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Brian Walshe murder trial enters 2nd week with surveillance videos, bloody items
Prosecutors showed a number of surveillance videos from Jan. 1, 2023.
Brian Walshe continued his buying spree on New Year’s Day
Prosecutors shared one final surveillance video of Brian Walshe visiting a Stop & Shop in Swampscott on Jan. 1, 2023. The footage showed Walshe checking out at 6:56 p.m., using cash to buy ammonia for $11.56.
Forensic scientist lays out the blood testing of evidence
State Police forensic scientist Matthew Sheehan walked jurors through the blood sampling he conducted at the Walshe home in Cohasset on Jan. 8 and 9, 2023.
In the kitchen, Sheehan found a knife in a cabinet above the refrigerator, next to bottles of hydrogen peroxide. The knife later tested positive for blood.
In the basement, photos showed several purple stains in the back right corner — markers from a chemical agent used to detect blood. Sheehan noted that the chemical can sometimes alter later screening tests and produce false negatives. Still, samples labeled A through G, taken from the cement floor, all screened positive for blood, he said.
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On a return visit, Sheehan located another stain near black trash bags and blue Lowe’s buckets. That sample also tested positive for blood.
On the second floor, Sheehan tested the bedroom but found no blood. He did, however, note a white, powdery substance and areas where the wood’s varnish had worn away.
Sheehan also tested the kitchen sink area, and bathroom sinks, showers, and drains, all of which tested negative for blood.
Back at the state lab, Sheehan continued screening items collected from the home and trash collected from behind Walshe’s mother’s apartment complex.
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The following items tested positive for blood:
- Kitchen knife
- Tinsnips
- Hacksaw
- Hammer
- Hatchet (with an oily substance consistent with fatty tissue)
- Shears
- Pieces of an 8-by-11-foot plastic sheet
- Tape with gauze
- Two white towels
- Dark gray slippers containing a clump of hair
- Multiple hairs, including one animal hair and one consistent with a human
- Wipe and yellow smiley-face sponge
- Tyvek suit
- A piece of rug from garbage bag 5
- Seven more pieces of the same rug from that bag
All the evidence was sent for further DNA testing, including a black jacket that did not test positive for blood and an unknown tissue sample. Sheehan added that bleach can destroy DNA.
Defense attorney Larry Tipton began cross-examination by stressing that multiple people had moved through the home during the investigation. He also pointed out that investigators did not test the bedding and suggested the worn varnish could result from everyday use.
Tipton’s cross-examination will continue when court resumes.
The head of security at Tishman Speyer testifies
Prosecutors called Hugh Dunleavy, the head of security at Tishman Speyer, to the stand.
Dunleavy told jurors that late on the morning of Jan. 4, 2023, he began hearing rumors that people were looking for Ana Walshe. At 10:57 a.m., he sent her a health-and-welfare text message, but she never responded, and the message showed no indication of delivery or read status.
Later that morning, Theresa Marchese patched him into a phone call with Brian Walshe. Dunleavy recalled that during their questioning, Walshe became “very emotional,” to the point of being “unintelligible.” After they asked him to calm down, Walshe regained his composure in about 30 seconds.
At the end of the call, Dunleavy told Walshe he planned to call the local police department and advised him to do the same. He remembers Walshe replying, “I will, I will.”
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That afternoon, Dunleavy assisted D.C. police’s search of Ana’s residence. They found neither Ana nor her car.
He later located her car in the parking lot of The Crossing, the building she managed. Surveillance video showed Ana parking the car there on Dec. 30, 2022 — the same day she last accessed her company laptop, phone, or credit cards.
Prosecutors show a series of surveillance videos of Brian Walshe
Prosecutors showed surveillance video of Brian Walshe from the afternoon of Jan. 1, 2023, beginning at the Cohasset Walgreens at 3:39 p.m. The footage showed Walshe entering the store and then purchasing two items: anti-itch band-aids and triple antibiotic cream.
Next up was surveillance video from outside of Vinnin Liquors in Swampscott. Joseph Cesarz, an employee at the store, said Brian Walshe was a regular on weekends.
“He spent time there more than other customers, like he didn’t have anything else to do,” Cesarz told jurors.
In two videos on Jan. 1, 2023, at 5:12 p.m., Walshe drove into the parking lot, took out a trash bag, and then brought it to the trash bins behind the store.
Cesarz recognized the man in the video as Walshe.
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Prosecutors also showed video of Walshe entering the Danvers Lowe’s soon after at 5:38 p.m. The video showed him wearing a black surgical mask and blue latex gloves, similar to the ones found in his car.
A video of the self-checkout showed him buying an array of items, including a mop, blue buckets, cleaning spray, and rags. A receipt showed that he spent $463.25 and paid with cash.
Later that same evening, surveillance video from a CVS in Danvers showed Walshe entering the store at around 6:28 p.m. A receipt showed that he bought five bottles of hydrogen peroxide spray and rounded up the payment for the nonprofit Feed America. He paid in cash.
The court adjourned for lunch.
State medical examiner returns to the stand
Prosecutors called state medical examiner Richard Atkinson back to the stand and showed jurors images of the rugs he examined, including one marked with red-brown stains. Atkinson said he collected a blood clot and a clump of hair for future DNA analysis. He noted that the carpets were also covered in a white, clumpy powder.
He told the court that he found a metal charm with a Gucci engraving on one side.
Atkinson said he “painstakingly” sifted through the material on the carpets and found an area of blood clots that appeared to contain specks of human tissue.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Larry Tipton listed various ways a person could die suddenly — including fright, erotic behavior, asphyxia, pulmonary issues, and neurological problems.
But in re-cross, prosecutor Gregory Connor pointed out that investigators never determined Ana Walshe’s cause of death because they never found her body.
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When asked whether it is common for a healthy 39-year-old woman to die suddenly, Atkinson replied, “It is not common at all.”
Prosecutors call the head of HR of Tishman Speyer to testify
Prosecutors called Theresa Marchese, the managing director of human capital at Tishman Speyer, where Ana Walshe worked, to testify.
Marchese said she first met Ana during her job interview in November 2021. Ana started in February 2022 with a base salary of $220,000 and the opportunity to earn bonuses, which she did.
On Jan. 4, 2023, Marchese spoke with Brian Walshe four times. She described each call as “polite, calm, and nice.” During one of them, Brian paused and said he needed a minute, and Marchese said it sounded as though he was crying.
Some of those conversations included Hugh Dunleavy, the company’s security director. Together, they tried to gather information about Ana and discussed calling hospitals, friends, and the police. At one point, Brian said his mother wanted to hire a private investigator.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Larry Tipton pointed to issues at The Crossing, one of the buildings Ana managed, including a city health department warning about Legionnaires’ disease, tenant complaints raised at a meeting, and an FBI arrest of two residents during Ana’s early weeks on the job.
In re-cross, Marchese pushed back, saying, “Ana had nothing to do with the FBI raid,” adding that “she was a good employee” and that the tenant complaints did not affect her status at the company.
Livestream via NBC10 Boston.
The second week of the Brian Walshe murder trial gets underway Monday at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham.
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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.
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 after the trial.
Last week, prosecutors introduced a wide range of evidence against Walshe, including internet searches such as “best ways to dispose of a body” and “How long does DNA last?”
They also presented items recovered from dumpsters behind his mother’s home in Swampscott — carpets with apparent bloodstains, a hacksaw with red-brown stains, and various cleaning supplies.
The man who says he had an affair with Ana Walshe took the stand and described a relationship that had grown serious just before her death.
Testimony on Friday ended with a state medical examiner explaining how he began testing the garbage for human tissue. Richard Atkinson will return to the stand Monday morning to continue his testimony.
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