Brian Walshe was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his wife, Anna Walshe, whose body was never found.
Walsh was emotionless in a Massachusetts courtroom Monday as the jury reached its verdict after hours of deliberation. He will be sentenced on Wednesday and faces up to life in prison.
Ana Valse, a 39-year-old Serbian immigrant and real estate executive, was last seen in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2023, after a small New Year’s Eve gathering at the couple’s home in Cohasset.
Her 50-year-old husband admitted to dismembering his wife and lying to the police, but claimed he did not kill her. In November, he pleaded guilty to two lesser charges of misleading police and improper transportation of human remains.
Walshe, claiming she had left for an emergency work trip to Washington, D.C., ordered a car to take her to Boston’s Logan International Airport. But his company, the first to report him missing, said there was no work emergency.
Brian Walshe pleaded guilty to misleading police and improperly disposing of the body, but denied murdering his wife, Anna Walshe (AP).
Prosecutors said there was no evidence that Ana was ever in a rideshare and that she boarded the flight. Her cellphone, as well as her credit and debit cards, remained inactive after her disappearance.
“Anna Walsh is dead because he killed her, and he intended her death,” prosecutor Anne Yass told the court during closing arguments Friday. “She was not going to DC for a work emergency; there was no emergency. This is just a story that the defendant told people.”
Walsh claimed that after his wife left home, he visited his mother in Swampscott, shopped at CVS and Whole Foods and spent time with his children.
But prosecutors said he spent New Year’s Day making trips to several pharmacies and hardware stores, buying heavy-duty cleaning supplies, a Tyvek protective suit and a utility knife — purchases they say stemmed from online searches like “how long before body odor starts?” and “The best methods of dissection and disposal of bodies.”
Over the next several days, investigators said, he continued to investigate “how the hacksaw would dismember the body.” He did not report his wife missing until January 4, when his employer contacted the police after he was unable to contact her.
Surveillance footage later showed a man who appeared to be Walshe throwing heavy garbage bags into dumpsters. A search of a trash facility near her mother’s house turned up a hatchet, hacks, towels, a protective suit, cleaning agents, a Prada purse, boots similar to those Ana had last worn, and bags containing her Covid vaccination card. Prosecutors said several items tested positive for his DNA.
“The defendant did not want anyone to find Ana’s body and to know how she died,” Yas said in court. “So the defendant bought cutting tools … and he cut up the body of Ana, whom he claimed to love, and dumped her in the dumpsters,” she said.
He didn’t just want her dead, “He wanted her dead,” Yas said. “It was a marriage in crisis.”
Before he was a suspect in the murder, Walsh was awaiting sentencing in a federal fraud case after being convicted of a scheme to sell fake Andy Warhol paintings.
Ana and Brian Walsh were married in Serbia in 2015 and have three children together (Facebook)
In 2024, Walshe was sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution of $475,000.
Yass pointed out that at the time of Ana’s disappearance and murder, Walsh had “no assets” and was under house arrest pending his federal case.
Ana flourished because the “marriage was falling apart,” Yass told the court, adding that she had set up rooms for their children in a DC townhome she owned.
However, Walshe needs the children with her so she can be the primary caregiver to avoid prison, Yass said. At the time, Ana also took out $2.7 million in life insurance, naming her husband as the sole beneficiary, prosecutors said.
In a move that shocked court observers, the defense rested earlier this week without calling any witnesses. Brian Walshe did not testify, despite speculation that he could take the stand to explain his version of events.
During closing arguments, defense attorney Larry Tipton repeatedly called Brian Walshe “a loving husband and a loving father” who had “no intent” to kill his wife. He had previously told the court that his client was terrified after the “sudden unexplained death”, with Walsh claiming he found Ana unresponsive after their New Year’s Eve celebrations.
“When he got into the bedroom and started to lie down on the bed, he felt something was wrong,” Tipton said, recalling Walshe’s claim that Ana “hid from the bed.”
“You have a sudden unexpected event that results in confusion, panic and fear,” Tipton said Friday. “All those things that are very disturbing, horrible” and could be argued to show a sense of guilt, Tipton said, referring to the disposal of Walshe’s body. But Tipton insisted he did not kill his wife.
Tipton also addressed Walshe’s Internet searches, claiming that if he made them “with murder in mind,” why would the first search reference the murder “six hours later” on January 1, 2023?
A missing person’s poster produced by Cohasset police during the search for Anna Walshe is shown on the first day of the Brian Walshe murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court on Dec. 1, 2025 (AP).
“Context matters,” Tipton said. “Six hours after the word murder was first used in these gruesome discoveries,” they began.
Tipton also argued that the findings about the dismemberment and cleaning did not mean he killed her, claiming there was nothing that indicated a plan or intent to kill Ana.
“Even if they don’t talk about the murder, they’re just as concerned,” Tipton said. “Thinking about how you’re going to clean a concrete floor” in the basement.
“Ask yourself, if he intended to kill his wife, why is he looking for it now?” Tipton asked.
The defense admitted Walsh lied to investigators but argued his actions reflected fear, not guilt. Without a body, Tipton stressed, “investigators are unable to determine a cause of death.”
“Mr. Walsey loved Anna Walsey, the mother of his three children,” Tipton added. “Mr. Walshe is not guilty, he is not guilty.”
William Fastow, Anna Walshe’s boyfriend, is pictured on the witness stand during the trial of Brian Walshe (Copyright – 2025 Boston Herald, Media News)
During the closely watched trial, the court heard William Fastow, the boyfriend of Anna Walshe, was identified by prosecutors.
Fastow said he met Ana in March 2022 when he sold her a townhouse in Washington. Their relationship soon deepened into an “intimate relationship”. They shared dinners, nights on his sailboat, overnight stays at his house, and even a Thanksgiving trip to Ireland.
“Anna felt it was really important that when Brian found out about the relationship that he heard it from her,” he said. “She expressed great concern and I think it would be a strike against her integrity if she found a different way.”
Fastow said they planned to ring in the New Year together on Jan. 4 and talk about the future. He last heard from her on New Year’s Eve. Her follow-up texts and calls went unanswered.
