Murder suspect Brian Walshe wants Google searches on body disposal barred as trial evidence
Brian Walshe, a man charged with killing and dismembering his wife in Cohasset, wants to bar evidence of Google searches about the 'best ways to dispose of a body' at his trial on the basis that investigators did not use a search warrant to obtain it, according to court filings.
Investigators found the Google searches on his son's iPad, but his lawyers argue that they obtained this evidence improperly and without his consent.
In the initial days of the police investigation, when Brian Walshe's wife — 39-year-old Ana Walshe — was merely a missing person, he agreed to let law enforcement review his family's electronic devices for messages, according to court filings. He did not consent to allowing police access to internet search histories on the devices, his lawyers argue.
Walshe's attorneys now assert the Google searches and any subsequent searches, including some with warrants, were 'fruits of the illegal and unauthorized searches,' and are impermissible in court.
In Norfolk County Superior Court on Monday, prosecutors countered that since Ana Walshe was a missing person at the time and her husband turned over the devices voluntarily, the evidence was obtained properly, the Boston Globe reported.
Ana Walshe's body has never been recovered, but prosecutors allege that DNA evidence suggests her husband dismembered and disposed of it in dumpsters across Massachusetts during the first few days of January 2023.
Walshe has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, disinterring of a body and witness intimidation in connection with the death of his wife on New Year's Day 2023. He is being held without bail.
The internet searches, which were made between Jan. 1 and 3, 2023, include questions such as 'How long before a body starts to smell,' 'How long for someone to be missing to inherit,' 'Can you be charged with murder without a body,' 'Can identification be made on partial remains' and 'How to clean blood from wooden floor.'
Walshe's lawyers wrote in new court filings that detectives violated his constitutional rights by obtaining this evidence improperly.
The defense team also questions the validity of the subsequent search warrants investigators used to obtain evidence against Walshe. One was prepared by disgraced former state police Trooper Michael Proctor, who was the lead investigator in the Karen Read murder case.
It is unclear when Norfolk Superior Court Judge Diane Freniere, who is presiding over the case, will rule on this issue. Trial hearings are set to take place over the course of two days this week.
Ana Walshe was a mother of three and a real estate executive who split her time between Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. She was reported missing by coworkers on Jan. 4, 2023, beginning a multi-week search for her by authorities that resulted in her husband being charged with her murder.
Ana and Brian Walshe hosted one of her former employees on New Year's Eve 2022, but the guest left the couple's Cohasset home around 1:30 a.m. Prosecutors allege that by 4:50 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2023, Brian Walshe had killed his wife and become the sole beneficiary of her $2.7 million life insurance policy.
Prosecutors turn over 100+ pages of Trooper Proctor's notes to Brian Walshe
Brian Walshe to hire experts in DNA testing, cellular devices as murder trial nears
'Nothing gets better with time': Judge overseeing Brian Walshe case sets 2025 trial
Landlord sues Brian Walshe's mother for damage to property from wife Ana's killing
Read the original article on MassLive.
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