Jury begins deliberating in murder trial of Brian Walshe, who admitted to dismembering wife

BOSTON (AP) — Jurors began deliberating Friday in the murder trial of Brian Walshethe Massachusetts man accused of killing and dismembering his wife more than two years ago.

Ana Walshe’s body has never been found since she disappeared on New Year’s Day 2023. The same day his wife was last seen alive, Walshe went to multiple pharmacies and hardware stores to buy heavy-duty cleaning supplies, a Tyvek protective suit and a utility knife, according to prosecutors.

He made the trips after early morning internet searches including, “How long before a body starts to smell?” and “Dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body.” Over the next several days, prosecutors said, he looked for information online about how to cut apart a body into pieces with a hacksaw, not reporting his wife missing until one of her colleagues noticed her absence from work and contacted police.

On the day jury selection had been set to begin last month, Walshe pleaded guilty to misleading police and dismembering his wife’s body, but hopes to convince jurors that he didn’t kill her. His attorneys have tried to put reasonable doubt in jurors’ minds, acknowledging that Walshe lied to investigators while arguing he panicked after discovering Ana dead at their home following a New Year’s Eve gathering.

His attorneys rested Thursday without calling any witnesses, despite speculation that Walshe might testify. Jurors deliberated for several hours Friday before stopping work until Monday.

News update No body, no cause of death

When questioned by authorities after Ana was reported missing, Walshe told police his wife had left Massachusetts on New Year’s Day for a work emergency in Washington, D.C., though witnesses testified there was no record of her booking a ride or boarding a flight. He did not contact her employer until Jan. 4.

He later admitted that he dismembered her body and disposed of it in dumpster, saying that he did so only after panicking when he found his wife had died in bed.

At the time, Brian Walshe was at home awaiting sentencing in an unrelated art fraud case involving the sale of two fake Andy Warhol paintings and owed about $475,000 in restitution. Investigators testified that Ana Walshe had taken out a $2.7 million life insurance policy naming him as beneficiary.

With no body ever recovered, investigators have been unable to determine a cause of death — something the defense has tried to use to their advantage.

“There’s evidence that he lied to police, there’s evidence that he searched the internet, there’s evidence that he disposed of the body, but there is no proof in all of the evidence that you’ve heard and been presented that he ever once thought about harming the woman he loved,” defense attorney Larry Tipton told jurors during closing arguments.

Tipton urged jurors not to base their decision about whether Walshe killed his wife on the “upsetting and terrifying and at times, disgusting” acts he admitted to doing to her remains after she was dead. Instead, he said, they should focus on the evidence that he was not the one who caused her death.

News update Internet searches, purchases and blood

Prosecutors, meanwhile, have pointed to Walshe’s actions as evidence of premeditation. In addition to other internet searches, Walshe specifically looked for “ways to dispose of body parts after murder.”

Jurors were shown surveillance footage of him at stores like CVS, Walgreens and Lowe’s, where he purchased items including hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. They reviewed photos of tools that investigators testified tested positive for blood, including a hacksaw and a hatchet.

Prosecutors also connected him to items found at a trash processing facility near his mother’s home, including towels, a Tyvek suit, cleaning agents, a Prada purse, boots like those his wife was last seen wearing and her COVID-19 vaccination card.

Prosecutor Anne Yas argued during her closing statements that it was extremely unlikely that Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old in good health, would have dropped dead out of nowhere. She had a home gym at her Washington, D.C., home and regularly attended yoga and exercise classes, including on the morning of Dec. 31, 2022 — likely the last full day she was alive.

Yas said the only motivation Walshe could have for disposing of his wife’s body, as prosecutors allege, would be to hide evidence of what he did to her.

“The defendant didn’t want anyone to find Ana Walshe’s body and to know how she died, so the defendant cut up Ana’s body — the woman that he claimed to love — and he threw her in dumpsters,” she said.

News update Signs of strain

Friends described Ana’s final weeks as emotionally strained. Gem Mutlu, who spent New Year’s Eve with the couple, said they appeared “very much in love,” though he later learned Ana and another man had exchanged messages that night.

Another friend, Alissa Kirby, told jurors Ana seemed exhausted by travel and stressed about her marriage. The two had recently grown close, walking together and going to karaoke; Kirby teared up when shown photos of them. She testified that Ana considered moving her family to Washington and said Brian often questioned whether she loved him.

Kirby also recounted two messages from Brian shortly before Ana was reported missing — one on Christmas, when he asked if she knew where Ana was, and another on Jan. 3: “I know we did this a week ago but have you heard from Ana?”