A Massachusetts man charged with killing and dismembering his wife in 2023 pleaded guilty Tuesday to disposing of her body, according to a court document.
Brian Walshe was indicted in 2023 in connection with the murder of his wife, Ana Walshe, who was last seen on New Year’s Day that year. Prosecutors have accused Walshe of assaulting and beating his wife with the intent to murder her, as well as of moving her body or remains, according to the criminal complaint. He pleaded not guilty to all charges in 2023.
On Tuesday, the day jury selection was set to begin in his trial, Walshe changed his plea to guilty of "willfully conveying" his wife's body and misleading police, according to a court document.
The document filed Tuesday says Walshe "disposed of and did convey the body of Ana Walshe after her death" and intentionally made false statements to members of the Cohasset Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police during four interviews in January 2023.
Walshe is set to go to trial on the first-degree murder charge, which is scheduled to start Dec. 1.
In a memorandum filed last week asking the court to accept his guilty pleas, attorneys for Walshe said they were rejected by the state because "the Commonwealth would not negotiate unless negotiations included the indictment charging murder."
"While there is no established constitutional right to plead guilty, the defendant's due process rights are implicated in this context," the memorandum says. "At a minimum, a defendant does have the right to plead guilty where he intends to do so voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently and agrees to the underlying specific facts that would support a guilty finding."
In a motion responding to the memo, the state said it decided that "the public release of the pleading less than a week before trial could affect the ability to promptly select an impartial jury."
Walshe's attorneys also filed another memorandum last week requesting that his prison sentence for allegedly misleading police not exceed four to six years. In comparison, his sentence for disinterring a body does not exceed two to three years. An attorney for Walshe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, Walshe was found competent to stand trial after an evaluation period at a hospital that was triggered by an attack in jail that his lawyers said caused him distress.
Judge Diane Freniere emphasized in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Tuesday that Walshe's being indicted on a murder charge does not mean he committed the crime and that it should not influence the jury.
"The defendant does not need to do anything to convince you he is innocent," Freniere said, adding, "The commonwealth needs to prove the charge against Walshe beyond a reasonable doubt."
Freniere questioned Walshe about his guilty pleas before she finally accepted them shortly after 10 a.m., NBC Boston reported.
Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Greg Connor went through the charges against Walshe, alleging he disposed of his wife's body in dumpsters and garbage receptacles in eastern Massachusetts, according to the station. Connor also said Walshe misled investigators by telling them his wife left their home via a ride-share application to head to Washington, D.C., for work.
Ana Walshe, 39,-a mother of three, was last seen on New Year's Day at her home in Cohasset. Her employer requested a well-being check from police on Jan. 4, and Brian Walshe said during an interview that she had left for work early New Year's Day and that "he hasn’t heard from her since," authorities say.
Prosecutors pursued a murder charge later that month after they found disturbing Google searches Walshe is alleged to have made, including "10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to," "hacksaw best tool to dismember" and “can you be charged with murder without a body." Ana Walshe’s body was never recovered, authorities say.
Blood and a damaged, bloodstained knife were found in the couple's basement. Walshe is also alleged to have spent hundreds of dollars on cleaning supplies, mops and tape the day after his wife was last seen.
Walshe was arrested and eventually indicted on charges of murder, misleading a police investigation and improper conveyance of a human body. The couple’s three young children were put in state custody, NBC Boston reported.
A first-degree murder conviction in Massachusetts carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. Walsh has not yet been sentenced on the two charges he pleaded guilty to Tuesday.
