A bone fragment has been found on a hacksaw that investigators say was thrown into a dumpster by Brian Walshe after he allegedly killed and dismembered his wife Ana.
Brian, 47, appeared in Norfolk County Superior Court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, deceiving police, obstruction of justice and improper transportation of a human body.
He is accused of murdering the mother of three children, 39-year-old Ana, on New Year’s Day. Her body has not yet been found. However, investigators say they have evidence linking Brian to the murder.
In court documents made public this week, it was revealed that investigators found a “small bone fragment” on the hacksaw that Brian allegedly dumped near Ana’s mother’s home in Swampscott, Massachusetts.
A search of the dumpsters also led investigators to find Ana’s COVID-19 vaccination card and Volkswagen keys. They found pieces of her clothing and jewelry, including an Hermes watch and Gucci necklace, Hunter boots, a black Prada bag and a short black coat, according to court documents.
A bone fragment was found on a hacksaw that police say was thrown into a dumpster by accused killer Brian Walshe after he allegedly killed and dismembered his wife Ana. Pictured: Walshe tosses a garbage bag into a dumpster outside a Massachusetts apartment complex
A dumpster where police say they found a bone fragment on a hacksaw dumped by Brian Walshe
Brian, 47, appeared in court on Thursday where he pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, misleading police, obstruction of justice and improper transportation of a human body
Last week, surveillance footage showed Brian buying cleaning supplies and also showing him a garbage bag in a dumpster in the hours after his wife Ana was killed.
The footage was made public last week in court documents filed as part of the murder case against Brian, who prosecutors say beat Ana to death and then dismembered her in the basement of their home.
An image shows Brian wearing a face mask and pushing a shopping cart at Rockland Home Depot on Jan. 8 between 4:12 p.m. and 4:56 p.m., according to the search warrant.
The warrant showed that he had several items in his cart, including three mops and brushes, two large clear tarpaulins, drop cloth, two rolls of Scotch Heavy-duty tape, a Tyvek suit with hooded coveralls, a mop bucket with a ringer, three buckets with lids, two splash-resistant goggles, a knife, two 12-pound bags of baking soda, and an axe.
Those items were later found in a house search on Jan. 8.
Another image shows Brian in the Vinnin Liquors parking lot in Swampscott, where he was seen throwing out a black garbage bag at around 5:13 p.m. on January 1.
He was spotted just an hour later at Lowe’s in Danvers, where the warrant said he purchased $450 worth of tools, including a hacksaw. That hacksaw was found by investigators who believe he killed Ana.
Brian Walshe is shown purchasing cleaning supplies, a hacksaw, ax and other items from Lowes on January 1, hours after he allegedly killed his wife Ana.
Walshe pushes his cart through the home improvement store. He is accused of killing and dismembering Ana around 4:30 am on January 1
Ana, a mother of three, had been having an affair with an unknown man for several months. The man told police the pair spent Thanksgiving together in Dublin
The court documents also revealed that investigators found rugs that appeared to be from the Walshe’s living room and kitchen that “contained russet stains” and “numerous items that were identical” to Brian’s alleged purchases he made at Lowe’s and Home Depot.
The court documents stated that Ana, a mother of three, had been having an affair with an unknown man for several months.
The man told police the pair spent Thanksgiving together in Dublin.
Ana, originally from Serbiawas last seen early Jan. 1 after a New Year’s Eve dinner at her Massachusetts home with her husband and a family friend, prosecutors said.
Brian said she was called back to Washington on New Year’s Day for a work emergency.
He did not contact her employer until January 4 and said she was missing. The company – the first to notify police of Ana’s missing – said it was not an emergency, prosecutors said.
By the time of her death, Ana had become the family’s sole breadwinner. She worked in real estate in Washington DC while her husband remained in Massachusetts with their three young sons.
Brian was awaiting sentencing for a fraud conviction after stealing an Andy Warhol painting and then passing it off as real.
Friends say Ana was ready to leave him and burst into tears at a dinner in the days before she disappeared.
The new information about the affair was included in a search warrant for the house.
Police say Ana was killed around 4 a.m. on January 1, three hours after she said goodbye to her friend and former boss they called in the New Year.
In the hours following her death, Brian is accused of using his son’s iPad to search Google for “how to dispose of a body” and “how long does it take for a body to start smelling.”
His lawyer admitted that the searches were ‘problematic’.
The next day, he visited several stores, including Home Depot, Lowes, and CVS, where he bought a combination of cleaning supplies, plastic sheets, safety suits, an ax, and a hacksaw.
Brian was seen in the days after visiting the dumpsters of apartment complexes near his mother’s house.
It is the prosecution who claims that Ana’s dismembered remains were in the bags, but that they had been removed by garbage services and incinerated by the time police searched the dumpsters.
By the time of her death, Ana had become the family’s sole breadwinner. She worked in real estate in Washington DC while her husband remained in Massachusetts with their three young sons after she was convicted of fraud
Walshe shook his head as the charges were read in court on Thursday
They discovered items of clothing and jewelry — including the Prada boots, Hermes watch and Gucci necklace she was wearing when she was last seen alive — along with traces of her blood and DNA.
Last week, Brian’s lawyer admitted that his mother hired a private investigator to track down Ana in Washington DC because she suspected she was having an affair.
However, she claimed that Brian had nothing to do with it and had no reason to suspect his wife of infidelity until she disappeared.
They claimed that Ana could have ‘disappeared’ because she wanted to.
Prosecutors have also pointed to the fact that Brian would receive $2.7 million in life insurance payouts in the case of his wife’s death as a motive.
His lawyers rejected that suggestion on Thursday, saying instead that he had “no need” for money because his mother was so wealthy.
Brian is due back in court in August.