Missing woman’s husband’s searches read in court

‘How long before a body starts to smell?’

COHASSET, Mass. (WWLP) – The husband of missing 39-year-old mother Ana Walshe has been charged with murder and disinterring a body. Brian Walshe was taken to the Quincy District Court and arraigned Wednesday.

Prosecutors revealed new evidence as Walshe was arraigned. He pleaded not guilty and was held without the right to bail.

The last time he told police he saw Ana was on January 1 at 6:10 a.m. The prosecutor read in court the following searches, which Walshe allegedly looked up on an iPad that day:

• 4:55 a.m. – How long before a body starts to smell
• 4:58 a.m. – How to stop a body from decomposing
• 5:20 a.m. – How to embalm a body
• 5:47 a.m. – 10 ways to dispose of a body if you really need to
• 6:25 a.m. – How long for someone to be missing to inherit
• 6:40 a.m. – Can you throw away body parts
• 9:29 a.m. – What does formaldehyde do
• 9:34 a.m. – How long does DNA last
• 9:59 a.m. – Can identification be made on partial remains
• 11:34 a.m. – Dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body
• 11:44 a.m. – How to clean blood from wooden floor
• 11:56 a.m. – Aluminal to detect blood
• 1:08 p.m. – What happens when you put body parts in ammonia
• 1:21 p.m. – Is it better to throw crime scene clothes away or wash them

Prosecutors said they used Brian Walshe’s phone to place him at a HomeGoods store on January 2, where he purchased three rugs. Other Google searches on January 2 included:

• 12:45 p.m. – Hacksaw best to dismember
• 1:10 p.m. – Can you be charged with murder without a body
• 1:14 p.m. – Can you identify a body with broken teeth

On January 3, the prosecutor said Walshe made more Google searches:

• 11:02 p.m. – What happens to hair on a dead body
• 11:13 p.m. – What is the rate of decomposition of a body found in a plastic bag compared to on a surface in the woods
• 11:20 p.m. – Can baking soda mask or make a body smell good

Walshe shook his head as prosecutors read the alleged internet searches he made after his wife went missing. Prosecutors allege that Walshe murdered Ana in the early morning hours of January 1, dismembered her body, and placed her remains in a dumpster at his mother’s home in Swampscott, Massachusetts.

Police were seen searching those dumpsters and a transfer station in Peabody. Prosecutors say police found towels, slippers, tape, boots, rugs, and more, all with Ana’s blood. Police also found blood in the family home’s basement, along with two knives.

Ana Walshe was reportedly last seen leaving their home in the affluent coastal community of Cohasset south of Boston in the early morning hours of January 1, purportedly to take a ride-hailing vehicle to Logan International Airport for a flight to Washington, authorities said. But police have found no indication that she either took a vehicle or boarded any flight out of Logan recently.

She was reported missing on January 4 by her employer in Washington, where the couple has a home and to which she often commutes during the week for work at a real estate company, authorities said.

The couple’s three young children are in state custody. Detectives from the Cohasset Police Department along with the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office are conducting the investigation. A status hearing is scheduled for February 9.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.