Ana Walshe, a Massachusetts mother of three, has not been seen since January 1. Prosecutors say her husband Brian Walshe killed her, dismembered her and disposed of her remains – though they have not said whether her remains have been found.
Brian Walshe told police he last saw her on New Year’s Day when she left their home in Cohasset for a flight to Washington, DC for her job. But authorities accused him of misleading investigators and charged him with her murder.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
His defense attorney has noted no body has been found and said there is “no indication of if she died, how she died” and no murder weapon or motive established.
Using information from a criminal affidavit, police, prosecutors and defense attorneys, CNN assembled a timeline of the couple’s movements and actions, from his earlier legal trouble to her recent disappearance.
September 2018
Brian Walshe’s father, Dr. Thomas Walshe, died in September 2018 and left nothing to Brian, leading to a protracted legal fight over his estate, according to court documents filed in Plymouth Probate and Family Court in Massachusetts.
Dr. Walshe’s will noted he was not in contact with Brian, to whom he bequeathed only his “best wishes” and “nothing else” from his estate, according to photographs of the document attached to court documents. Brian Walshe unsuccessfully contested the will and suggested his father’s signature on the document was a possible forgery.
Affidavits in opposition to Brian Walshe’s petition said he had been estranged from his father and detailed years of alleged swindling and manipulation.
“He had a severe falling out with his son,” wrote Andrew Walshe, the estate’s executor and one of Dr. Walshe’s nephews. “Brian had ran off with a significant amount of his money; he had had almost zero contact with Brian R. Walshe over the last ten plus years.”
October 2018
Brian Walshe was indicted on federal fraud charges in October 2018 for allegedly selling fake Andy Warhol artwork online, according to court documents.
FBI investigators alleged Brian or Ana Walshe used her eBay account to sell the paintings in November 2016, less than a year after they were married. The complaint does not charge Ana Walshe with wrongdoing, but states that she spoke to the person who purchased the fakes after the buyer learned the paintings were not authentic and located her work number.
The document also alleged Brian Walshe took real artwork from a friend to sell, but never did. He also did not compensate the friend for the art, prosecutors alleged.
Walshe pleaded not guilty to wire fraud, interstate transportation for a scheme to defraud, possession of converted goods and unlawful monetary transaction in November 2018.
2021
In April 2021, Brian Walshe pleaded guilty to three of the four counts in exchange for a recommended sentence of incarceration, supervised release, fines, restitution and forfeiture, court documents show. He also agreed to either return the artworks or pay for them.
As part of pre-sentencing probation, Brian Walshe was placed on monitoring and house arrest. He can request to leave home but must detail the specific locations, times and reasons.
November 2022
Ana Walshe was having an affair with a man in DC and spent Thanksgiving with him in Dublin, Ireland, according to court documents. The man told investigators he had been in a dating relationship with Ana Walshe for several months, the documents state.
December 2022
Brian Walshe began to suspect his wife was having an affair in December 2022, according to Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Greg Connor.
“He was routinely visiting the Instagram page of one of her male friends. And on December 26th, his mother – with his input and direction – obtained and hired a private investigator to surveil Ana Walshe in Washington, DC.”
Brian Walshe’s defense attorney disputes the allegation that the husband suspected his wife was having an affair.
December 27, 2022
Brian Walshe Google searched, “What’s the best state to divorce for a man,” according to prosecutors.
December 28, 2022
During dinner with a friend in DC, Ana Walshe “became uncharacteristically upset and told her friend she believed that Mr. Walshe was going to be incarcerated as a result of his federal case, and that she was prepared to leave him and take the children to Washington, DC,” according to Connor.
December 30, 2022
Ana Walshe flew home to Massachusetts to be with her family during for the holiday weekend and was not expected to return to DC, until January 3, prosecutor Connor said.
December 31, 2022
The Walshes hosted a New Year’s Eve dinner at their home with a friend named Gem, Brian Walshe told police, according to an affidavit.
Brian and Ana Walshe went to bed shortly after the friend left around 1 or 1:30 a.m., he told investigators, according to the affidavit. He also told police that Ana Walshe said she had a work emergency and needed to fly to Washington for her job the next morning.
January 1, 2023
Brian Walshe told police that the morning of New Year’s Day, Ana Walshe “got ready and kissed him goodbye and told him to go back to sleep,” the affidavit states. She usually took an Uber, Lyft or taxi to the airport and left between 6 and 7 a.m., according to the affidavit.
According to prosecutors, Brian Walshe made a series of Google searches on his son’s iPad, including “How long before a body starts to smell,” “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to,” “How long for someone to be missing to inherit,” and “How to clean blood from wooden floor.”
Walshe told police a babysitter arrived in the afternoon, and he left home to get groceries at about 3 p.m., the affidavit states.
He told police he then went to see his mother around 4 p.m. in Swampscott, about an hour drive from Cohasset, but did not have his cell phone and got lost – making the trip longer than usual, the affidavit states.
He said he left his mother’s home within about 15 minutes of arriving to run errands for her at Whole Foods and CVS. Brian Walshe told police he eventually returned home to Cohasset at about 8 p.m., according to the affidavit.
But prosecutors say the evidence from January 1 tells a far different story than what Walshe claimed.
Brian Walshe had told the babysitter and a family friend that he had lost his phone, Connor said.
But “subsequent analysis of his phone determined that it was actually plugged in the morning of January 1,” Connor said.
“However, while his phone stayed at the house, the oldest child’s cell phone did not.”
Cell phone data from January 1 showed the oldest child’s device had traveled to two stores. Surveillance video showed Brian Walshe walking into those same stores by himself, Connor said.
Around 5:30 p.m., surveillance video showed Walshe and his vehicle going to a dumpster in the parking lot of a liquor store and disposing of items before returning to his car, the prosecutor said.
Afterward, cell phone data shows the device traveled to the dumpster at an apartment complex where Brian Walshe’s mother lived.
The phone then traveled to a Lowe’s store, where Walshe is also seen on surveillance footage. He purchased five 5-gallon buckets, a hacksaw, 48 terry cloth towels, a full-coverage suit, 200 disposable rags, trash bags and cleaning products, Connor said.
The phone then travels to a CVS store, where Walshe was also seen on surveillance video purchasing “13 different types of hydrogen peroxide,” the prosecutor said.
January 2
Ana Walshe’s cell phone pinged in the area of their Cohasset home on January 1 and 2, prosecutor Lynn Beland said.
Brian Walshe told investigators that he took one of his children for ice cream at a juice bar in Norwell on January 2 while the babysitter watched his two other kids, the affidavit states. Investigators confirmed this trip occurred, the affidavit states.
He went to Home Goods and purchased three rugs, prosecutors said.
Just after noon, prosecutors said, Brian Walshe made several more Google searches: “Hacksaw best tool to dismember,” “Can you be charged with murder without a body,” and “Can you identify a body with broken teeth.”
According to surveillance video, Brian Walshe traveled to a Home Depot in Rockland wearing a surgical mask and gloves and made a cash purchase, the affidavit states. There, Walshe bought $450 of cleaning supplies, including mops, a bucket, tarps, goggles, a hatchet and baking soda, Beland said.
January 3
Brian Walshe allegedly made more Google searches, including “What happens to hair on a dead body,” “What is the rate of decomposition of a body found in a plastic bag compared to on a surface in the woods,” and “Can baking soda mask or make a body smell good,” prosecutors said.
Cell phone data tracked Brian Walshe’s whereabouts to an apartment complex in Abington at 4:27 p.m., according to prosecutors. Surveillance video shows he exited his car with a heavy garbage bag and put it into a dumpster, prosecutors said.
At 4:48 p.m., he traveled to another apartment complex in the same town, and at 5:10 p.m. he went to an apartment complex in a different town where he again discarded items in a dumpster, prosecutors said.
These garbage bags were taken away and incinerated by the time police tracked them down, prosecutors said.
January 4
Brian Walshe visited Home Goods and TJ Maxx to buy towels and bath mats and visited Lowe’s to buy squeegees and a trash can, prosecutors said.
Ana Walshe’s employer, the real estate company Tishman Speyer, called police to report she did not show up for her job, according to Cohasset police logs.
According to Brian Walshe’s defense attorney, he called her workplace to ask whether they knew of her whereabouts before the employer called police.
Cohasset Police went to Ana Walshe’s home for a well-being check, according to an affidavit. Brian Walshe spoke with investigators multiple times and provided the above timeline for his actions and whereabouts on January 1 and 2.
Police noticed that Brian Walshe’s vehicle had the back seats down and a plastic liner in the back of the car, according to prosecutors.
January 5
Police noticed that the plastic liner was gone from Brian Walshe’s vehicle, and the carpet of the car showed fresh vacuum streaks, prosecutors said. Brian Walshe told police he threw the liner in the trash.
Cell phone data showed Brian Walshe went to Swampscott and traveled to the corner of an apartment complex where there is a dumpster, according to prosecutors. Ten trash bags that originated from this dumpster contained blood stains, cleaning materials, a hacksaw, a hatchet, a purse and boots worn by Ana Walshe and her Covid-19 vaccination card, according to prosecutors.
Cohasset Police announced Ana Walshe is missing and asked the public to come forward with any information. Police said she was last seen “shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day.”
January 6
Police launched a massive search for Ana Walshe that included K-9 officers and search-and-rescue teams in the wooded areas near her home.
January 7
Investigators received an email saying “we have her here with us” and that Ana Walshe would not be returned until she paid $127,000, according to court documents.
“We have the so named Ana Walshe with us here… we had a deal worth $127,000… she messed up,” read the email, which was sent from the gmail account of “richardwalker9984.” It went on to say: “We have her here with us and if she doesn’t pay the money.. then she’ll never be back, and we know that the police and the FBI are involved.. good luck finding us.”
Investigators said the email, which was sent to a Cohasset Police Department detective, was suspicious because it did not put forth a timeline to respond to the demand and did not include contact information, according to the documents.
At least six investigators are tasked with driving to the north shore area of Massachusetts and watching surveillance video to try to verify Walshe’s timeline of events, the affidavit states.
Investigators did not observe Brian Walshe on video at the Whole Foods or CVS in Swampscott on January 1, as he had stated, the affidavit says.
Cohasset Police and Massachusetts State Police announced the search for Ana Walshe has ended.
January 8
Investigators obtained a search warrant for the Walshe’s Cohasset home and found blood and a bloody knife in the basement, prosecutors said.
Brian Walshe was arrested and charged with misleading a police investigation, police said in a statement.
January 9
Brian Walshe was arraigned in court and pleaded not guilty to a charge of misleading police.
Beland, the prosecutor, said investigators had found no evidence of Ana Walshe taking a rideshare from the couple’s home on January 1. She said his statements to police caused a delay in the investigation.
The judge set bail at $500,000 cash and set the next hearing for February 9.
Prosecutors released the affidavit in support of a criminal complaint that lays out authorities’ timeline of the prior week. The affidavit describes Brian Walshe’s statements to police as a “clear attempt to mislead and delay investigators.”
The affidavit outlines several trips he made that were not requested and approved beforehand and that may represent violations of the terms of his probation.
Investigators conducted searches north of Boston and collected a number of items that will be processed and tested, the Norfolk district attorney said. The DA also called Ana Walshe’s disappearance “suspicious.”
According to a source with direct knowledge of the investigation, investigators put crime scene tape around dumpsters near the home of Brian Walshe’s mother in Swampscott and dug through trash at a transfer station in Peabody. Both locations are north of Boston.
Law enforcement sources told CNN investigators found a hacksaw, torn-up cloth material and what appears to be bloodstains at the Peabody site. The evidence was sent for testing.
January 17
An arrest warrant charging Brian Walshe with murder was issued for the death of his wife, according to Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey.
January 18
Brian Walshe was arraigned in Quincy District Court on charges of murder and disinterring of a body without authority.
Prosecutor Beland accused him of dismembering his wife and disposing her remains in dumpsters. She also laid out some of the evidence that led to the charges, including the discovery of Ana Walshe’s belongings and blood in the garbage and Brian Walshe’s Google searches.
A not guilty plea was entered on Brian Walshe’s behalf. His attorney Miner issued a statement suggesting the evidence against him was not strong.
“In my experience, where, as here, the prosecution leaks so-called evidence to the press before they provide it to me, their case isn’t that strong,” she said. “When they have a strong case, they give me everything as soon as possible. We shall see what they have and what evidence is admissible in court, where the case will ultimately be decided.”
March 30
A grand jury indicts Brian Walshe on charges of murder, misleading investigators, and improperly conveying a human body, according to a district attorney. The indictment moves the case from Quincy District Court to Norfolk County Superior Court.
April 27
Brian Walshe was arraigned in Norfolk County Superior Court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutor Connor laid out a spate of new details from the investigation.
Among them: “Ana Walshe had taken out approximately $2.7 million in life insurance on herself, where Brian Walshe is the sole beneficiary,” Connor said. She also had a life insurance policy through her employer.
“In total, her life insurance is over $2.7 million, where the defendant was the sole beneficiary,” the prosecutor said.
Miner countered the prosecution’s notion that Walshe was trying to cash in on his wife’s life insurance policies. She said there is “no evidence Mr. Walsh was the least bit needing of money” and noted that his mother is wealthy.
The judge ordered Brian Walshe to be held without bail and set his next pretrial conference for August 23. The next pretrial hearing is set for November 2.
CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia, John Miller and Jason Carroll contributed to this report.
