New details have emerged about the police investigation into Brian Walshe, the Massachusetts man accused of killing and dismembering his real estate executive wife.
Ana Walshe, 39, went missing on New Year’s Day and Brian was arrested in connection with the disappearance a week later. At a hearing in court Thursday, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Greg Connor revealed that Brian suspected his wife was having an affair—and even hired a private investigator to follow her—before he allegedly murdered her.
Later Thursday, WCVB published information and images from newly unsealed documents concerning the early stages of the investigation into Brian Walshe that shed more light on the allegations presented in court. Among the disclosures was a previously unreported police interview with a man in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 7—the day before Brian’s arrest.
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In D.C., authorities spoke with a man who said he had been in a “dating” relationship with Ana Walshe. The documents say the man told investigators: “The relationship had become more serious over the past several months and they had spent Thanksgiving together in Dublin.” The man, who has not been identified, told WCVB he “had nothing to say” when contacted for comment.
A friend of Ana Walshe’s also said the slain woman had given her husband an “ultimatum” over his looming sentencing on federal art fraud charges and that she had planned to move with her children to D.C.
On Jan. 8, the day after police spoke with the man involved with the alleged affair, law enforcement confronted Walshe about suspicious internet searches on his son’s iPad made on the night of his wife’s disappearance. They included queries such as “ways to dispose of a dead body if you really needed to” and “how to stop a body from decomposing.”
Walshe reportedly could only explain the suspicious searches by saying it was his son’s iPad, and his attorney ended the interview when officers asked how a 6-year-old could make the searches without any spelling mistakes.
WCVB also reported that police in Cohasset—where the Walshes lived—received a strange email account the day before Brian Walshe was arrested apparently claiming Ana Walshe had been kidnapped. “We have the so named Ana walshe with us here,” the email read, making reference to an unspecified deal worth $127,000. “She messed up,” the email reportedly continued, “We have her here with us and if she doesn’t pay the money... then she’ll never be back.” No additional information was disclosed about the message.
Along with those details, WCVB published surveillance photos of Brian Walshe in the days after his wife disappeared. In one, he can reportedly be seen shopping at a Home Depot in Rockland, where police say he purchased mops, buckets, tarps, a Tyvek suit, a hatchet, 12 pounds of baking soda, and other items. Another image shows him carrying what looks like a trash bag from the trunk of his car outside a liquor store in Swampscott, the Massachusetts town where his mother lives. Police reportedly said he visited six dumpsters in different locations over the course of five days after Ana Walshe vanished.
Brian Walshe has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, misleading investigators, and improperly conveying a human body.
