Brian Walshe Learns Fate for Killing and Dismembering Wife, Whose Body Has Not Been Found

Brian Walshe, the Massachusetts man who was convicted of killing and dismembering his wife, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Walshe, 50, was handed down the sentence after a jury convicted him on Monday, Dec. 15 of first-degree murder in death of 39-year-old Ana Walshe, whose remains have never been found. The mother of three and real estate executive was last seen in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2023, after hosting a friend at their home to celebrate New Year’s Eve.

Brian, who had long maintained that he did not kill his wife, previously pleaded guilty to two lesser charges: willfully conveying a human body in violation of state law and misleading police. A judge sentenced him to consecutive terms of 19 to 20 years for the first charge and nearly three years for the second, Mass Live reported.

According to NBC News, prosecutors believe Brian murdered Ana for money, since he would have been the sole beneficiary of her $2.7 million life insurance policy. They also argued he was driven by anger over an affair he believed Ana was having. 

Ana’s employer reported her missing on Jan. 4, 2023, after she failed to show up for work. Brian initially told investigators that he last saw her when she left the house to take a flight to Washington for a work emergency. He later changed his story, purportedly finding her dead in bed in the early hours of Jan. 1, CNN reported, citing an affidavit.

During the trial, jurors learned about grim Google searches Brian had made after his wife died, including how to saw a body and how to clean blood off of wood floors. Brian’s attorney, Larry Tipton, claimed his client’s internet searches were the result of being scared that he would be blamed for his wife’s “sudden unexplained death.”

“It didn’t make sense to Brian Walshe. It was confusing. He never thought anybody would believe that Ana Walshe was alive one minute and dead the next,” Tipton told jurors.

Brian was also captured on surveillance footage disposing of items in a dumpster near the couple’s home. Authorities later recovered a protective suit containing both Brian’s and Ana’s DNA at a garbage processing facility.

DNA was also recovered from a hacksaw found at the garbage facility, but only Ana’s, the Associated Press reported.

Brian did not take the stand during his trial.

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At sentencing, Ana Walshe’s sister, Aleksandra Dimitrijevic, spoke on behalf of her family, saying the unexpected loss “altered our world in ways we never imagined,” WCVB reported.

“The most painful part of this loss is knowing that her children must now grow up without a mother’s hand to hold,” she added. “They now face a lifetime of milestones, big and small, where her absence will be deeply and painfully felt.”

The couple’s young sons, who were 2, 4 and 6 years old when Ana disappeared, have been in state custody since Brian’s arrest.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.