Brian Walshe charged with murder of missing Cohasset, Mass. realtor wife, Ana Walshe as incriminating Google searches point to man’s killing mom of three.
‘Hacksaw best tool to dismember,’ ‘can you be charged with murder without a body?’, these are some of the chilling searches on Google that a convicted fraudster made in the hours after his Massachusetts wife abruptly going missing as he was ordered held without bail in the disappearance of his wife Wednesday, as the man now faces murder charges in the supposed murder and death of his Cohasset realtor wife.
Brian Walshe, 47, appeared stone-faced and at one point shook his head as he was arraigned in Quincy District Court on charges of murder and tampering with a body without proper authority stemming from the disappearance of his wife, Ana Walshe, 39.
Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland on Wednesday laid out Brian’s ‘sketchy behavior’ in the days after he claimed Ana vanished in the early hours of New Year’s Day, when the mom of three allegedly left their Cohasset home for a ‘work emergency.’
Around 4:55 a.m. Jan. 1, Beland alleged, records indicate that Brian used his young son’s iPad to google ‘how long before a body starts to smell?’ and ‘how to stop a body from decomposing?’ along with ’10 ways to dispose of a body,’ including ‘how to dispose of a 115 pound body’ (Ana Walshe at 5ft’ 2 weighed 115lbs). He also searched ‘how long for someone to be missing to inherit.’
Ana supported the family, including the couple’s three sons, ages 2 through 6, through her high-powered real estate job. Brian, who pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in 2021, was under home confinement at the time of her disappearance.
‘how to dispose of a 115 pound body’
Brian’s grisly internet searches continued throughout the morning of Jan. 1, with queries including ‘how long does DNA last?’ and ‘dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body.’
Brian made several more incriminating searches throughout the week, prosecutors alleged. After buying three carpets at Home Goods on Jan. 2, he allegedly googled ‘hacksaw best tool to dismember,’ ‘can you be charged with murder without a body?’, and ‘can you identify a body with broken teeth?’
History of domestic violence leading to abrupt disappearance and grizzly internet searches
That same day, Beland said, Brian went to Home Depot. Previous reports confirmed that he bought $450 in cleaning supplies; Wednesday’s summary also listed a Tyvek body suit, mops and baking soda among his purchases.
On Jan. 3, a man in a Volvo vehicle matching Brian’s description was seen on surveillance placing heavy trash bags in dumpsters at apartment complexes in Brockton and Abington.
That same day, he also allegedly made searches related to hair on a dead body and the rate of decomposition of remains in a plastic bag versus those in the woods, plus the impact of baking soda on the odor of decomposition.
By the time investigators were alerted to Ana’s disappearance and checked the dumpsters in question, Beland explained, the bags had already been transferred and destroyed.
The same could not be said, however, for the trash bags Brian was thought to have disposed of at his mother’s apartment complex in Swampscott, where his phone placed him on Jan. 5.
An uncovering of previous statements from family and the victim revealed the couple steeped in ongoing domestic violence leading up to Ana Walshe’s abrupt disappearance and now presumed murder.
