Brian Walshe on Thursdaycame face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe's murder trial.
Washington, DC, real estate broker William Fastow is a key witness for the prosecution, as his testimony could offer jurors a potential motive while they weigh whether Walshe killed his wife, Ana Walshe, around New Year's Day in 2023.
The jury also saw surveillance footage and GPS data from Brian Walshe's phones that prosecutors are using to bolster their case that Walshe bought supplies to dismember his wife and then dispose of her body and belongings after her death.
Walshe maintains he did not kill the corporate real estate manager and mother of three – though he haspleaded guiltyto illegally disposing of her body and misleading police, unbeknownst to the jury. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of her murder.
Here are the takeaways from the fourth day of witness testimony.
Stressors weighed on the Walshes' marriage before she vanished, Fastow said
Fastow testified Thursday that he started an intimate relationship with Ana Walshe within weeks of her relocating to the city where he sold her a townhome in the spring of 2022.
Ana Walshe had relocated to DC for work. She told Fastow her children were living with their father in Massachusetts because her husband was subject to home confinement due to a pending federal case in which he pleaded guilty to charges related to selling forged Andy Warhol artwork.
That confinement was predicated on Brian Walshe being the primary caregiver for their children, Ana Walshe told Fastow, according to his testimony.
Still, Ana was "despondent" over the fact that she felt she wasn't in a position to be the mother her children deserved, Fastow testified.
Their relationship became more serious around July 2022, when Walshe's federal sentencing was delayed, said Fastow, who added the dragging federal fraud case was a major point of contention in the Walshes' marriage.
"The biggest stressor was his inability to resolve his criminal case," Fastow said, "and the fact that, because of that, she couldn't be with her children and bring them back to Washington, DC, … It felt like it was holding up her life."
Fastow's testimony also shed light on the final weeks of Ana's life, as he testified they spent Thanksgiving 2022 together in Dublin, Ireland, and Christmas Eve with his friends in Annapolis, Maryland.
Ana Walshe ultimately wouldn't return home to Massachusetts until late Christmas Day because her flight that morning was canceled. The jury heard earlier this week from Brian Walshe's recorded police interviews that they fought about her absence over Christmas.
Fastow confirmed Ana's absence from her family during the holidays was also a point of contention in her marriage.
Ana cared about her husband and feared him discovering her affair, Fastow said
Despite the monthslong affair, Ana Walshe still cared for her husband, Fastow said.
"Ana felt it was really important that when Brian was to find out about the relationship, that he would hear it from her," Fastow testified. "She had expressed a great concern, and I think she felt it would be a strike against her integrity if he found out a different way."
Fastow said he understood Ana cared about her husband and might not leave him, though Fastow had stopped seeing other people.
"While she would talk about arguments they had about finances or the stress of his federal case," defense attorney Kelli Porges asked on cross-examination, "she always spoke to you about him in a positive light?"
"Yes," Fastow said.
"And you knew from her, from her words, that she cared for him deeply," Porges said.
"Very much so," Fastow said.
Ana Walshe and Fastow had plans to meet on January 4, 2023, to celebrate the New Year and discuss their "one-, three-, five- and 10-year plans," Fastow said. But on cross-examination, he clarified they never had extensive conversations about being together long-term.
Ana Walshe never shared that she thought her husband might know about their affair, nor that she had plans to tell him about it, Fastow said.
Brian Walshe's attorneys have repeatedly claimed he did not know about his wife's affair before her death.
A text message around the stroke of midnight on January 1, 2023, wishing him a happy new year was the last time Fastow ever heard from Ana, he said. He grew increasingly concerned when she didn't answer his calls or texts on January 2 and 3.
Fastow ignored two calls from Brian Walshe on January 4, fearing he had learned of the affair.
"I was in an intimate relationship with his wife. I had not heard from her in several days, and frankly, I was concerned that maybe he had found out and was calling to confront me," Fastow testified.
He eventually called Brian Walshe back after Walshe left him a voicemail saying Ana was missing. Fastow went to her DC townhouse looking for Ana at Brian's request, he said.
The jury saw evidence used to trace Walshe's alleged movements after Ana's disappearance
On Thursday afternoon, the jury saw surveillance footage and GPS data that prosecutors have said led investigators to believe Walshe disposed of his wife's body and other evidence after her death.
Law enforcement retraced Brian Walshe's movements before his arrest on January 8, 2023, by analyzing two iPhones seized during the investigation into Ana's disappearance, according to previous court filings by the prosecution. Both phones were believed to be used by Brian Walshe, prosecutors have said.
Massachusetts State Trooper Connor Keefe testified that, after extracting information from the devices around January 8, 2023, he told his supervisors he saw location data suggesting Brian Walshe's cellphonetraveled to dumpstersat his mother's apartment complex on the morning of January 5.
Earlier this week, the jury saw items recovered from those dumpsters, which prosecutors have said belonged to Ana and bore her and Brian's DNA.
Trooper Keefe reviewed other location data used to retrace Walshe's movements between January 1 and January 5, 2023. According to the trooper, that evidence showed that:
On the evening of January 1, Walshe's phone pinged at a Lowe's, CVS and grocery stores.
On January 2, his phone appeared at a Home Goods, Home Depot, Walgreens and a grocery store.
And on January 3, according to the phone data, Walshe went to three different apartment complexes in suburban areas south of Boston.
Jurors saw surveillance footage from January 3 that showed a Volvo SUV driving into one of those apartment complexes. The footage captured a man who threw away a black trash bag in the complex's dumpster.
Theapartment's general managertestified that, based on the typical collection schedule, the trash would have been picked up the following day.
Prosecutors have alleged in court filings Walshe took garbage bags to six dumpsters in different cities and towns on multiple days – and officials believe some of them contained Ana's remains. Filings also allege Walshe misled police in the days after Ana's death, and that investigators were too late to recover some of the evidence they believe Walshe threw away.
His attorney acknowledged during opening statements that Walshe lied to police.
Jurors see more of Walshe's alleged internet searches
Thursday also featured testimony about more internet searches made from Walshe's cellphone in the days before and after Ana's disappearance.
Earlier this week prosecutors showed the jury a lengthy andgruesome list of online searchesthey alleged were made from Brian Walshe's laptop in the days after Ana's disappearance.
The records presented Thursday show a user on Walshe's cellphone searched for William Fastow on December 25, 2022 – around the time Walshe has said he was trying to reach Ana when her flight home for the holiday was canceled. The internet history reflected another search for Fastow on January 4, 2023, around the time Fastow testified he got a call from Brian Walshe.
Searches for buildings managed by Ana Walshe's employer in Washington, DC, also came up in Brian Walshe's phone's internet history on December 29, 2022, and then again on January 4, the day Ana was reported missing.
Searches for the Washington, DC, police and "how to file a missing persons report" also occurred on January 3, the records showed.
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Brian Walshe on Thursdaycame face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as ...
