The husband of missing Massachusetts mother Ana Walshe allegedly made multiple horrifying internet searches on the day of her disappearance - including “10 ways to dispose of a body”, “how long before a body starts to smell” and “can you identify a body with broken teeth?”.
New details about Brian Walshe’s Google search history were revealed in a criminal complaint on Wednesday as he faced arraignment on charges of murder and improper transport of a body in Quincy District Court. The 47-year-old convicted art fraudster entered a not guilty plea.
An internet search history from his son’s iPad also showed Mr Walshe had looked up “how to stop a body from decomposing”, “dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body” and “what happens when you put body parts in ammonia”, in the hours after his wife was last seen alive on 1 January, according to prosecutor Lynn Beland.
Prosecutors revealed that he had looked up “What’s the best state to divorce?” on 27 December, four days before Ms Walshe’s disappearance.
“Rather than divorce, it is believed that Brian Walshe dismembered Ana Walshe and disposed of her body,” the prosecutor said.
Norfolk County District Attorney Lynn Beland said Mr Walshe had been seen on surveillance footage tossing a heavy garbage bag into a dumpster near an apartment in Abington, on 3 January, according to WHDH.
When investigators reached the dumpster several day later, the contents had been picked up, and shredded and incinerated at another facility.
A spokesperson for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office told The Independent that they believed this was how Mr Walshe had allegedly disposed of his wife’s body.
Mr Walshe stared blankly at the prosecutor for much of the 20 minute hearing, speaking only to confirm his name.
At one point he shook his head as the prosecutor read out the criminal complaint before a packed courtroom.
On Tuesday, Mr Walshe was charged with the murder of his wife of seven years, who has been missing since New Year’s Day.
Prosecutors believe he dismembered her body and discarded it at an unknown location.
He told investigators his wife had departed for a work emegerency in Washington DC at about 6am on 1 January, and that he had visited his mother and shopped at CVS.
However, he was seen on CCTV using cash to purchase cleaning products from a Home Depot store on 2 January.
That same day, prosecutors say he searched online: “hacksaw best tool to dismember a body”, “can you be charged with murder without a body”, and “can you identify a body with broken teeth?”, according to the criminal complaint.
On 3 January, before Ms Walshe had been reported missing, Mr Walshe allegedly searched “what happens to hair on a dead body”, and what rate a body decomposes in a plastic bag compared to in the woods, it was revealed in court on Wednesday.
After Ms Walshe was reported missing by her employers Tishman Speyer on 4 January, police conducted a search of their Cohasset home where they found blood and a knife in the basement.
The case took an even darker turn when investigators found a hacksaw and blood from at a nearby garbage processing centre.
Prosecutors revealed they had recovered Ana Walshe’s Prada purse, rain boots and her Covid-19 vaccination card from trash cans at an apartment where Brian Walshe’s mother lives.
It’s alleged Brian Walshe disposed of several trash bags in a dumpster at his mother’s address in Swampscott, including blood-stained towels and rags, and cleaning products.
Some of the items are consistent with the cleaning products purchased by Mr Walshe at a Home Depot store on 2 January.
Lynn Beland, the Norfolk County district attorney, said DNA testing by the Massachusetts Crime Lab was consistent with Ana Walshe’s.
Her DNA was also found on a Tyvek suit that investigators recovered, that Mr Walshe had allegedly purchased on 2 January.
Defence attorney Tracy Miner released a blistering statement accusing prosecutors of leaking evidence to the media after the court appearance.
“In my experience, where, as here, the prosecution leaks so called evidence to the press before they provide it to me, their case isn’t that strong,” Ms Miner said in a statement to The Independent.
“I am not going to comment on the evidence, first because I am going to try this case in the court and not in the media.”
Ms Miner said it was “easy to charge a crime and even easier to say a person committed that crime”.
“It is a much more difficult thing to prove it, which we will see if the prosecution can do.”
“We shall see what they have and what evidence is admissible in court, where the case will ultimately be decided.”
Mr Walshe has been in custody since 8 January when he was arrested for misleading the police investigation.
He has been ordered held without bond until his next appearance on 9 February.
The couple’s three children have been placed in state custody.
