One of the last people to see Ana Walshe alive is testifying Wednesday in the murder trial of her husband, Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering her in 2023. The Cohasset man is accused of killing and dismembering Ana Walshe, 39, around New Year’s Day in 2023. Prosecutors allege that Brian Walshe disposed of his wife’s remains in dumpsters around the area.Gem Mutlu, Ana Walshe’s friend and former employer, testified that he was with the couple on New Year’s Eve.He fought back tears several time as he recounted the evening, saying he didn’t see any problems that evening between Brian and Ana Walshe, and that it was a festive night.Mutlu said that he left the couple’s home between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. He told the jury that Brian Walshe called him four days later asking if he had heard from Ana Walshe because she was missing.”Did you have an argument or something, a fight?” Mutlu said he asked Brian Walshe. “His response was, and I do remember this vividly, his response was, ‘No. Did it look like we had an argument? You were there.’ I didn’t know what to make of it. I was in shock so, you know, I said, ‘You gotta call the police and we’ve go to alert everybody like let our community know and we gotta find her.'”A series of witnesses on Tuesday were called for brief testimonies about their work in support of the DNA analyses performed on evidence collected during the investigation. The prosecution and defense also stipulated that investigators had secured DNA samples from both Brian Walshe and Ana Walshe, which were already in the possession of the FBI. The jury was introduced to evidence investigators found in the search of trash, which included some of Ana’s personal belongings, as well as pieces of a rug and towel with blood stains on them. An analyst testified that samples taken from those items matched Ana’s DNA.Prosecutors then showed surveillance video from a Home Goods, where Walshe could be seen purchasing a rug and towels. The representative from Home Goods parent company testified that Walshe used gift cards that Ana obtained when she made a refund to the store during previous visits.Other evidence includes cleaning products Brian Walshe allegedly purchased and internet searches, such as “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to.” As jury selection was beginning two weeks ago, Brian Walshe abruptly changed his plea to guilty on charges of misleading police and moving his wife’s body. The change of plea is an admission that Brian Walshe knows his wife is dead, which means that his defense team cannot argue that there is no proof of her death. It also means that prosecutors will need to overcome questions about the cause of her death. Video below: Opening statements analyzed Ana Walshe was last seen alive on New Year’s Eve in 2022. What began as a missing person search in Cohasset and Washington, D.C., quickly escalated. Within days, Brian Walshe was arrested and accused of misleading investigators.Prosecutors said he killed his wife, believing she was having an affair, then dismembered and disposed of her body, which was never found.
DEDHAM, Mass. —
One of the last people to see Ana Walshe alive is testifying Wednesday in the murder trial of her husband, Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing and dismembering her in 2023.
The Cohasset man is accused of killing and dismembering Ana Walshe, 39, around New Year’s Day in 2023. Prosecutors allege that Brian Walshe disposed of his wife’s remains in dumpsters around the area.
Gem Mutlu, Ana Walshe’s friend and former employer, testified that he was with the couple on New Year’s Eve.
He fought back tears several time as he recounted the evening, saying he didn’t see any problems that evening between Brian and Ana Walshe, and that it was a festive night.
Mutlu said that he left the couple’s home between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m. He told the jury that Brian Walshe called him four days later asking if he had heard from Ana Walshe because she was missing.
“Did you have an argument or something, a fight?” Mutlu said he asked Brian Walshe. “His response was, and I do remember this vividly, his response was, ‘No. Did it look like we had an argument? You were there.’ I didn’t know what to make of it. I was in shock so, you know, I said, ‘You gotta call the police and we’ve go to alert everybody like let our community know and we gotta find her.'”
A series of witnesses on Tuesday were called for brief testimonies about their work in support of the DNA analyses performed on evidence collected during the investigation. The prosecution and defense also stipulated that investigators had secured DNA samples from both Brian Walshe and Ana Walshe, which were already in the possession of the FBI.
The jury was introduced to evidence investigators found in the search of trash, which included some of Ana’s personal belongings, as well as pieces of a rug and towel with blood stains on them. An analyst testified that samples taken from those items matched Ana’s DNA.
Prosecutors then showed surveillance video from a Home Goods, where Walshe could be seen purchasing a rug and towels. The representative from Home Goods parent company testified that Walshe used gift cards that Ana obtained when she made a refund to the store during previous visits.
Other evidence includes cleaning products Brian Walshe allegedly purchased and internet searches, such as “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to.”
As jury selection was beginning two weeks ago, Brian Walshe abruptly changed his plea to guilty on charges of misleading police and moving his wife’s body.
The change of plea is an admission that Brian Walshe knows his wife is dead, which means that his defense team cannot argue that there is no proof of her death. It also means that prosecutors will need to overcome questions about the cause of her death.
Video below: Opening statements analyzed
Ana Walshe was last seen alive on New Year’s Eve in 2022. What began as a missing person search in Cohasset and Washington, D.C., quickly escalated. Within days, Brian Walshe was arrested and accused of misleading investigators.
Prosecutors said he killed his wife, believing she was having an affair, then dismembered and disposed of her body, which was never found.