Brian Walshe was found guilty Monday of killing his wife, the mother of three whose body has never been found after she disappeared from their Massachusetts home on New Year’s Day close to three years ago. Ana Walshe, a 39-year-old immigrant from Serbia, was last seen early Jan. 1, 2023, after a N ew Year’s Eve dinner at the couple’s Cohasset, Mass. home. Walshe, 50, was convicted of first-degree murder after pleading guilty last month to lesser charges of misleading police and illegally disposing of her body. He had denied killing her and pleaded not guilty to murder. After closing arguments were made on Friday, the Norfolk County Superior Court jury deliberated for about four hours without reaching a consensus. They continued deliberating Monday morning for about two hours before deciding on a guilty verdict in the two-week trial. Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said he believed it was the first time his office had gotten a first-degree murder conviction without a body. Prosecutors leaned heavily on internet searches made on Walshe’ devices that related to dismembering bodies and cleaning up blood. The search questions included “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body,” “how long before a body starts to smell” and “hacksaw best tool to dismember.” They also presented location data and store surveillance footage of Walshe buying tools and cleaning supplies. Walshe initially told investigators that his wife had gone to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a real estate executive, for an emergency on New Year’s Day, but there was no evidence of her traveling to the airport or boarding a flight. He didn’t contact her employer until Jan. 4, when he asked about her whereabouts. The employer then called police. Items believed to be Ana’s boots, clothing and purse, as well as a hacksaw and other tools covered in a reddish-brown stain, were later found in dumpsters, prosecutors said. Walshe later admitted to dismembering her body and disposing of it in dumpsters, but claiming he did so only after panicking when he found his wife had died in bed. The defense didn’t call any witnesses and described her death as sudden and unexplained. The defense also claimed the incriminating internet searches were made hours after Ana Walshe’s death and indicate nothing that happened was premeditated. The defense argued that Walshe made the searches and acted the way he did because he was scared he would be blamed for his wife’s death. Walshe ultimately waived his right to testify on his own behalf. “The defendant did not want anyone to find Ana’s body and to know how she died, so the defendant bought cutting tools at Lowe’s and Home Depot and he cut up Ana’s body — the woman that he claimed to love — and he threw her into dumpsters,” Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Anne Yas said in court. Lastly, prosecutors argued Walshe was motivated by money — he was the sole beneficiary of a lucrative life insurance policy — and his wife’s alleged affair. The defense denied he knew about any affair. “He needed her dead,” Yas told the jury. “This was a marriage in crisis.” His sentencing has been scheduled for Wednesday, where victim impact statements will also be read. He faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. With News Wire Services ...read more read less