Brian Walshe, who admitted disposing of his wife’s body – which has never been found – is convicted of her murder

Brian Walshe was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Ana Walshe, but her body has never been found.

Walsh showed no emotion in a Massachusetts courtroom on Monday as the jury deliberated for just a few hours before reaching its verdict. He will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old Serbian immigrant and real estate executive, was last seen in the early morning hours of January 1, 2023, when the couple held a small New Year’s Eve party at their home in Cohasset.

Her 50-year-old husband admitted dismembering his wife and lying to police but insisted he did not kill her.

He claimed she traveled to Washington, D.C., on an emergency business trip and ordered a car to take her to Boston’s Logan International Airport. But her company, which was the first to report her missing, said there was no work emergency.

Prosecutors said Anna never took the ride-share ride and there was no evidence she boarded the flight. Her mobile phone and credit and debit cards had been idle since her disappearance.

“Anna Walsh is dead because he murdered her and he intentionally killed her,” prosecutor Anne Yass told the court during closing arguments on Friday. “She didn’t go to Washington because of a work emergency; there was no emergency. It was just a story the defendant told people.”

Walsh claimed that after his wife left home, he visited Swanscott’s mother, shopped at CVS and Whole Foods Market, and spent time with his children.

But prosecutors said he went to several pharmacies and hardware stores on New Year’s Day and purchased heavy-duty cleaning supplies, Tyvek protective clothing and a utility knife, which they said were preceded by online searches such as “How long does it take for a body to start smelling?” and “The best method of dismembering and disposing of a body.”

Over the next few days, he continued to search “how to dismember the body with a hacksaw,” investigators said. He did not report his wife missing until Jan. 4, when her employer contacted police after failing to make contact with her.

Surveillance video later showed a man resembling Walsh throwing heavy trash bags into a dumpster. A search of a rubbish facility near his mother’s home found bags containing an axe, hacksaw, towels, a hazmat suit, cleaning agents, a Prada wallet, the boots Anna was last seen wearing and her COVID-19 vaccination card. Prosecutors said many of her items tested positive.

“The defendant did not want anyone to find Anna’s body and know how she died,” Yass told the court. “So the defendant bought a cutting tool … and he chopped up Anna’s (the woman he claimed to love) body and threw her in a dumpster,” she said.

He didn’t just want her dead, “he needed her dead,” Yas said. “This is a marriage in crisis.”

Yas noted that Walsh had “no assets” at the time and was on home confinement for a federal case.

Meanwhile, Anna began to flourish as “the marriage started to deteriorate,” Yas told the court, adding that she had arranged rooms for the children in her district. Yet Walsh needs the children to be with him so he can be the primary caregiver and avoid jail time, Yass said. Prosecutors said Anna also purchased a $2.7 million life insurance policy at the time, with her husband as the sole beneficiary.

To the surprise of court observers, the defense rested earlier this week without calling any witnesses, and Brian Walsh did not testify in his own defence, despite speculation that he might take the stand to explain his version of events.

During the closing of the case, defense attorney Larry Tipton repeatedly called Brian Walsh “a loving husband and a loving father” who had “no motive at all” to kill his wife. He previously told the court his client was panicked after the “unexplained sudden death”, claiming Walsh found Anna unresponsive after New Year’s Eve celebrations.

“When he came into the bedroom and started getting on the bed, he sensed something was wrong,” Tipton recalled of Walsh’s claim that Anna “rolled off the bed.”

“Sudden unexpected events can cause chaos, panic and fear,” Tipton said Friday. “All of these things are so disturbing and horrific,” he said, in what could be described as a display of guilt, referring to Walsh’s disposal of her body. But insists he did not kill his wife.

Tipton also addressed Walsh’s internet searches, claiming that if he was searching “with murder in mind,” why did the first search mentioning murder occur “six hours later” on January 1, 2023?

“Context matters,” Tipton said. “The first time the word murder was used during these horrific searches was six hours after they began.”

Tipton also argued that searches regarding dismemberment and cleaning did not mean he murdered her, claiming there was nothing to suggest a plan or intent to kill Anna.

“Even though they don’t talk about the murders, they are just as disturbing,” Tipton said. “He was thinking about how to clean the concrete floor in his basement.”

“Ask yourself, if this man was going to kill his wife, why was he searching now?” Tipton asked.

The defense acknowledged that Walsh lied to investigators but argued that his actions reflected fear, not guilt. Tipton emphasized that because there was no body, “investigators are unable to determine the cause of death.”

“Mr. Walsh loved Anna Walsh, the mother of his three children,” Tipton added. “Mr. Walsh is not guilty. He is not guilty.”

In the closely watched trial, the court heard from William Fastow, a man identified by prosecutors as Anna Walsh’s boyfriend.

Fastow said he met Anna in March 2022, when he sold her a townhouse in Washington. Their relationship soon escalated into an “intimate relationship.” They had dinner together, spent the night on his sailboat, spent the night at his house, and even took a Thanksgiving trip to Ireland.

“Anna felt it was really important for Brian to hear that from her when he was going to understand the relationship,” he said. “She expressed great concern and I think she felt it would be a blow to her integrity if he found out a different way.”

Fastow said they plan to greet the New Year together on Jan. 4 and talk about the future. The last time he heard from her was New Year’s Eve. His follow-up text messages and phone calls went unanswered.