Brian Walshe sentenced to life in prison for murdering and dismembering wife

(DEDHAM, Mass.) —Brian Walshe was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a Massachusetts jury found him guilty of killing and dismembering his wife, the mother of their three children, with the judge calling his acts “barbaric and incomprehensible.”

His wife, Ana Walshe, went missing on Jan. 1, 2023, at the age of 39. Her body has not been found.

Brian Walshe, 50, pleaded guilty last month to improperly disposing of her body and lying to police following her disappearance. He had changed his plea on the two charges before jury selection got underway for the trial, while maintaining that he did not kill her.

A Norfolk County jury found Brian Walshe guilty of first-degree murder on Monday, after deliberating for approximately six hours over two days.

He faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of first-degree murder.

Judge Diane Freniere said that the sentence, the only appropriate sentence under the law, is “immensely appropriate and just, given your murderous acts and the life trauma that you’ve inflicted upon your own children.”

She said that because of his lies to police, “thousands of hours of investigative resources were wasted, diverted from other deserving cases,” and that his “acts in dismembering your wife’s body and disposing of her remains in multiple area dumpsters can only be described as barbaric and incomprehensible.”

“You had no regard for the lifelong mental harm that your criminal acts inflicted on your then 2-, 4- and 6-year-old sons,” she said, noting that they will “never being able to properly grieve that loss to say goodbye to their mom.”

She handed down consecutive sentences on the three counts, with up to 20 years for lying to police and up to three years for illegally conveying his wife’s body.

Ana Walshe’s sister addressed the court ahead of sentencing, saying the “incomprehensible act” has left her and their mother with an “unbearable emptiness.”

Her sister, Aleksandra Dimitrijevic, asked the court to consider the “long-lasting” impact her murder will have on her children in handing down the sentence.

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

The Commonwealth argued that each of the three charges “calls for a harsh penalty” and asked that he be sentenced consecutively, while the defense responded that consecutive sentences would be “inappropriate and inhumane.”

Prosecutor Greg Connor suggested the word inhumane “describes the defendant’s actions and the depravity of his actions, of murdering his wife, dismembering her and getting rid of her remains by throwing her away like garbage.”

Connor said those actions deprived Ana Walshe’s family of a grave and memorial.

The judge said she had received and reviewed sentencing memorandums from prosecutors and the defense, as well as multiple written victim impact statements. One submitted on behalf of Ana Walshe’s children from the Massachusetts Department of Children and Family Services relayed the “devastating impact on her children,” the judge said.

“It’s clear to me that Ana was a bright light in the lives of many people. She lifted people up,” the judge said.

Freniere said she also considered a letter submitted by Brian Walshe’s mother on his behalf, but she said she “simply cannot reconcile the person Diana Walshe describes in her letter with the person who stands before me for sentence.”

“Mr. Walshe, you will live with the guilt and burden of Ana Walshe’s death for the rest of your life,” Freniere said before sentencing him to life in prison.

Brian Walshe did not testify during the two-week trial in Dedham, and the defense did not call any witnesses.

Defense attorneys said during the trial that Brian Walshe did not kill his wife but found her dead in bed on New Year’s Day in 2023 — calling her death sudden and unexplained — and then panicked and lied to police as they investigated her disappearance.

Prosecutors said Brian Walshe premeditatedly murdered and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her remains in dumpsters. The internet history on his devices on Jan. 1, 2023, included searches such as “best way to dispose of a body,” “how long for someone to be missing to inherit,” and “best way to dispose of body parts after a murder,” prosecutors said.

Evidence presented during the trial included surveillance footage of a man believed to be Brian Walshe buying tools and other supplies at a Lowe’s on Jan. 1, 2023. A receipt showed that items, including a hacksaw, utility knife, hammer, snips, Tyvek suit, shoeguards, rags and cleaning supplies, totaling $462, were purchased with cash.

Additional surveillance footage presented in court showed someone throwing out trash bags at dumpsters on multiple days in early January 2023.

Several blood-stained items recovered from dumpsters by investigators — including a hacksaw, a piece of rug, a towel and hairs — and an unknown tissue were linked to Ana Walshe through DNA testing, a forensic scientist from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory testified during the trial.

Ana Walshe was reported missing by her employer on Jan. 4, 2023. Brian Walshe told police at the time that she had a “work emergency” at her job in D.C. and left their Cohasset home on New Year’s Day, according to audio of his interview played in court.

Jurors heard testimony, including from a D.C. man with whom Ana Walshe was having an affair, that the mother of three was upset about being away from her young children so much — who were 2, 4 and 6 at the time — and there was stress in the marriage.

At the time, Brian Walshe and their three children were living in Massachusetts while he was awaiting sentencing in a federal fraud case after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings. He was ultimately sentenced to 37 months in federal prison in that case.

Freniere said Thursday it is her understanding that the federal sentence will run concurrent with the one she imposed.

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