Brian Walshe was found guilty of murdering the woman after he admitted disposing of her body

Brian Walshe was convicted of the first degree murder of his wife, Ana Walshe, whose body was never found.

Walshe was emotionless in a Massachusetts courtroom Monday as the jury reached a verdict after just hours of deliberations. He will be sentenced on Wednesday and face life in prison.

Ana Walshe, 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 Cohasset home.

Her husband of 50 years had admitted that he disarmed his wife and lied to the police, but claims that he did not kill her. In November, he pleaded guilty to two lesser charges of misleading police and indecent handling of a human body.

Walshe claimed she left for an emergency business trip to Washington, DC, and ordered a car to take her to Logan International Airport in Boston. But her company, the first to report her missing, said there was no work emergency.

The prosecutors said that Ana never entered a ride share and there was no evidence that she boarded a flight. Her mobile phone, as well as her credit and debit cards, remained inactive after her disappearance.

“Ana Walshe is dead because he killed her, and he intended her death,” prosecutor Anne Yas told the court during closing arguments Friday. “She wasn’t going to DC for a work emergency; there was no emergency. It’s just a story the defendant told people.”

Walshe claimed that after his wife left home, he visited his mother in Swampscott, went shopping at CVS and Whole Foods, and spent time with his children.

But prosecutors said he spent New Year’s Day traveling to various pharmacies and hardware stores, buying heavy-duty cleaning supplies, Tyvek protective clothing and a utility knife – purchases they say were preceded by online searches such as “How long before a body starts to smell?” and “Dismantling and best ways to dispose of a body.”

During the following days, the investigators said, he continued to search “how to hack a body with a saw.” He did not report his wife missing until January 4, when her employer contacted the police after he failed to make contact with her.

Surveillance footage later showed a man resembling Walshe throwing heavy bags of trash into the dumps. A search in a garbage facility near his mother’s house revealed bags containing a hatchet, a hacksaw, towels, a protective suit, cleaning agents, a Prada purse, boots like the ones Ana was seen wearing and her Covid vaccination card. Prosecutors said many items tested positive for her DNA.

“The accused did not want anyone to find Ana’s body and know how she died,” said Yas in court. “So the accused bought a cutting tool … and cut up the body of Ana, the woman he claimed to love, and threw it in the dumps,” she said.

He didn’t just want her dead, “he needed her dead,” said Yas. “It was a marriage in crisis.”

Before he was a murder suspect, Walshe was awaiting sentencing in a federal fraud case after pleading guilty in a scheme to sell fake Andy Warhol paintings.

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.

Yas pointed out that at the time of Ana’s disappearance and murder, Walshe “had no assets” and was being held at home for his federal case.

Ana had begun to flourish as “the marriage was beginning to deteriorate,” Yas told the court, adding that she had set up rooms in a DC townhouse she owned for their children.

However Walshe needed the children with him so he could be their primary carer in a bid to avoid prison, Yas 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 surprised courtroom observers, the defense rested earlier this week without calling any witnesses. Brian Walshe did not testify, despite speculation he may take the stand to explain his version of events.

During closing arguments, defense attorney Larry Tipton repeatedly called Brian Walshe “a loving husband and loving father” with “no motive” to kill his wife. He had previously told the court that his client had panicked after a “sudden and unexplained death,” claiming that Walshe found Ana unresponsive after the New Year’s Eve celebration.

“When he entered the bedroom and started to get into bed, he felt that something was wrong,” said Tipton, recalling Walshe’s statement that Ana “rolled out of bed.”

“You have a sudden unexpected event that results in confusion, panic and fear,” Tipton said Friday. “All these things are so disturbing, horrible” and can be argued to be showing a sense of guilt, Tipton said, referring to Walshe’s disposal of her body. But Tipton insisted he did not kill his wife.

Tipton also addressed Walshe’s Internet searches, claiming that if he did them “with murder on his mind,” why would the first search referencing the murder occur “six hours later” on January 1, 2023?

“Context is important,” Tipton said. “The first time the word murder is used in these horrific searches is six hours” after they begin.

Tipton also argued that the searches about the cutting and cleaning did not mean that he killed her, and claimed that there was nothing that referred to a plan or intention to kill Ana.

“Even if they don’t talk about murder, they are equally upsetting,” Tipton said. “He’s thinking about how to clean a concrete floor” in the basement.

“Ask yourself, why is the husband looking now if he intended to kill his wife?” asked Tipton.

The defense acknowledged that Walshe lied to investigators but argued that his actions reflected fear, not guilt. With no body, Tipton emphasized, “investigators could not determine the cause of death.”

“Mr Walshe loved Ana Walshe, the mother of his three children,” Tipton added. “Mr. Walshe is not guilty. He is not guilty.”

During the closely watched trial, the court heard from William Fastow, the man prosecutors identified as Ana Walshe’s boyfriend.

Fastow said he met Ana in March 2022 when he sold her a townhouse in Washington. Their relationship soon intensified into an “intimate relationship.” They shared dinners, nights on his sailboat, the night at his house and even a Thanksgiving trip to Ireland.

“Ana felt it was really important that when Brian found out about the relationship he would hear it from her,” he said. “She had expressed great concern and I think she felt it would be a strike against her integrity if he found out differently.”

Fastow said they planned to ring in the New Year together on January 4 and talk about the future. He last heard from her on New Year’s Eve. His follow-up texts and phone calls went unanswered.