DEDHAM – Brian Walshe, the man accused of killing his wife in their Cohasset, Massachusetts, home, will stand trial for murder next fall.
murder case against Brian Walshe
Norfolk Superior Court Judge Diane Freniere set a trial date of October 20, 2025.
Brian Walshe is facing first-degree murder charges, misleading a police investigation and other charges in connection with his wife’s death. Anna Walshewhose body was never found. He has denied being guilty of all charges.
CBS Boston
Walshe, dressed in a suit and with handcuffs on his wrists, appeared in court on Monday.
Walshe’s defense team is seeking documents related to Norfolk County investigators’ handling of two other cases, including the murder case against Karen Read and the alleged murder of Sandra Birchmore by Detective Matthew Farwell of Stoughton, Massachusetts.
Freniere was not in office Monday.
Michael Proctor connection
Defense attorneys are specifically looking for emails and text messages from the lead investigator on the Karen Read case, Trooper Michael Proctorwho helped lead the investigations that resulted in the arrests of both Walshe and Read.
Proctor, who was removed from his position, revealed that he had sent vulgar text messages to colleagues and family in which he called Read an “idiot” and told his sister that he wished Read would “commit suicide.” He said his emotions got the best of him.
Prosecutors have said some of the information sought by attorneys is privileged or exempt because of an ongoing federal prosecution.
Ana Walshe murder
Ana Walshe, who is originally from Serbia, was last seen on Jan. 1, 2023, after a New Year’s Eve dinner at her home in Massachusetts with her husband and a family friend, prosecutors said.
Photo from Cohasset Police Department
Brian Walshe said she was called back to Washington, D.C., on New Year’s Day due to a work emergency. He did not contact her employer until January 4. The company — the first to notify police of Ana Walshe’s disappearance — said it was not an emergency, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors have said that starting Jan. 1 and several days afterward, Brian Walshe searched online several times for “mutilation and the best ways to dispose of a body,” “how long before a body starts to stink” and “the best tool to to cut up a hacksaw’. .”
Prosecutors have also said Ana Walshe took out a $2.7 million life insurance policy that named her husband as the sole beneficiary.
Brian Walshe art fraud
Walshe was too convicted earlier this year to more than three years behind bars for an unrelated art fraud case involving the sale of two fake Andy Warhol paintings. He was ordered to pay $475,000 in damages.
Walshe’s scheme began with the sale of the two original Warhol paintings to a gallery in 2011, according to prosecutors. From there, he acquired replicas of the paintings in 2015 and sold them to a buyer in France before attempting to sell the two fake abstracts on eBay.
Associated Press writer Steve LeBlanc contributed to this report.
