The husband of missing Massachusetts mom Ana Walshe took his son’s iPad and began a series of chilling Google searches in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, prosecutors said at his arraignment Wednesday.
The searches included “How long before a body starts to smell?” “10 ways to dispose of a body if you really need to,” “How long does DNA last,” “How to clean blood from wooden floors,” among others. Another search asked whether a body can be identified from “broken teeth.”
Brian Walshe pleaded not guilty to the murder charges at his arraignment. Appearing in Quincy District Court, he stared blankly ahead as prosecutors detailed the evidence against him.
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The charges against Walshe come about two weeks after his wife vanished without a trace, prompting concerned co-workers to alert police to her disappearance.
Pamela Bardhi, a friend and former colleague of Ana’s, watched this morning’s court hearing, which she described afterwards as “brutal.”
“Knowing her, and knowing her spirit and her energy, and hearing what they came out with today, was absolutely horrific,” Bardhi told The Daily Beast. “Like, my mind cant even process that a human would do such a thing, to be honest with you... And taking the son’s iPad, on top of it? I think of it, and I’m like, ‘How? How? How? How?’”
Walshe, a 47-year-old convicted art fraudster who pleaded guilty in 2021 to selling a pair of bogus Andy Warhol paintings, initially told investigators his wife had left their home in the Boston suburb of Cohasset early on New Year’s Day and headed to Washington, D.C., to handle a work emergency.
But that version of events soon began to unravel after investigators said they found blood and a bloody knife in the basement of the home. Prosecutors said they also learned Brian Walshe had purchased hundreds of dollars worth of cleaning supplies a day after he claimed his wife had left.
Shortly after the discovery of the bloody knife, cops found trash bags containing blood, a rug, a hatchet, a hacksaw, and used cleaning supplies at a waste transfer station in Peabody, about 90 minutes north of Cohasset.
Prosecutors on Wednesday revealed that several of Ana Walshe’s belongings had also been found at the trash facility, including a pair of Hunter boots, a Prada purse, and a COVID-19 vaccination card in her name. The 39-year-old mother of three was reportedly last seen wearing Hunter boots.
Ana Walshe “didn’t really mention [Brian] much,” Bardhi said after Wednesday’s hearing. Bardhi—who worked with Ana in real estate and was part of the same business circles—said she thought at the time that her friend was just “keeping it professional.”
“She always talked about her boys, but not necessarily him,” Bardhi said. “Sometimes, when you’re a professional woman, it’s just that way. When I’m with business acquaintances, I’m talking about business. So, that’s why I never thought it was anything alarming. But now I’m thinking, ‘Oh dear, maybe there is something that I missed somewhere.’”
Brian Walshe will be held without bail pending indictment. His defense attorney, Tracy Miner, suggested after the arraignment Wednesday that the prosecution’s case “isn’t that strong.”
“I intend to win this case in court, not in the media, which has already tried and convicted Mr. Walshe,” she said in a statement.
Indeed, the coverage thus far has not been kind to Brian Walshe. As Boston 25 News reported last week, Walshe was the subject of a 2014 Washington, D.C. Metro Police report after allegedly threatening to kill his wife and her friends. Prosecutors dropped the case after Ana, the one who had reported Brian to police, refused to cooperate with investigators.
Less than 16 months later, the pair tied the knot.
Although Brian Walshe’s family and friends have described him as a “sociopath” and a privileged layabout who stole nearly $1 million from his own father, Ana Walshe, according to Bardhi, was “a force to be reckoned with, literally.”
“You walked into the room and you’d feel her,” Bardhi said. “She was like, a huge energy. And a very positive one... I described her as a ‘supermom,’ and still being able to dance and be happy. That’s the kind of spirit she was, she was always happy, smiling and doing her thing. That’s why it’s so horrifying to think that such a beautiful soul had to endure such an end.”
