A haunting photo shown to jurors on Tuesday shows Ana Walshe laying on the same rug that was later found blood-soaked, cut to pieces and thrown in a dumpster by husband Brian Walshe after he killed her, prosecutors argued.
Brian, 50, is accused of killing Ana — the mother of their three sons — on New Year’s Day 2023, dismembering her body with tools he bought at hardware stores and throwing the remains in dumpsters — never to be found.
The second week is underway at the trial accusing Brian Walshe of murdering his wife, Ana. APA jury in Norfolk County Superior Court, in Dedham, Mass., saw a photo of the 39-year-old mom laying on her back on a aqua and white patterned rug on the floor of the living room at the family’s Cohasset home.
The rug is a key piece of evidence since jurors also saw several photos of bloodied fragments of what appears to be the same aqua and white rug.
Jurors saw a photo of Ana laying on a rug that prosecutors say was later found in a dumpster, bloodied and cut to bits. Court TV
Those rug bits were recovered from a dumpster near the home of Brian’s mother, along with a hacksaw, a hammer, a hatchet, a Tyvek suit, bloody towels and other evidence that had Ana’s DNA on them, prosecutors claim.
Jurors also saw photos from inside the Walshe’s home, which showed blood stains on their basement floor and of knife with traces of blood on it found in a cabinet above their kitchen fridge, according to a report by CNN.
And the panelists last week saw a slew of tools prosecutors say Brian used to carry out his gory task of dismembering his wife’s body, including the hammer, hatchet and hacksaw found in the dumpster.
The trial is in its second week and is expected to take up to three weeks.
Prosecutors said Walshe bought these tools and then used them to dismember his wife Ana after killing her. Pool
Jurors also saw fragments of the same rug that were found in a dumpster, covered in blood. Law&Crime Trials/YoutubeProsecutors have claimed that Brian was motivated to kill Ana because he found out about her affair with another man.
Their marriage was already strained because of his federal art fraud conviction, which resulted in him owing more than $400,000 in restitution and facing prison.
Walshe’s lawyers, meanwhile, claim he didn’t know about Ana’s romance with the other man — William Fastow — who helped them buy a townhouse in Washington D.C. where she worked.
Jurors also saw photos from inside the Walshe’s home, including of their basement floor that was stained with blood. Law&Crime Trials/YoutubeThe defense claimed Ana and Brian were in love and she didn’t have plans to leave him or even tell him about the affair.
Instead, Ana died unexpectedly in their bed of “sudden unexplained death” after they hosted a friend for New Year’s Eve, defense lawyers argue.
Brian panicked, believing he’d be blamed for the death, so he tried to cover it all up, the defense has said.
Just weeks before trial, Brian admitted to one count of lying to cops and one count of unlawfully disposing of Ana’s body. But he maintains he’s innocent on the count of murder.
