Brian Walshe sentenced to life in prison for murder of wife Ana
by Lisa Hornung · UPIDec. 18 (UPI) -- Brian Walshe was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for the murder of his wife Ana Walshe.
Walshe was also sentenced to no less than 19 years for lying to police and no less than two years for improper disposal of a body. Those sentences are to be served consecutively.
"The seriousness of your acts cannot be overstated," NBC News reported that Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Diane Freniere said Thursday. "Your acts in dismembering your wife's body and disposing of her remains in multiple area dumpsters can only be described as barbaric and incomprehensible."
Ana Walshe, 39, a real estate executive, went missing on Jan. 1, 2023. Her employer reported her missing on Jan. 4, 2023, but Walshe had said she left for a work emergency. Walshe, 50, was arrested on Jan. 17, 2023. He cut up Ana Walshe's body and disposed of the parts in dumpsters.
Assistant District Attorney Gregory Connor, who asked for the consecutive sentences, said they were appropriate.
"Human dignity was completely offended by the defendant's actions and how he treated his wife, how he disposed of her, and how he robbed her family and friends of the opportunity to bury her," he said.
"Losing my sister in January 2023 has forever changed our lives and left us with an unbearable emptiness," Aleksandra Dimitrijevic, Ana Walshe's sister, told the court.
"I struggle with a grief that comes without warning, hoping every morning that this is all just a terrible dream," she said.
"The most painful part of this loss is knowing her children must now grow up without their mother's hand to hold," she added. "They now face a lifetime of milestones, big and small, where her absence will be deeply and painfully felt."
The Walshes had three boys, who were ages 2, 4 and 6 at the time of their mother's death.
Freniere said she also reviewed a letter from Walshe's mother in support of her son, but 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," she said before sentencing him to life in prison.
Walshe's attorneys called him a loving husband and father and said he didn't know about the affair his wife had with a coworker. They said he found her dead and panicked, then disposed of the body.
Walshe was previously convicted of fraud in a separate federal case, where he created a plan to sell fake Andy Warhol paintings.
Though Ana Walshe's body was never found, evidence pointed to her husband. On Jan. 1, Walshe searched the Internet for "can you identify a body with broken teeth," "how long for someone to be missing to inherit," and "how to saw a body."
He bought cleaning supplies, a hacksaw and a hammer at Lowe's and Home Depot.
Surveillance footage showed someone throwing trash bags in dumpsters in early January 2023, and investigators found several items in dumpsters with Ana Walshe's blood and hair on them. They also found her blood in the basement of the family's rental home in Cohasset, Mass.
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