Accused Killer Brian Walshe Suspected Wife Was Cheating: Prosecutors

DEDHAM, MA — Brian Walshe, the Cohasset man accused of murdering and dismembering his wife Ana Walshe in January, pleaded not guilty to all charges during a WCVB-streamed superior court appearance in Dedham Thursday. Prosecutors said during the hearing that Walshe hired a private investigator because he suspected his wife was having an affair.

Brian Walshe was denied bail at Thursday's hearing. Prosecutors claimed had become concerned his wife Ana Walshe was cheating by December 2o22.

"[Brian Walshe] was routinely visiting the Instagram page of one of [Ana Walshe's] male friends, and on Dec. 26, his mother, with his input and direction, obtained and hired a private investigator to surveil Ana Walshe in Washington D.C.," where Ana Walshe would commute for work, Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Greg Connor said in court.

Connor added that on Dec. 27, the oldest Walshe son's iPad was used to research "best states to get divorced in," and that at a dinner with a friend in Washington D.C. on Dec. 28, Ana Walshe "became uncharacteristically upset" and told her friend she believed that [Brian Walshe] was going to be incarcerated as a result of his federal art fraud case and that she was prepared to leave him and take the children to Washington, D.C.

Officials said Ana Walshe was last seen by those outside the Walshe family around 1:30 a.m. on New Year's Day, when a family friend who had spent New Year's Eve with Brian Walshe, Ana Walshe, and the Walshe children at their Cohasset home left after the celebration.

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Walshe, 48, was initially charged with misleading a police investigation/obstruction of justice after he was found to have given police false information about his whereabouts in the days following his wife's disappearance.

He was later charged with murder and improper conveyance of a human body after prosecutors said a bloody knife was found in the basement of the home that the couple shared, and that Brian Walshe purchased $450 worth of cleaning supplies before Ana Walshe was reported missing.

Prosecutors also said that DNA evidence on a pair of slippers, clothes, and a Tyvek disposable suit led investigators to believe "Brian Walshe dismembered and later discarded" his wife's body.

During Thursday's court appearance, Brian Walshe's defense attorney argued there is no proof Ana Walshe is dead as a body has not been found, claimed the couple had been happily married, and insisted Brian Walshe's mother is the one who hired the private investigator.

Brian Walshe's pretrial conference will take place August 23 and pretrial hearing November 2.