Crime
A State Police forensic scientist returns to the stand for cross-examination.
Livestream via NBC10 Boston.
State Police forensic scientist Matthew Sheehan spent Monday afternoon walking jurors through blood and bloody items he said stretched from the basement of the Walshe home in Cohasset to a trash bin outside Brian Walshe’s mother’s home in Swampscott.
Walshe is standing trial for allegedly killing his wife, Ana, on New Year’s Day 2023. Prosecutors say he then dismembered her body and tossed her remains in dumpsters around the region, including one near his mother’s home. Investigators never found her body.
In the days after her disappearance, they say Walshe repeatedly misled police as searches stretched from the couple’s Cohasset neighborhood to Washington, D.C., where Ana worked.
During opening statements, Walshe’s attorney, Larry Tipton, argued that Walshe found Ana suddenly dead after a night of New Year’s celebrations — and then spiraled into a panic.
On Nov. 18, just before jury selection began, Walshe pleaded guilty to two charges — misleading police and improperly removing or concealing a body. He still faces a first-degree murder charge. Sentencing on the lesser charges will come after the trial.
Testimony from Sheehan on Monday outlined blood splatters on the cement basement floor, traces on a knife stashed above the kitchen refrigerator, and more found on items pulled from the garbage.
Prosecutors paired that evidence with surveillance footage charting Brian Walshe’s movements on the afternoon of Jan. 1, 2023 — the day Ana disappeared.
Beginning at 3:39 p.m., cameras captured him stopping at a Walgreens in Cohasset, heading to a dumpster behind Vinnin Liquors in Swampscott, and spending more than $400 on cleaning supplies at a Lowe’s in Danvers.
He then bought five bottles of hydrogen peroxide at a nearby CVS before making one last stop at a Swampscott Stop & Shop for ammonia.
Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
