Brian Walshe pleaded not guilty to beating his wife Ana to death this morning as prosecutors laid out a mountain of evidence against him, including dozens of internet searches about murder and dismemberment, and the mountain of DNA found in the dumpster near his mother’s home.
Walshe, 47, is accused of beating Ana to death in the basement of their home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, on January 1 in the early hours of the morning.
In the days that followed, prosecutors say he used their son’s iPad to Google terms like ’10 ways to dismember a body’, ‘does baking soda make a body smell good?’ and ‘how long is someone missing before you can inherit?’
On December 27, three days before she vanished, he Googled: ‘Best state for divorce for a man.’
‘Rather than divorce, Brian Walshe dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body,’ prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Brian Walshe pleaded not guilty to beating his wife Ana to death this morning as prosecutors laid out a mountain of evidence against him
They revealed that Ana’s DNA – and Brian’s – were found on blood-stained clothes found in a dumpster near her mother’s house along with the Hunter boots and Prada handbag he said she was wearing when she vanished.
He shook his head during the brief hearing and was denied bail. Brian will return to court on February 9th for a status hearing.
has arrived in court in Massachusetts to be charged with murdering his missing wife Ana.
Walshe, 47, arrived at Quincy District Court early in a black SUV. He entered through a side door, wearing a gray top, khaki pants and black sneakers.
He is yet to enter a plea on the murder charge.
Walshe, 47, arrived at Quincy District Court early in a black SUV. He entered through a side door, wearing a gray top, khaki pants and black sneakers
The 47-year-old had chains around his waist and was handcuffed as he was led into court
Ana Walshe has not been seen since 1.30am on January 1. Police say Brian, her husband of 18 years, murdered her. Her body has not been found
According to friends, she and Brian had been fighting over her grueling work schedule.
She had been spending more time working in Washington DC for the real estate firm Tishman Speyer, while her husband was at home in Cohasset, Massachusetts.
The hearing is expected to begin shortly after 9am.
Ana, a Serbian immigrant who met wealthy Walshe in 2005 while working in hotels, was enjoying her busy working life when she disappeared.
She regularly posted about her colleagues on social media, where mentions of her husband were few and far between.
She’d been working for Tishman Speyer for two years, and spending much of her time away from her family.
On January 1, she failed to show up to work in Washington DC.
Four days later, the head of security for Tishman Speyer in DC called police in Cohasset, where she lived with her family, requesting a welfare check.
The caller said he’d informed Brian that Ana was missing.
On January 8, Brian was arrested for misleading the police investigation into his wife’s disappearance.
It then emerged that police had found traces of blood in the couple’s basement.
A search of a trash transfer center later turned up bloody items including a hatchet and a rug.
Walshe had researched ‘how to dispose of a 115-pound body’ on the internet, and he’d also been seen lingering around a trash dumpster next to his mother’s house, according to prosecutors.
Ana, 39, had been enjoying her life as a busy working mother, splitting her time between Cohasset, Massachusetts, and Washington DC, where she worked for a real estate firm
Long before his wife went missing, he was arrested on suspicion of stealing and trying to sell two fake Andy Warhol paintings.
Family friends described him as a ‘sociopath’ who turned on his ailing, elderly father in a desperate grab for his wealth.
After the murder charge was announced against her husband last night, friends started paying tribute to the vivacious mother-of-three.
Abdulla Almutairi, her colleague and best friend, said: ‘You’ll always be my best friend and family.
‘Rest easy, Heaven is a lot brighter; be the sunshine and the moonlight that you always are.’
