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Brian Walshe murder trial: Prosecutors introduce evidence found in trash
Court wrapped up Wednesday afternoon with a State Police forensic scientist going over evidence found in trash bags.
Prosecutors introduce trash bag evidence
On Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors called Massachusetts State Police forensic scientist Davis Gould to testify.
He explained that he was called to the Cohasset Police Department on the afternoon of Jan. 9, 2023, to process a Volvo in connection with an incident in the town.
Gould said he recovered five samples of blood from the Volvo, including on:
- Driver’s-side seat controls
- Second row passenger mat
- The third passenger seat was folded down, and the back tested positive
- Two separate samples from two trunk mats
Gould also noticed numerous light blue plastic gloves, including two on the passenger-side floor, a pair in a Ziploc bag, and 16 in the center console.
There were also two child safety seats in the car.
Later that evening, police called Gould to a trash facility at 300 Forest St. at 8:15 p.m., where he began sorting through multiple bags of garbage and separating evidence.
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Here is what each bag of garbage contained, according to Gould:
Bag 1
- Pair of green boots
- Bracelet
- Black purse
- Headphones in a case
- Socks
- Volkswagen keys
- Black jacket
Bag 2
- Two white towels with red-brown stains
- Gauze with red-brown stains
- Tissues with red-brown stains
Bag 3
- White bathrobe with red-brown stains
Bag 4
- Watch with leather straps
- Gray slippers with red-brown stains
- Dark gray slippers with trace materials (a picture shows the slippers covered in a blood-like substance with hairs attached)
- Loose hair inside the bag with red-brown stains
- Wipes
- Spunge with a wipe stuffed into it
Bag 5
- Pieces of a rug with red-brown stains
Bag 6
- Hand towel with red-brown stains
- Safety goggles
- White Tyvex suit
- More pieces of rug covered with blood and human tissues.
Bag 7
- Bottle of hydrogen peroxide
- Ice pack
- Blue flat sheet
- Paper bags from Lowe’s and Stop & Shop
Bag 8
- Hammer
- Wire snips
- Hatchet
- Hacksaw with red-brown stains
Bag 9 is not shown
Bag 10
- A large piece of tarp taped together to form a larger tarp
- Protective booties
- A piece of pink insulation
- Scraps from containers
During cross-examination, Larry Tipton made the point that the evidence could have come into contact with other items, such as the trash facility’s damp floor or other items in the black bag, before Gould was able to examine them.
The court asked Gould to step down and ended the court session for the day.
The trial will resume on Thursday, with the judge saying it is right on schedule, maybe even ahead of schedule.
Prosecutors call on data from rideshare services
Seth Fox, a subpoena specialist with the rideshare app Lyft, testified that Ana Walshe did not request any rides between Dec. 30, 2022, and Jan. 8, 2023.
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Alissa Wimmer, a regional public safety liaison at Uber, testified that Ana’s account shows two trips taken on Dec. 30, 2022. The testimony did not say the location of the trips.
Ana did not take any other rides between Dec. 30, 2022, and Jan. 8, 2023, Wimmer said.
Swampscott police officer takes the stand
On Jan. 9, 2023, the police department called Officer Michael Kenyon to 330 Paradise Road, where he saw a trash bin and compactor, he testified. Kenyon then helped lead a caravan of police, along with the trash bin and compactor, to a Republic Services center in Peabody.
Search of Ana Walshe’s residence in D.C.
Prosecutors called Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Amy Waterman to the stand. She told jurors that on Jan. 7, 2023, she and Lt. Michael Lopes of the Cohasset Police Department traveled to Washington, D.C., to visit Ana Walshe’s residence.
Waterman described the residence as a three-story townhome with a garage, an attached workout room, a first-floor living area and kitchen, a second-floor primary bedroom, and a third floor with three children’s bedrooms.
The residence was “neat and tidy,” Waterman said.
Waterman said she found some men’s clothing in the primary bedroom’s closet and took some travel paperwork from a counter in the kitchen. Waterman added that she did not see a car at the residence and did not find Ana.
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The owner of the Cohasset Walshe residence takes the stand
Prosecutors called Peter Capozzoli, the owner of the Cohasset rental where the Walshe family lived, to the stand.
Capozzoli also owns Cohasset Imports, a used car dealership near the rental at 516 Chief Justice Cushing Highway.
He said Diana Walshe, Brian Walshe’s mother, paid for a six-month lease upfront, beginning in March 2022, at a discounted rate of $4,800 per month, and later extended it for another six months at $5,000 per month.
Capozzoli understood the Walshes wanted a short-term lease because they planned to move to Washington, D.C., and that Diana Walshe would take over the lease afterward.
While making minor repairs in the house, Capozzoli saw Ana Walshe a few times, and he saw Brian Walshe monthly when he collected the rent check.
Life insurance comes to the forefront
Prosecutors called Mark Selvaggi of New York Life Insurance to the stand. Selvaggi said he met Brian Walshe through an online lead suggesting he was looking for life insurance.
Because Walshe’s pending federal court case prevented him from obtaining life insurance, Selvaggi suggested applying for a policy under Ana Walshe’s name.
New York Life approved Ana for a 20-year term life insurance policy worth $1 million and a whole life insurance policy for $250,000. The policies went into effect on May 17, 2021.
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Selvaggi said that the beneficiary for both insurance policies was Brian.
Selvaggi explained the difference: a term life policy covers a set period, and if the person does not die during that time, the policy pays nothing. A whole life policy lasts the person’s entire life, pays out the full amount, costs more, and allows the policyholder to access cash value as a loan.
All life insurance applications require a health evaluation. Without it, New York Life will not approve the policy. During the trial, the judge asked the jury to step out as Selvaggi described how the evaluation works, striking that portion from the record before the jury returned.
Selvaggi told jurors that New York Life assigns health ratings from 1 to 37, with 1 representing the best health and 37 the worst. Ratings decline from non-smoker to smoker. Applicants also undergo blood and urine tests and answer health questions over the phone, but Selvaggi said he did not see any information regarding Ana.
He noted that Ana scored a 1, the highest health rating.
During cross-examination, Kelli Porges, representing Brian, said a higher health rating is preferable because it results in lower premiums. Porges also noted that it is common for partners to be listed as a beneficiary to take care of the children if something were to happen.
The court recessed for lunch and will return to Selvaggi’s testimony afterward.
Trooper Nicholas Guarino returns to the stand
Larry Tipton, representing Brian Walshe, cross-examined Trooper Nicholas Guarino about the evidence found on Walshe’s laptop.
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Police seized the laptop on Jan. 8, 2023, after obtaining a warrant for the house. Other devices, including Walshe’s cellphone, were voluntarily handed over on Jan. 6, but the laptop, which contained the damning internet searches, was not.
Tipton highlighted searches showing the user looked up diamond rings on Dec. 26, 2002, before searches related to divorce began. Following those divorce-related searches, the user also looked at Porsches for sale in the area.
During recross, prosecutor Anne Yas noted a Jan. 1 search referencing divorce: “Your spouse is missing, and you want a divorce/hello/divorce.”
Prosecutors call William Foley from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to the stand
Records show Ana Walshe left the country on Nov. 23, 2022, and returned on Dec. 7, 2022, according to William Foley from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. She did not travel outside the country at any other time between Jan. 1, 2022, and July 2023, he said.
Prosecutors call canine handler to the stand
Prosecutors called Sgt. Patrick Reardon of the Cohasset Police Department, a canine handler. He told jurors that he searched the areas around the residence for about 30 minutes but did not go into the fenced backyard area because there was a German Shepard present.
“We didn’t find anything,” Reardon said.
Prosecution calls up JetBlue keeper of the records
Prosecutors called up Thomas Menino Jr., the head of security and keeper of the records for JetBlue at Boston Logan Airport.
Menino outlined the various flights booked for Ana Walshe with the airline.
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Reservations:
12/25/22: Reservation for a flight between Reagan National Airport and Boston for 6:30 p.m. The flight is refunded. Ana purchased the ticket on Dec. 20, 2022.
12/27/22: Flight from Boston to Reagan at 7:30 a.m. No data on whether she took the flight. Ana purchased the ticket on Dec. 20, 2022.
12/30/22: Flight from Reagan to Boston at 6:30 a.m. Ana used the ticket and purchased it on Dec. 20, 2022.
1/3/23: Flight from Boston to Reagan at 6 a.m. It is a no-show, meaning Ana did not appear for the flight.
1/13/23: Flight from Reagan to Boston at 6:30 p.m. It is a no-show.
1/16/23: Flight from Boston to Reagan at 6 a.m. It is a no-show. Ana purchased the ticket on Nov. 5, 2022.
1/27/23: Flight from Reagan to Boston at 6:30 p.m. It is a no-show. Ana purchased the ticket on Nov. 5, 2022.
1/30/23: Flight from Boston to Reagan at 6 a.m. It is a no-show. Ana purchased the ticket on Nov. 5, 2022.
The first officer to contact Brian Walshe
Prosecutors called Greg Lowrance, a police officer with the Cohasset Police Department, to the witness stand. Lowrance told jurors that he was dispatched to the Walshe residence on Jan 4, 2023, at 11:44 a.m., for a well-being check.
He spoke with Brian Walshe, who was “calm and collected,” during the interaction. Lowrance did not record the interview, and he was not wearing a body camera.
After speaking with Walshe at the residence’s side door, Lowrance retrieved a missing person report. Walshe helped the officer complete the report, recording data about Ana, including her age, physical appearance, D.C. residence address, and phone number.
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Walshe told the officer that Ana was flying on JetBlue, and the last time he saw or heard from her was on Jan. 1.
Walshe told Lowrance that this was unusual behavior, saying that normally his wife frequently FaceTimes him when away from home to see the children.
Lowrance said he did not enter the home during this interaction. He returned to the residence at 6:30 p.m. the same day to conduct a recorded interview with Cohasset Police Sgt. Harrison Schmidt. Prosecutors played a recording of that interview during the first day of testimony.
Livestream via NBC10 Boston.
Trooper Nicholas Guarino, who revealed the damning internet searches attributed to Brian Walshe, returns to the stand at Norfolk Superior Court on Wednesday for cross-examination in the murder trial.
Some of the searches that began in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2023, included, “How long before a body starts to smell?,” “How long does DNA last?,” and “How to dispose of a cellphone?”
Walshe is standing trial for allegedly killing his wife, Ana, on New Year’s Day 2023. Prosecutors say he then dismembered her body and tossed 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.
During opening statements, Walshe’s attorney, Larry Tipton, argued that Walshe found Ana suddenly dead after a night of New Year’s celebrations — and then spiraled into a panic.
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On Nov. 18, just before jury selection began, Walshe pleaded guilty to two charges — misleading police and improperly removing or concealing a body. He still faces a first-degree murder charge. Sentencing on the lesser charges will come later.
Norfolk District Attorney Chief Trial Counsel Gregory Connor said upcoming witnesses will include record keepers from Uber, Lyft, and JetBlue; Sgt. Patrick Reardon, the Cohasset K-9 officer on the case; and William Foley of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Also expected to testify are Swampscott Police Officer Michael Kenyon and Massachusetts State Police Trooper Amy Waterman.
Other state witnesses include State Police Trooper Connor Keefe (who also worked on the Karen Read case), forensic scientist Davis Gould, and Heather Sullivan.
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