Brian Walshe, 50, from Cohasset, Massachusetts, is currently on trial for first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Ana Walshe, 39, who disappeared on January 1, 2023, with her body never recovered. In November 2025, he pleaded guilty to lesser charges of misleading police and improper conveyance of a human body but maintains innocence on the murder charge. The trial, ongoing in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham as of December 4, 2025, features testimony about his incriminating Google searches post-disappearance, such as methods to dispose of a body and clean blood.​
Key Prosecution Arguments
Prosecutors cite Walshe’s internet history from January 1-4, 2023, including queries on dismemberment tools, body decomposition, and inheritance after missing persons, as evidence of guilt. They allege motives including Ana’s affair—revealed through testimony from her lover on December 4—and Walshe’s beneficiary status on her $2.7 million life insurance policy. Additional evidence includes blood and a knife found at their home, plus items discarded in dumpsters.​
Defense Position
Defense attorney Larry Tipton argues Walshe found Ana dead in bed around 2:30 a.m. on January 1 from unexplained causes, panicking due to child custody fears and his prior art fraud conviction, which led to guilty pleas on lesser charges. They portray searches as reactions to panic, not premeditation. A judge delayed sentencing on guilty pleas pending the murder verdict.​
Prior Criminal History
Walshe served 37 months in prison, sentenced in February 2024, for a multi-year art fraud scheme involving fake Andy Warhol paintings, plus wire fraud and related charges from 2021, with $475,000 restitution ordered. If convicted of murder, he faces life without parole.
