He Admitted to Dismembering His Wife's Body. Will Chilling String of Google Searches Prove He Killed Her? By KC Baker

In the frantic hours after Brian Walshe claimed his wife, Ana, died of sudden and unexplained causes, he allegedly made a series of disturbing online Google searches — including “how to saw a body” and “how long before a body starts to smell,” prosecutors said in court.

Brian, 50, of Cohasset, Mass., is on trial facing charges of first-degree murder in connection with the disappearance and presumed death of his wife, Ana, 39, who was last seen alive in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2023.

The body of the mother of three young boys has never been found. Her husband pleaded not guilty to murder.

In November, however, he pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of willfully conveying a human body in violation of state law and misleading police.

In opening statements on Monday, Dec. 1, defense attorney Larry Tipton claimed that Brian found Ana dead in bed at about 2:30 a.m. and panicked, making the consequential decision to “hide” what happened that fateful morning, according to a live stream shown on Masslive.com and reviewed by PEOPLE.

Brian worried about what would happen to the couple’s three young sons, Tipton told jurors. He claimed Brian’s internet searches were the result of his panic in the situation.

Prosecutors say otherwise.

In his opening remarks on Monday, Dec. 1, Commonwealth Assistant District Attorney Greg Connor told jurors that Ana was having an affair, suggesting that this could have been a partial motive for Brian, NBC News reports.

On Dec. 27, 2022, Brian allegedly searched for pornography related to a “cheating wife,” and looked for information on “best divorce strategies for men,” Masslive.com reports.

Prosecutors have also alleged that Brian may have killed his wife for money, since he was the sole beneficiary of his wife’s $2.7 million life insurance policy, NBC News reports.

On Tuesday, Dec. 2, jurors in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, heard about the internet searches Brian allegedly made after he says he found his wife dead in their bed.

Starting at 4:52 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2023, Brian’s internet history showed that he allegedly searched on his laptop for the “best way to dispose of a body,” Mass. State Trooper Nicholas Guarino testified on Dec. 2, CNN reports.

At 4:55 a.m., he allegedly searched for, “How long before a body starts to smell.”

At 6:24 a.m., he searched for “How long for someone to be missing to inheritance,” and at  7:48:04 a.m., he searched for Lowe’s stores in the area, Masslive.com reports.

About three and a half hours later, at 9:35 a.m., he searched “can identification be made on partial human remains,” and then at 9:59 a.m., “How to dispose of a cell phone,” CNN reports.

At 10:29 a.m., he searched, “My wife is missing what should I do.”

At 11:50 a.m. he searched for, “Can I use bleach to clean my wood floors from blood stains,” Guarino told the court.

At 12:53 p.m., he searched for “Should I use hydrogen peroxide 8 on blood stains in concrete,” according to Masslive.

Brian continued his searches the next day, on Sat., Jan. 2, starting at 12:27 p.m. when he typed in, “How to saw a body,” Guarino testified.

At 12:33 p.m., he searched for “Hack saw the best tool for dismembering a body”; at 12:47 p.m., “Can you be charged with murder without a body”; at 1:12 p.m., “Can you identify a body with broken teeth”; at 1:14 p.m., “Disposing of a body in the trash”; and at 2:01 p.m., “How to remove a hard drive from an Apple laptop,” CNN reports.

On Sunday, Jan. 3, at 1:05 p.m., he searched for “Body found at trash station,” then at 1:12 p.m., “Can a body decompose in a plastic bag,” and then at 7:30 p.m., “Can police get your search history without your computer.”

On Monday, Jan. 4, Brian called Ana’s boss about Ana, prompting the woman to call police to report Ana missing.

Previously, in Feb. 2024, Brian was sentenced to 37 months in prison and three years of supervised release in connection with “a years-long, multi-faceted art fraud scheme involving two purported Andy Warhol paintings,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said.

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He was also ordered to pay restitution of $475,000. 

In April 2021, he pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud, interstate transportation for a scheme to defraud and unlawful monetary transaction.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.