Law&Crime Sidebar - BONUS EPISODE: 7 Shocking Details Revealed in Ana Walshe Murder Case

Episode Date: January 18, 2023

 Brian Walshe, husband of missing Massachusetts woman Ana Walshe, appeared in court Wednesday to learn why investigators believe he murdered his wife. The Law&Crime Network's Sierra ...Gillespie, who was in the courtroom, breaks it down with Sidebar's Jesse Weber.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:48 The bags were laid to sky in Swampster and contain Yana's property and the items used to clean up as well as the DNA that was left behind. The Cornwall is asking to be held without fail. As Brian Walsh is arrested for the murder of his missing wife, new stunning revelations come to light in his latest court hearing. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.
Starting point is 00:01:13 About two weeks after Massachusetts woman Anna Walsh disappeared, prosecutors issued a murder warrant for her husband, Brian Walsh. This comes after Walsh was being held on a $500,000 bail after being charged with misleading authorities in the case. you might recall that he wasn't entirely being accurate about his wife's activities on January 1st, or at least that's what the allegation was. Now, Walsh appeared for a hearing in Quincy District Court where he pled not guilty to the charges that he now faces, such as assault with intent to murder and charges related to unlawfully moving a dead body. Now, it should be noted that Anna Walsh's remains have not been found, or at least police have not said they have found the remains. Now, I will tell you that we learned a lot more about the evidence against him.
Starting point is 00:01:59 And honestly, it was something. So to help me break this down about the biggest revelations in this court appearance. I'm joined right now by Law and Crime Network correspondent, Sierra Gillespie, who was inside that courtroom. Sierra, thanks so much for coming here on sidebar. Yeah, Jesse, it's always great to come on. First, let's start with the revelation of what was it like looking at him, right? What was his demeanor?
Starting point is 00:02:21 What were his mannerisms as these charges and this evidence was being presented against him? Yeah, this is what I was most anticipating seeing. Brian Walsh himself enter the courtroom and he did not disappoint. He stood the entire hearing. It was only about 15 minutes. He had his hands cuffed in front of him and was wearing a gray crew neck. But what I think is the most interesting thing here is that as prosecutors detailed all of these incriminating evidence they say is against Brian Walsh, he just kept eye contact with them the entire time staring at prosecutors. He was asked like one or two questions maybe from the judge and he spoke like very confidently saying he's pleading not guilty. But that stare is really what caught my eye as he was just listening very, very
Starting point is 00:03:04 intently. So no emotion. No real emotion. I wouldn't say any emotion at all. Okay. Well, I could be wrong, but I read that he might have shook his head when we're going to the next revelation because the biggest thing that I think came out of this or one of the biggest things was the internet searches, right? So we learned a lot about internet searches that were allegedly made by Brian Walsh. Walk us through that. Okay. This is a lot. lot to unpack here because there were more than a dozen internet searches over multiple different days and a lot of them are red flags in this case. So for one, in December, before Anna Walsh is missing, before she's reported missing, anything like that, Ryan Walsh researches, what is the best
Starting point is 00:03:46 state to divorce a man in? There was one other earlier Google search, which would you be a note by December 27, defendant Googled. What's the best state to divorce from the end? Rather than divorce, it believed that wine wash, dismounted, on a wash, and discarded her body. So then we move into January. We're in the new year, multiple different searches that are kind of interesting here. He researches how to stop a body from smelling. He researches top 10 ways to dispose of a body. He looks into information about formaldehyde, how to clean up blood off a wooden floor,
Starting point is 00:04:26 how to identify a body if the teeth are gone. on. If you can, how long does DNA last? Things like that, many that I can't even remember because there were so many of them. Yeah, let's, I'll just list a few more just because if the idea is, if you think about covering up a crime, your search history could be the worst thing. I mean, right now, these searches are so bad that I think the best argument would be that he didn't make him someone else made them, because there's really no way to get around the, how long, so at January 1st, this is in the hour before that Brian Walsh originally told him. investigators that his wife had left the home to go to a flight to D.C. He allegedly makes these
Starting point is 00:05:04 searches on his son's iPad. How long before a body starts to smell? How to bound a body? Ten ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to. Can you throw away body parts? Later on in the day, how long does DNA last? What happens when you put body parts in ammonia? How to clean, like you said, how to clean blood from a wooden floor, dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body? Is it better to throw crime scene clothes away or wash them? And then this one, as you mentioned on January 2nd, can you identify a body with broken teeth? But this one's just huge. Can you be charged with murder without a body? I think he knows the answer to that. The answer is yes. On January 3rd, that same day, at 102 p.m. He did some more Google searches. What happens to
Starting point is 00:05:48 here on a dead body? At 113 p.m. What is the rate of decomposition of the body? body found in a plastic bag compared to on a surface in the woods. At 1.20 p.m. can baking soda mask or make their body smell good. Also, this one was interesting, Sierra. Hacksaw best tool to dismember. Yeah, that one is really interesting because as we learned today, a hacksaw was actually recovered. This is one of the big revelations that we had. So ahead of his appearance today in Quincy District Court, we knew that he was near a dumpster. There was a like surveillance video of him about an hour north of where he lives. It's a little bit north of Boston. So he was at this dumpster of an apartment complex where his mom lived. And then all of that
Starting point is 00:06:35 trash was later searched at like a trash facility. What we learned that investigators found was a bloody hacksaw. They found 10 garbage bags with stains consistent with blood on them. They found Anna Walsh's COVID-19 vaccination card. They found a lot of evidence in that way. So I think that hacksaw one is really important to pay attention to. And the DNA, right? That DNA is huge. You know, finding him and his wife's DNA. This was my understanding, they have this backed up by surveillance footage and also cell phone records. Yes, cell phone records and surveillance video have him in that area. And like you said, the DNA, I want to touch on that too, because they mentioned specifically a pair of slippers that had both Anna Walsh and Brian Walsh's DNA on it. But that was not the
Starting point is 00:07:20 only item. There were multiple different items that they noted had both of their DNA. on it. So he was researching DNA. We know that for sure. On January 4th, the following day, the defendant went to home goods and J. Max. He purchased towels as well as bathmats and men's clothing. At 415 that day, on the fourth, he went to Lowe's where he purchased squeegees and a trash can. I want to go into the next big revelation because it's when police arrive on the scene, right? So they don't initially know what's happening. But in this hearing, we learned a little bit more of what was going on when police arrived, right? Yes. Okay. So up until today, we had heard reports that Brian Walsh and Anna Walsh's employer both reported her missing on January 4th. But it was today in
Starting point is 00:08:07 court that we learned it didn't quite go down that way. So it was Anna Walsh's employer who reached out to authorities saying, hey, we haven't heard from her. We're kind of worried. So police then went to Brian Walsh's home to perform a well-being check. And it was only then that Brian Walsh says, Yeah, I haven't seen my wife in a couple of days. So that is a very interesting point to note. And also, as police were there kind of, you know, performing this well-being check, reaching out to Brian Walsh, looking for more information, they noticed in the back of his Volvo, his seats were down,
Starting point is 00:08:38 and there was a plastic tarp there. Later when they asked about it, the tarp was gone, but blood was found in the car when it was later searched. Do they know what happened to the tarp? He said he threw it away. Where's the tarp? We don't know. How convenient, you know?
Starting point is 00:08:54 I also thought it was really interesting, and, you know, I'm fascinated to see where this case progresses, but now you can kind of understand why they actually arrested him for this. What about the credit card activity? So this is an important one to note as well. Anna Walsh's credit card activity stopped on January 1st. This is the last day that Brian Walsh told authorities that she was seen. She was supposed to have been leaving her home and Cohasset to go to the Boston Logan Airport to hop on a plane to D.C.
Starting point is 00:09:22 no more credit card activity for Anna Walsh. So that's kind of important to note too. That we've seen this in cases. That would indicate that, and I hate to say this, the worst case, that she's not alive, that she's not, you know, kidnapped somewhere. If you don't have this activity, it's going to be very difficult in a nobody cases, presuming this is a nobody case, to suggest that she's living somewhere else. But right now, is it possible that police have her remains but haven't identified it or, you know, that they still haven't found the body? Do we have any sense right now after this hearing, after this arrest, whether or not they know anything about her remains? As far as Anna Walsh's remains go, right now we don't know. Prosecutors didn't indicate
Starting point is 00:10:04 any information about whether they had some form of remains in custody, anything like that. The only thing we can think moving forward is that maybe they have this information already and they're kind of keeping it close to the vest as they move forward with court proceedings and eventually a trial, or maybe they haven't even found her remains at all, and they're still searching. So what's going to happen next? Did we learn after this hearing what the next step in the process is? Yeah. So right now, Brian Walsh is being held without bail in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, and he's set to appear in court on February 8th for a status hearing. So hopefully then we can learn even more about this very twisted case. And he's pleading not guilty,
Starting point is 00:10:44 no idea about what potential defense is, right? That is correct. Pleading not guilty to these charges and his initial charges that were misleading police in this investigation. No idea on any sort of alibi, though. Well, we might not know exactly what the defenses are, but I'll tell you what, Sierra, we just received a response from Tracy Milner's office. Now, we believe Tracy Milner is representing Brian Walsh, and this is what she responded back to us, quote, it is easy to charge a crime and even easier to say a person committed that crime. It is a much more difficult thing to prove it, which we will see if the prosecution can do.
Starting point is 00:11:19 I am not going to comment on the evidence. First, because I am going to try this case in the court and not in the media. Second, because I haven't been provided with any evidence by the prosecution. My experience, whereas here, the prosecution leaks so-called evidence to the press before they provided to me. Their case isn't that strong. When they have a strong case, they give me everything as soon as possible. We shall see what they have and what evidence is admissible in court where the case will ultimately be decided, although it is probably fruitless. that you not inundate my office, my home, or my cell phone with media requests. I will not be giving any media interviews or comments. I intend to win this case in court, not in the media, which has already tried and convicted Mr. Walsh.
Starting point is 00:12:02 Well, that's something. Sierra Gillespie, thank you so much for your great reporting, and we look forward to having you back as this case will surely progress. And that's all we have for you, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us here on Sidebar. Please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.
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