Overview
- Jurors in Norfolk Superior Court returned the first-degree murder verdict Monday after roughly six hours of deliberations over two days in the no-body case.
- Prosecutors presented digital and forensic evidence including Google searches about dismemberment and disposal, surveillance of tool purchases and dumpster trips, and DNA and blood linking discarded items to Ana Walshe.
- The defense argued Ana died suddenly in bed and that Brian Walshe panicked, with the team resting without calling witnesses as Walshe declined to testify.
- Before trial, Walshe pleaded guilty to misleading police and improper disposal of a body, and he will also be sentenced on those counts at Wednesday’s hearing.
- Prosecutors cited financial and personal motives, noting Walshe was the sole beneficiary of a $2.7 million life insurance policy and that Ana was allegedly in an affair while he was under federal scrutiny for a prior fraud case.