BOSTON — Brian Walshe has been formally charged with the murder of his wife, Ana Walshe, who vanished in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.
Brian Walshe, 47, faces charges of assault with intent to murder and disinterring her body. He was arraigned Wednesday morning in Quincy District Court.
According to prosecutors, in the days surrounding the disappearance of Ana Walshe, Brian Walshe conducted internet searches on subjects including how long it takes for a body to smell; 10 ways to dispose of a body if you really need to; how to stop a body from decomposing; what does formaldehyde do? How long does DNA last.
Prosecutors said Walshe conducted the macabre searches on his son’s iPad.
Walshe was at Home Goods in Norwell on Jan. 2 where he purchased three rugs, according to prosecutors citing data from Brian Walshe’s phone.
Also, on Jan. 2, Brian Walshe Googled a series of questions including, “hacksaw best tool to dismember,” and “can you be charged with murder without a body?”
Prosecutors also detailed Brian Walshe’s trip to a Rockland Home Depot where he wore a facemask and rubber gloves and was seen on surveillance pushing a cart filled with “cleaning products, mops, brushes, tape, tarp, a Tyvek suit with boot covers, buckets, goggles, baking soda, a hatchet.”
On Jan. 3, prosecutors, again using data on his phone, tracked Brian Walshe to an apartment complex in Abington where surveillance video then showed his Volvo and a man matching his description park hear a dumpster where he brings a garbage bag that appears to be heavy as he “heft it,” into the dumpster.
Police were not able to recover any of the bags disposed in Abington. However, during the high profile search of the transfer station in Peabody on Jan. 10, police were able to recover 10 trash bags. Among the contents of those bags, police recovered towels rags slippers tape, Tyvek suit, “a hacksaw, a hatchet and some cutting shears.”
Also recovered in the trash bags searched Peabody was a COVID-19 vaccine card “in the name of Ana Walshe.”
Testing from the state crime lab on the items recovered from those trash bags confirmed DNA from both Brian Walshe and Ana Walshe, according to prosecutors.
The affidavits and arrest warrants supporting these charges have been impounded by an order of the court.
