Dedham, Massachusetts– A Massachusetts man appeared in court Monday in connection with the grisly murder of his wife, who disappeared more than two years ago and whose body was never found.
Anna Walsh, an immigrant from Serbia, was last seen early on January 1, 2023, after a New Year’s Eve dinner at her home in Massachusetts. Her husband, Brian Walsh, faces a charge of first-degree murder, after he agreed to plead guilty last month to lesser charges of misleading police and intentionally transporting a human corpse in violation of state law.
Starting on the day Anna Walsh disappeared and several days after Brian disappeared, prosecutors said Walsh conducted multiple online searches For “Dismemberment and the Best Ways to Dispose of a Body,” “How Long Before a Body Starts to Smell,” and “A Saw Is the Best Dismemberment Tool.”
When questioned by investigators, Walsh said his wife had been called to Washington, D.C., from Massachusetts on New Year’s Day for a work emergency. He did not contact his employer until January 4. The company — the first to notify police of Anna Walsh’s disappearance — said there was no emergency, prosecutors said.
Investigators said surveillance video showed a man resembling Walsh throwing what appeared to be heavy garbage bags into a dumpster not far from their home, and that a search of a garbage processing facility near his mother’s home turned up bags containing an axe, a saw, towels, a Tyvek hazmat suit, cleaning supplies, a Prada wallet, shoes like the ones Anna Walsh was last seen wearing, and a coronavirus vaccination card with her name on it.
Prosecutors also said Anna Walsh received $2.7 million in life insurance and named her husband as the sole beneficiary. The couple, who now have three young children in state custody, live in the upscale coastal community of Cohasset, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Boston.
At the time, Walsh was at home awaiting sentencing in an unrelated art fraud case involving the sale of works of art Two fake Andy Warhol paintings. He was eventually sentenced this year to more than three years in prison and ordered to pay $475,000 in restitution.
The outcome of the trial could be influenced by potential witnesses from the Massachusetts State Police, including Michael Proctor, who was the lead investigator in the case. Karen Reid’s case.
Reed, who was found not guilty of charges in her boyfriend’s death, filed a lawsuit this month accusing Massachusetts State Police and several others, including Proctor, of targeting her and protecting the real killers.
The former state trooper was fired after sharing offensive and sexual texts about reading with friends, family and co-workers. During the second trial, Reid’s defense attorney, Alan Jackson, argued that Proctor’s “blatant bias” tainted every aspect of the corrupt and flawed investigation.