – the first to notify police Ana Walshe was missing – said there was no emergency, prosecutors said.
Last week, surveillance footage photos revealed that Brian was out buying cleaning supplies and also showed him a trash bag in a dumpster in the hours after his wife Ana was murdered.
The images became public last week in court filings submitted as part of the murder case against Brian, who prosecutors say beat Ana to death then dismembered her in the basement of their home.
One image shows Brian wearing a face mask and pushing a shopping cart in Rockland Home Depot on January 8 between 4:12 p.m. and 4:56 p.m., according to the search warrant.
The warrant revealed that he had several items in his cart including, three mops and brushes, two large clear tarps, drop cloth, two rolls of Scotch Heavy duty tape, a Tyvek suit with hood boot coverall, a mop bucket with ringer, three buckets with lids, two splash-resistant goggles, a utility knife, two 12-pound bags of baking soda and a hatchet.
Those items were later found in a search of their home on January 8.
In another image, Brian is shown in the parking lot of Vinnin Liquors in Swampscott, where he’s seen throwing out a black garbage bag around 5:13 p.m. on January 1.
He was spotted just an hour later at Lowe’s in Danvers, where he allegedly bought $450 worth of tools, including a hacksaw, according to the warrant. That hacksaw was found by investigators who believe is what he used to kill Ana.
Walshe pushing his cart through the home store. He is accused of murdering and dismembering Ana at around 4.30am on January 1
Brian Walshe is shown on January 1 purchasing cleaning supplies, a hack saw, hatchet and other items from Lowes, hours after allegedly murdering his wife Ana
Ana, a mother-of-three, had been having an affair for several months with an unidentified man. The man told police that the pair spent Thanksgiving together in Dublin
The court documents also revealed that investigators also found rugs that appeared to be from the Walshe’s living room and kitchen that ‘contained red brown staining’ and ‘numerous items identical’ to Brian’s alleged purchases he had made at Lowe’s and Home Depot.
The court documents also revealed that Ana, a mother-of-three, had been having an affair for several months with an unidentified man. The man told police that the pair spent Thanksgiving together in Dublin.
By the time she died, Ana had become the family’s sole breadwinner. She was working in real estate in Washington DC, while her husband remained in Massachusetts with their three young sons.
Brian was awaiting sentencing for a fraud conviction, after stealing and then passing off as real an Andy Warhol painting.
Friends say Ana was ready to leave him and broke down in tears at a dinner in the days before she vanished.
The new information about the affair were contained within a search warrant for the home which became public yesterday.
Police say Ana was murdered at around 4am on January 1, three hours after saying goodbye to her friend and former boss who they rang in the New Year with.
In the hours following her death, Brian is accused of using his son’s iPad to search Google for ‘how to dispose of a body’ and ‘how long before a body starts to smell’.
His attorney conceded that the searches were ‘problematic’.
The next day, he visited several stores including Home Depot, Lowes and CVS, buying a combination of cleaning agents, plastic sheets, hazmat suits, a hatchet and a hacksaw.
By the time she died, Ana had become the family’s sole breadwinner. She was working in real estate in Washington DC, while her husband remained in Massachusetts with their three young sons after being convicted of fraud
Walshe being led into court today. He shook his head as the charges were read aloud
Brian was seen in the days following visiting the dumpsters of apartment complexes near his mother’s home.
It is the prosecution’s claim that Ana’s dismembered remains were in the bags, but that they were removed by trash services and incinerated by the time police searched the dumpsters.
They discovered items of clothing and jewelry – including the Prada boots, Hermes watch and Gucci necklace she’d been wearing when last seen alive – along with traces of her blood and DNA.
Last week, Brian’s attorney admitted that his mother had hired a private investigator to trail Ana in Washington DC because she suspected she was having an affair.
She however claimed that Brian had nothing to do with it, and had no reason to suspect his wife of infidelity until she vanished.
They made the claim that Ana could have ‘disappeared’ because she wanted to.
Prosecutors have also pointed to the fact that Brian stood to gain $2.7million in life insurance payouts in the event of his wife’s death as a motive.
His attorneys dismissed that suggestion yesterday, saying instead that he had ‘no need’ for money because his mother was so wealthy.
Brian is scheduled to be back in court in August.
