Brian Walshe googled ‘best state for divorce’ before wife’s disappearance: prosecutors
Brian Walshe searched online for what the “best state for divorce” for men was shortly before his wife, Ana, mysteriously disappeared, prosecutors revealed Wednesday.
The 47-year-old Massachusetts father, who is charged with murder in his wife’s disappearance, allegedly made several disturbing searches from his young son’s iPad in the days before and after he claimed Ana vanished from their home on New Year’s Day.
Prosecutors revealed at Walshe’s arraignment in Quincy District Court on Wednesday that he had looked up “what’s the best state for divorce for a man?” on Dec. 27 — mere days before Ana went missing.
“Rather than divorce, it is believed that Brian Walshe dismembered Ana Walshe and discarded her body,” Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland said during the hearing.
Beland claimed the father of three also used the iPad to google “how long before a body starts to smell?” and “how to stop a body from decomposing?”
He also allegedly searched for “how long for someone to be missing to inherit.”
Walshe — who also faces a charge of improper transport of a body in relation to his missing wife — was ordered held without bail on Wednesday.
Ana, 39, was first reported missing Jan. 4 by her employer, the luxury real estate group Tishman Speyer. Walshe, who was later arrested for hindering the police search, told police he last saw Ana in the early hours of New Year’s Day, when she allegedly left their Cohasset home for a “work emergency.”
Even during Wednesday’s hearing, it was still unclear if law enforcement has found Ana’s body.
Investigators realized there were holes in Walshe’s story and arrested him on Jan. 8 for misleading investigators in their search for his wife. In the days before, on Jan. 2, Brian had purchased $450 worth of cleaning supplies from Home Depot — and searched online for how to dispose of a body.
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Authorities have made several gruesome discoveries in the search for Ana, including blood and a knife in the basement of the Walshe family home. They also uncovered a hacksaw, hatchet and carpet at a Peabody trash transfer site located a little over an hour away from the couple’s home.
At the time of Ana’s disappearance, Walshe was already under house arrest for selling two fake Andy Warhol paintings to an eBay buyer for $80,000, but had yet to be sentenced.
In a letter to the judge asking for a lenient sentence, Ana wrote that Walshe “was taught to lie and hide … A deep sense of shame governed his life.” Throughout his legal woes, she supported him by commuting to and from Washington, DC, for work.
