After Brian Walshe charged with murder, prosecutors reveal series of incriminating Google searches
Brian Walshe, Cohasset, MA, man, accused of killing and dismembering wife
COHASSET, Mass. -- New details were revealed after a Massachusetts man accused of killing his wife, Ana Walshe, 39, who was reported missing Jan. 4, appeared in court Wednesday morning.
Prosecutors revealed a series of incriminating Google searches and the discovery of items with Ana Walshe's DNA, ABC News reported.
Prosecutors believe Brian Walshe dismembered his wife's body, and they revealed Walshe made a series of Google searches including:
"how long before a body starts to smell"
"how to stop a body from decomposing"
"how to embalm a body"
"10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to"
Walshe also Googled "dismemberment" and "what happens when you put body parts in ammonia."
There were more Google searches for "hacksaw best tool to dismember" and "can you be charged with murder without a body."
There was blood in the basement of the Walshes' Cohasset, Massachusetts home, along with a bloody knife and second knife, prosecutors said. Police also found a heavy duty large tarp and plastic liners.
Police recovered 10 trash bags, containing blood-stained items including towels, rags, slippers, cleaning agents, carpets, a Prada purse, a COVID-19 vaccine card in the name of Ana Walshe and a hacksaw.
Investigators found both Ana's and Brian's DNA on the slippers, prosecutors said.
On Dec. 27, Walshe Googled "What's the best state to divorce," but, instead prosecutors said, he killed his wife and dismembered her body.
Walshe pleaded not guilty Wednesday, and was ordered held without bail.
Quincy District Court officials issued a warrant for Walshe, 47, of Cohasset, on Tuesday. Walshe, who is already in custody in Norfolk, pleaded not guilty to a charge of misleading investigators. He was being held on a bail of $500,000 cash or $5 million surety bond.
"The continued investigation has now allowed police to obtain an arrest warrant, charging Brian Walshe with the murder of his wife," Norfolk District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a video statement posted on Tuesday. "Mr. Walshe will be transported to the Quincy District Court for arraignment on the charge of murder."
Walshe was also charged with improper transport of a body, officials said.
Ana Walshe was reported missing by co-workers in Washington on Jan. 4. At that time, Brian Walshe claimed he last saw his wife early on Jan. 1, as she prepared to take a ride share to Boston Logan International Airport for a "work emergency," but investigators said she never caught a ride and never boarded a plane.
Investigators said they tracked Ana's phone on Jan. 2, and it pinged in or near her Cohasset home.
Brian Walshe was charged with misleading the investigation on Jan. 8. At that time, investigators revealed they found blood and a broken knife in the family's basement and had surveillance video of Brian Walshe, wearing a medical mask and surgical gloves, purchasing $450 in cleaning supplies with cash at a Home Depot in nearby Rockland.
Walshe was wearing a monitoring bracelet as he awaited sentencing for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings to an art buyer in California. He was under house arrest but was allowed to leave home for things like doctors' appointments and grocery shopping. The bracelet did not have GPS tracking.
Police conducted a sweeping search at a Peabody landfill. The landfill was the destination for a dumpster that was outside Brian Walshe's mother's apartment building in Swampscott. He had visited his mom in the days following his wife's disappearance, claiming he went shopping for her. Police found no receipts from the stores he mentioned.
Investigators located trash bags containing blood evidence. ABC Boston affiliate WCVB reported investigators also found a hacksaw and a hatchet at the landfill. Investigators also searched a Wareham incinerator but it's unclear whether anything was located there.
Investigators have not recovered a body but they have recovered enough genetic material to tie Walshe to the murder of his wife.
Brian and Ana Walshe have three children. Morrissey said Ana Walshe's disappearance was the second case of domestic violence his office had seen in recent weeks.
"Our thoughts are very much with the families these crimes have left behind," Morrissey said.
Walshe's next court date is Feb. 9.
ABC News' Teddy Grant and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
