He Admitted to Dismembering His Wife’s Body. Will Chilling String of Google Searches Prove He Killed Her

In the frantic hours after Brian Walshe claimed his wife, Ana, died suddenly and without explanation, he allegedly conducted a disturbing series of Google searches — including “how to saw a body” and “how long before a body starts to smell,” prosecutors said in court.

Brian, 50, of Cohasset, Mass., is on trial for first-degree murder in connection with the disappearance and presumed death of his wife, Ana Walshe, 39, who was last seen alive in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2023.

The body of the mother of three young boys has never been found. Brian has pleaded not guilty to murder.

In November, he pleaded guilty to two lesser charges: willfully conveying a human body in violation of state law and misleading police.

During opening statements on Monday, Dec. 1, defense attorney Larry Tipton claimed that Brian found Ana dead in bed at about 2:30 a.m. and panicked, leading him to make the fateful decision to “hide” what happened that morning, according to a live stream shown on Masslive.com.

Tipton told jurors that Brian was worried about what would happen to the couple’s three young sons and argued that the internet searches were the product of his panic.

Prosecutors, however, have offered a different narrative.

In his opening remarks on Monday, Dec. 1, Commonwealth Assistant District Attorney Greg Connor told jurors that Ana was having an affair, suggesting this could have been part of Brian’s motive, NBC News reports.

On Dec. 27, 2022, Brian allegedly searched for pornography related to a “cheating wife,” and looked up “best divorce strategies for men,” Masslive.com reports.

Prosecutors have also alleged that Brian may have killed his wife for financial gain, noting that he was the sole beneficiary of Ana’s $2.7 million life insurance policy, NBC News reports.

On Tuesday, Dec. 2, jurors in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham heard detailed testimony about the internet searches Brian allegedly made after he says he discovered Ana unresponsive in their bed.

Starting at 4:52 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2023, Brian’s internet history allegedly showed a search from his laptop for the “best way to dispose of a body,” Mass. State Trooper Nicholas Guarino testified on Dec. 2, according to CNN.

At 4:55 a.m., he allegedly searched, “How long before a body starts to smell.”

At 6:24 a.m., he allegedly searched, “How long for someone to be missing to inheritance,” and at 7:48:04 a.m., he searched for Lowe’s stores in the area, Masslive.com reports.

Roughly three and a half hours later, at 9:35 a.m., he allegedly searched, “can identification be made on partial human remains,” followed at 9:59 a.m. by, “How to dispose of a cell phone,” CNN reports.

At 10:29 a.m., another search allegedly read, “My wife is missing what should I do.”

At 11:50 a.m., he allegedly searched, “Can I use bleach to clean my wood floors from blood stains,” Guarino told the court.

At 12:53 p.m., Brian allegedly searched, “Should I use hydrogen peroxide 8 on blood stains in concrete,” according to Masslive.

The following day, on Sat., Jan. 2, Brian allegedly continued searching for information, starting at 12:27 p.m. with, “How to saw a body,” Guarino testified.

At 12:33 p.m., he allegedly searched, “Hack saw the best tool for dismembering a body”; at 12:47 p.m., “Can you be charged with murder without a body”; at 1:12 p.m., “Can you identify a body with broken teeth”; at 1:14 p.m., “Disposing of a body in the trash”; and at 2:01 p.m., “How to remove a hard drive from an Apple laptop,” CNN reports.

On Sunday, Jan. 3, at 1:05 p.m., Brian allegedly searched, “Body found at trash station,” then at 1:12 p.m., “Can a body decompose in a plastic bag,” and at 7:30 p.m., “Can police get your search history without your computer.”

On Monday, Jan. 4, Brian called Ana’s boss to ask about Ana, prompting the woman to contact police and report Ana missing.

Previously, in Feb. 2024, Brian was sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release in connection with “a years-long, multi-faceted art fraud scheme involving two purported Andy Warhol paintings,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said.

He was also ordered to pay $475,000 in restitution.

In April 2021, Brian pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud, interstate transportation for a scheme to defraud, and unlawful monetary transaction.