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Brian Walshe’s laundry list of alleged internet searches is read in court
State Trooper Nicholas Guarino, who examined Walshe's devices, read a plethora of searches Walshe allegedly made between Jan. 1, 2023, and the week that followed.
Cross-examination of Trooper Guarino continues
Larry Tipton, the lawyer for Brian Walshe, returned to the porn search involving a “cheating wife.” He argued that there isn’t a way to know that Walshe specifically searched for that video or if Pornhub presented it as an option for him on the website. Trooper Nicholas Guarino agreed.
Guarino said that all he knows is that someone watched the video for 7 minutes and then moved on to another video titled “slay dominant scarlet.”
Tipton argued that the following video featured the same actress as the one before, showing there is no way to tell whether the user was looking for a favorite actress or searching for “cheating wife.”
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Tipton also argued that Guarino had not seen the text messages between Ana and Brian during this time. Guarino agreed.
Searches of the devices were limited to the timeframe of Dec. 25, 2022, to Jan. 8, 2023, which, Tipton argued, constrains the context.
Court ended for the day, and Guarino will return to the stand Wednesday for more cross-examination.
On deck to take the stand, Norfolk District Attorney Chief Trial Counsel Gregory Connor said, are keepers of the record for Uber, Lyft, and JetBlue, Sgt. Patrick Reardon of the Cohasset Police Department, who was the K-9 officer during the case, and William Foley from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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Also coming up are Michael Kenyon from the Swampscott Police Department and Amy Waterman from Massachusetts State Police.
Other witnesses include State Police Trooper Connor Keefe (who was also involved in the Karen Read case), forensic scientist Davis Gould, and Heather Sullivan.
Brian Walshe’s alleged internet searches read in court
Prosecutor Anne Yas brought Massachusetts State Trooper Nicholas Guarino back to the stand. He told her that he recovered three MacBooks, two iPhones, and three iPads from the Walshe residence.
Guarino said State Police received a search warrant on Jan. 9, 2023, and extracted the data the next day.
Guarino extracted copies of the devices and determined that Brian Walshe’s Apple ID connected to one of the MacBooks. Walshe conducted most of his searches in Safari, Guarino said.
In front of Guarino was a large, white binder, which he said was a printout of Walshe’s computer between Dec. 25, 2022, and Jan. 8, 2023.
Guarino then read out a number of internet searches on Walshe’s laptop beginning on Jan. 1, 2023, at 4:52 a.m., and continuing through the following days.
Sunday, Jan. 1
4:52 a.m.: “best ways to dispose of a body” to a website of “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to.”
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4:55 a.m.: “How long before a body starts to smell?”
5:47 a.m.: “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to.” He returns to the article and reads through several pages of it.
6:24 a.m.: “How long for someone to be missing, to inheritance?”
6:25 a.m.: “How long for someone to be missing, to be dead?”
7:44 a.m.: “Tishman Speyer, Washington, DC, head.”
7:48 a.m.: Lowe’s Google search
9:33 a.m.: “How long does DNA last?” He is redirected to a website titled, “Is it possible to clean DNA off a knife?”
9:35 a.m.: “Can identification be made on partial human remains?”
9:59 a.m.: “How to dispose of a cellphone?”
9:59 a.m.: “How to dispose of a computer?”
10:29 a.m.: “I am the user on my wife’s credit card. She is missing. Can I still use the card?”
10:29 a.m.: “My wife is missing. What should I do?”
10:34 a.m.: “Your spouse is missing, and you want a divorce/hello/divorce.”
11:28 a.m.: “Ways to dispose of body parts after murder.”
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11:28 a.m.: “6 ways to dispose of a body/murdermurdermurder” at murdermurdermurder.com/blog
11:41 a.m.: “Cleaning up a dead body,” a video on YouTube.
11:44 a.m.: “How to clean blood from a wood floor?”
11:50 a.m.: “Can I use bleach to clean my wood floors from blood stains?”
12:10 p.m.: “What does bleach do to dead bodies?”
12:18 p.m.: “Want to get away with murder? Use special detergent.” article in Discover Magazine.
12:21 p.m.: “Is it better to throw away crime scene clothes or wash them?”
12:48 p.m.: “How do you use hydrogen peroxide on blood stains?”
12:48 p.m.: “How to clean blood stains with hydrogen peroxide,” a video on YouTube.
12:53 p.m.: “Should I use hydrogen peroxide 8 on blood stains in concrete?”
1:43 p.m.: “Can the FBI tell when you accessed your phone?”
1:52 p.m.: “Does the dishwasher clean blood?”
1:52 p.m.: “Is it possible that a knife which had blood on it remains contaminated with HIV after it has been washed with hot water and dish soap?”
Monday, Jan. 2
2:00 a.m.: “How to remove a SIM card from an iPhone?”
2:00 a.m.: Apple support website “Remove or switch the SIM card in your iPhone.”
2:01 a.m.: “How to remove a hard drive from an Apple laptop.”
5:24 a.m.: “TJ Maxx near me, Norwell.”
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10:32 a.m.: “How long do stores keep security footage?”
12:27 p.m.: “How to saw a body?”
12:27 p.m.: “How to dismember a body?”
12:33 p.m.: “Hacksaw, the best tool for dismembering a body?”
12:42 p.m.: “Details of dismemberment discussed in murder trial.”
12:47 p.m.: “Can you be charged with murder without a body?”
12:47 p.m.: “Murder conviction without a body.”
12:51 p.m.: “No corpse? No problem. Notable, murder convictions without a body/any true crime.”
1:12 p.m.: “Can you identify a body with broken teeth?”
1:14 p.m.: “Disposing of a body in the trash.”
1:34 p.m.: “Chatham West apartments, rentals / Brockton, MA, Zillow.”
1:36 p.m.: “Claremont apartment rentals, Abington, MA, Zillow.”
2:51 p.m.: “What powder mass smells the best?”
7:09 p.m.: “Can I mix white vinegar to stop smells?”
Tuesday, Jan. 3
1:55 a.m. “Can baking soda make a dead body smell good?”
5:03 a.m.: “Cleaning up blood without leaving a trace.”
6:55 a.m.: “Are footprints easy to wash away?”
1:02 p.m.: “How long for a dismembered body to decompose?”
1:05 p.m.: “Body found at trash station.”
1:12 p.m.: “Can a body decompose in a plastic bag?”
7:38 p.m.: “Can police get your search history without your computer?”
Wednesday, Jan. 4
8:55 p.m. “Does a cellphone track your historical location?”
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Saturday, Jan. 7
A series of Chase credit card logins and searches.
Guarino also revealed a number of internet searches before Jan. 1, 2023.
Dec. 26, 2022
12:06 a.m.: “Cheating wife seduces another man to impregnate her, Scarlet scandal, sex, gamble erotica X” on Pornhub.
12:06 a.m.: “Chat with miss_BA, live adult video chat room now.”
8:51 p.m.: “Best state to divorce for a man.”
8:54 p.m.: “Washington D.C. divorce lawyers.”
(Series of websites regarding divorce, divorce advice, and mistakes in divorce)
Dec. 27, 2022
8:57 p.m.: Chase credit card login.
All of the searches occurred on the MacBook, not on the iPad as initially thought, Guarino said. The internet searches were synced with the iPad.
Testimony continues in the Brian Walshe murder trial
On Tuesday morning, Cohasset Police Sgt. Harrison Schmidt returned to the witness stand as prosecutors continued outlining what happened in the days after Ana Walshe’s death on Jan. 1, 2023.
Testimony began with more of a Jan. 5 interview recorded at the Walshe home. In it, police asked Brian Walshe if he would ever hurt his wife.
“No, I would never do that,” he said.
When asked if past arguments ever became physical, he replied, “No, sir, no. My wife and I got along very, very well.” He added, “My whole family wouldn’t work without my wife. I would never hurt my wife. I mean, I love her.”
Police asked where he thought she might be. Walshe suggested she could be at the spa. He also said she had no issues at work, telling police, “Everyone loves Ana.”
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After a Jan. 6 press conference, Schmidt said he received a flood of tips from the public, including a ransom email from a “Richard Walker” claiming he had Ana and wanted $127,000. “If she doesn’t pay the money, then she will never be back,” the email said. “We have her here with us … good luck finding us.”
A Jan. 7 search warrant later showed the email came from an IP address in Nigeria. Prosecutors said they are not alleging that Walshe sent it.
On Jan. 8, investigators confronted Walshe with searches found on devices in the home, including “how to dispose of a body,” “how to get blood out of hardwood floors,” “how to dispose of the body in the trash,” and “how to stop the body from decomposing.”
Police arrested Walshe later that day.
Investigators then searched a nearby trash facility, finding items including a COVID-19 vaccination card with Ana Walshe’s name, a pair of Hunter boots, and a black jacket. These are the same items that Brian Walshe said she was wearing the day she left the home.
Prosecutors also presented Ana Walshe’s financial statements, which showed no purchases after Dec. 31 aside from recurring charges. During cross-examination, defense attorney Larry Tipton noted that Brian Walshe made no payments on those accounts.
Tipton argued that a hole in the ceiling of Walshe’s bedroom—introduced as evidence on Monday—was not suspicious. Schmidt agreed and said Walshe told police it happened while he was walking in the attic.
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Tipton also noted that police had no evidence that Walshe saw Facebook messages between Ana Walshe and William Fastow, the man with whom she had an affair and from whom she bought her D.C. townhouse. Tipton asked Schmidt if Walshe appeared upset when he gave Fastow’s name to the police. In response, Schmidt said no.
The court then excused Schmidt.
Before the break, the commonwealth called Massachusetts State Trooper Nicholas Guarino, a forensic evidence specialist, to testify.
Court will resume shortly.
Livestream via NBC10 Boston.
Witness testimony will continue on Tuesday in the Brian Walshe murder trial, as prosecutors work to build their case in Norfolk Superior Court.
Walshe is standing trial for allegedly killing his wife, Ana, on New Year’s Day 2023. Prosecutors say he dismembered her body and dumped her remains in dumpsters around the region, including one near his mother’s home. Investigators never found her body.
In the days after her disappearance, they say Walshe repeatedly misled police as searches stretched from the couple’s Cohasset neighborhood to Washington, D.C., where Ana worked.
On Nov. 18, just before jury selection began, Walshe pleaded guilty to two charges — misleading police and improperly removing or concealing a body. However, he still faces a first-degree murder charge. Sentencing on the lesser charges will come later.
On Monday, defense attorney Larry Tipton argued in his opening statement that Walshe found Ana suddenly dead after a night of New Year’s celebrations — and then spiraled into a panic.
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Tipton said that panic drove Walshe to make a series of disturbing online searches and to lie to police in the hours and days that followed.
The defense’s account stands in sharp contrast to the prosecution’s.
Norfolk District Attorney Chief Trial Counsel Gregory Connor told jurors that the Walshes’ marriage was unraveling as Ana pursued her new job in Washington, D.C., and started an affair, while Brian stayed in Cohasset caring for their three sons and awaiting sentencing in his federal art-fraud case.
At the end of the day on Monday, Cohasset Police Sgt. Harrison Schmidt remained on the witness stand, as the prosecution played recordings of the interviews in the days following Ana’s death between the police and Walshe.
Schmidt will retake the stand on Tuesday morning, with Connor saying Safari and iPad searches are coming up next.
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