Brian Walshe’s wife Ana, fell victim to “sudden unexplained death,” before he panicked and got rid of her body — because he thought everyone would blame him, his lawyer told jurors.

The irony, of course, is that they did blame him — and he was in a Norfolk County, Massachusetts courtroom Monday for the start of his murder trial.

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The murder trial for Brian Walshe is slated to kick off Monday with opening statements.AP
Prosecutors say that Walshe, 50, killed and dismembered his 39-year-old spouse, with whom he shared three kids, around New Year’s Day 2023. Ana was having an affair and the couple were also having financial problems at the time owing to Walshe being convicted for selling phony Andy Worhol paintings.

Ana’s body has never been found.

Defense attorney Larry Tipton, told the jury in Norfolk County Superior Court, in Dedham, Mass. Monday morning that while Walshe’s incriminating actions after her death — like lying to cops, Googling how to dismember a body and buying a hacksaw and hatchet — “will be hard to understand,” he still isn’t responsible for her death.

When Ana turned up dead in bed, Brian thought, “What would happen to their three boys now that Ana is no longer here? What will happen if they think he did something bad to Ana? Where will those three boys go?” Tipton told jurors.

Still, “Brian Walshe never killed Ana. He never thought about killing Ana. He would never do that. Brian Walshe is not a killer,” Tipton said.

Instead, Ana died of a little known condition called “sudden unexplained death,” roughly an hour after the New Year rang in, Tipton said.

Ana and Brian had been celebrating with a friend at their Cohasset home before the friend left around 1:30 a.m., and Ana went to bed while Brian cleaned up the kitchen, Tipton said.

When Brian went up to the bedroom he “intended to crawl into bed with Ana Walshe, the woman he loved.”

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Brian Walshe in a booking photo from his arrest on Jan. 8, 2023.Cohasset Police Department
“He got into bed and he sensed something was wrong,” Tipton said. “He nudged Ana. She didn’t respond. He nudged her again. She didn’t respond.”

And in Walshe’s effort to wake his wife, “she actually rolled off the bed,” the defense attorney told the jury.

“Now he is panicking and he doesn’t understand what has happened and what is happening. It didn’t make any sense to him,” Tipton said.

So by 4:54 a.m. he started making incriminating Google searches.

Walshe, “began a frantic and tragic search that you will hear about,” Tipton said. “You will hear evidence that those searches evolved from how best to dispose of a body to even darker subject matter as he wrestled with the fact that Ana Walshe was dead.”

“That evidence you will hear will be hard to understand but it’s true,” Tipton said.

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Brian Walshe in court on July 24, 2025.Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The lawyer went on to say that most people haven’t heard of sudden unexplained death and that its cause is not well understood, but that’s what took Ana’s life.

Just before jury selection began last month, Walshe, a real estate executive, admitted to the lesser charges of the case — that he dismembered her body and disposed of the remains in dumpsters which were incinerated as part of the disposal process. He also admitted to lying to cops about it.

He has maintained his innocence in connection to her slaying.

Tipton’s openings offered the first explanation for Walshe admitting to hiding Ana’s body while maintaining his innocence for murder for which he’d face life in prison if found guilty.

Tipton said the pair deeply loved each other and loved their three sons and even though Ana had an affair with another man, she never planned to leave her husband or break up the family.

“Ana Walshe did everything she could to hide that affair,” Tipton said.

Ana actually told Brian at one point that she had a crush on the man, William Fastow, with whom she ultimately had an affair — and Brian wasn’t upset about her confession because “he trusted Ana,” Tipton said.

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Brian Walshe seen buying mops, buckets, goggles, a hatchet and more.Quincy District Court
Tipton said they owned investment properties, Ana had a high-paying job in Washington DC earning nearly $300,000 a year, Brian’s mom paid their rent on their Cohasset home, they owned a townhouse in DC and they had millions in life insurance policies for each family member.

They were even looking into buying another investment property in DC, the defense attorney said.

The largest stresser in their relationship was due to Brian’s federal case for selling fake Andy Warhold artworks, Tipton said. He admitted to the crime in 2021 and was sentenced to 37-months behind bars.

The case meant Brian couldn’t leave Massachusetts and Ana was commuting to and from DC while he lived with their sons full time. And the pair were trying to “preserve their assets” for their sons, ages 2, 4, and 6, in light of the restitution Brian owed.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Greg Connor in his opening remarks laid out for jurors the damning evidence their office has like the fact that Brian made a slew of Google searches to apparently cover-up killing her.

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Brian Walshe at his trial in Dedham on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025.Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger
On New Year’s Day, by 6:24 a.m. he was already searching about how long someone has to go missing before you can inherit their assets and how long someone has to be missing before they are declared dead, Connor said.

He searched, “can you throw away body parts,” “how long does DNA last,” and “is it possible to clean DNA off knife,” Connor told the jury.

Another time he searched, “best way to dispose of body parts after a murder” and he went on websites that were devoted to getting away with a murder, the prosecutor said.

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Walshe is accused of killing his wife, Ana, with whom he shared three kids.Instagram / Ana Walshe
Walshe also visited Home Depot, Lowes, CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens buying cleaning supplies and tools like hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, mops, buckets, a hatchet and a hacksaw, Connor said.

He bought new area rugs and scented candles too, the prosecutor added.

There is also evidence that Walshe threw things into dumpsters, one of which was by where his mom lived, Connor said.

Investigators recovered some evidence on Jan. 9 2023 from that dumpster and trash compactor, recovering  a Tyvek suit, a hatchet, a hacksaw, a hammer, sheers and rugs, the prosecutor said.

The Tyvek suit had both Brian and Ana’s DNA on it while the rugs, hatchet and hacksaw all had Ana’s DNA on it, Connor said.

Then, Walshe sent law enforcement on a wild goose chase, by claiming that Ana left for an emergency work trip to DC and had disappeared, the prosecutor told the jury.

DC and Cohasset police searched for Walshe before she was officially declared missing on Jan. 4.

But cops eventually discovered that Ana’s phone last pinged on Jan. 2 near the family home, dispelling the possibility that she left for DC the day before, Connor said.

Walshe was interviewed by the police on Jan. 5, 7, and 8 during which he claimed to be happily married and unaware of any affair she was having.

Yet, on Dec. 25, Walshe Googled William Fastow, the name of the man Ana was sleeping with, the prosecutor said.

Two days later, Walshe searched “best strategies to divorce for a man,” the prosecutor claimed.

After the New Year’s Eve celebration,  Ana “was home, she was alive, she was with her husband. No one has seen her since her husband said she left on Jan. 1,” Connor said. “No one has found her body.”

Tipton said the reason Walshe was researching divorce is because he wanted to ensure his wife and kids would be financially taken care of  given his restitution bill and in case he served hard time for the financial fraud.

He was thinking, “how is it that I make sure that my wife and my three sons are financially secure if I have to go to prison?” Tipton said.

The trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

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Walshe admitted last month to getting rid of Ana’s body but insists he didn’t murder her.Instagram / Ana Walshe
Walshe admitted to one count of misleading the police and one count of improper conveyance of a human body and faces 10 and three years behind bars respectively.

He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted by the jury on the only remaining count of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors called a Cohasset Police Department Sergeant as their first witness after openings. They are introducing Walshe’s recorded interviews with law enforcement during the sergeant’s testimony, which is expected to last for the rest of the day.

On the first recording jurors heard, Walshe was interviewed at home with his kids and phone notifications frequently interrupting the questioning.

Walshe sounded calm and composed as he spoke extensively to the detective about the lead-up to Ana’s disappearance and her supposed emergency trip to DC. Though, Walshe frequently over-explained and meandered in his answers to the cop.