\n A few days later, around mid-morning on January 4, 2023, Mutlu was walking on the beach when Brian Walshe called to ask if he had heard from Ana, he said.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cHis tone was not panicked,\u201d Mutlu said in court Wednesday, remembering Walshe told him Ana had been missing since she left their Massachusetts home early on New Year\u2019s Day to return to Washington, DC, for an emergency at work. Mutlu would have left their home just a few hours before Ana, he said, after ringing in the new year.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was incredulous,\u201d Mutlu said. \u201cI said, \u2018What work emergency could there have been on New Year\u2019s Eve?\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI said, \u2018Listen, did you have guys have an argument or something? Did you have a fight?\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n To this day, Mutlu said, he \u201cvividly\u201d remembers Walshe\u2019s response.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cNo,\u201d Walshe said, per Mutlu. \u201cDid it look like we had an argument? You were there.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The testimony of Mutlu \u2013 a close friend of Ana Walshe\u2019s who said he considered her family his own \u2013 came hours before prosecutors on Wednesday rested their case in the trial of Brian Walshe, who is accused of killing his wife on or around January 1, 2023<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n Unbeknownst to the jury, Walshe has pleaded guilty<\/a> to illegally disposing of her body and misleading police. Still, he insists he did not kill the real estate manager and mother of three, but instead found her inexplicably dead in their bed hours after Mutlu left them.\n <\/p>\n \n As the last person other than her husband known to have seen Ana alive, Mutlu\u2019s testimony was key, offering jurors a glimpse at the final hours of her life \u2013 and at Ana\u2019s purported mindset about alleged strife in her marriage: Another witness Wednesday said Ana was \u201cat a breaking point.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Prosecutors called about 50 witnesses across eight days of testimony. Walshe\u2019s attorneys are expected to begin his defense case Thursday morning.\n <\/p>\n A \u2018festive night\u2019 and \u2018cracks\u2019 in a relationship<\/p>\n \n Mutlu first met Ana Walshe through her husband in 2020, when he and Brian Walshe attended a leadership program together, he said. Mutlu hired Ana soon after as the director of operations for his realty group, and they became close friends, keeping in touch even after Ana left the job in 2022 for a more lucrative position based in Washington, DC.\n <\/p>\n \n Mutlu hadn\u2019t seen the Walshe family in months when he went to their home to spend the final hours of 2022 with them, he said.\n <\/p>\n \n After their hug, Mutlu and Ana Walshe sat at the kitchen counter while Brian Walshe prepared food and poured drinks, Mutlu testified. He did not see anything visibly wrong between the couple, he said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was a festive night,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n \n The Walshes\u2019 three children were asleep when Mutlu arrived around 8:30 p.m., he said. But their eldest son, then six years old, joined them for a time, hugging Mutlu and giving him a necklace the boy had made. The boy said he missed Mutlu, he testified, again growing emotional.\n <\/p>\n \n Ana Walshe was on her phone frequently that night, texting friends for the holiday, Mutlu said.\n <\/p>\n![\"Gem](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ap25344570040257.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ap25344714619729-20251211000503550.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Alissa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/ap25344714628643.jpg\")
<\/p>\n