Trial date set for Brian Walshe for murder of property manager’s missing wife

A Massachusetts man accused of killing his wife and dismembering her body appeared in court for a hearing Monday afternoon as a judge set a trial date for October next year.

Ana Walshe, a mother of three young children and a real estate professional who worked in Washington, D.C., disappeared on New Year’s Day 2023 and was reported missing a few days later. Her body was never recovered.

Prosecutors and investigators accuse her husband, Brian Walshe, of murdering 39-year-old Ana in January 2023 and misleading authorities about her disappearance.

UPDATED DETAILED TIMELINE OF ANA WALSHE’S DISAPPEARANCE AND BRIAN WALSHE’S ARREST

Brian and Ana Walshe pose on their wedding day, Monday, December 21, 2015, at the Boston Public Gardens in Boston. Brian is accused of killing Ana in January 2023. (Obtained from Fox News Digital)

Judge Diane Freniere set Walshe’s trial date for Oct. 21, 2025, during a hearing in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Monday. The judge said she expected the trial to last no longer than four weeks.

Walshe appeared in court Monday wearing glasses, a blue suit with a water blue tie and a white shirt, and his hands were cuffed.

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During the hearing, the defense asked prosecutors to consider possible police bias, as the lead investigator in the Walshe case was police officer Michael Proctor, who also led the Karen Read case, which ended in a mistrial after inappropriate texts from Sein came to light during testimony.

Proctor has since been suspended without pay after admitting unprofessional behavior in the case, including making derogatory comments about Read.

Prosecutors agreed to ask investigators whether they were aware of any records, such as emails or text messages, from law enforcement officials that would indicate bias in the handling of the Walshe case and whether information had been lost or destroyed.

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In an Instagram post from October 2022, Ana Walshe holds her three children in her arms. (Ana Walshe/Instagram)

Walshe was charged in March 2023 with first-degree murder, misleading police and improper transportation of a human body. He pleaded not guilty to charges that he beat his wife to death in their Cohasset home, dismembering and discarding her body.

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Store surveillance footage shows Walshe purchasing various items at a Home Depot, including three mops and brushes, two splash-proof safety glasses and a utility knife, which investigators believe he used to dispose of her body, according to court documents.

Authorities also searched garbage cans and dumpsters in the areas where Brian Walshe traveled after Ana’s disappearance.

Suspected wife murderer Brian Walshe dodges a legal bullet as murder case awaits DNA

Brian Walshe, accused of killing his wife Ana, who disappeared on New Year’s Day 2023, enters the courtroom for his arraignment on Thursday, April 27, 2023, in Dedham, Massachusetts. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Left: Brian Walshe in Quincy District Court on January 18, 2023. Ana Walshe, right, on her wedding day at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Newbury Street in Boston on Monday, December 21, 2015. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool; obtained from Fox News Digital)

While searching for Ana, investigators found a hacksaw with a “small bone fragment” in a dumpster across from Walshe’s mother’s house. Other evidence found in the dumpster included Ana’s COVID vaccination card, a Hermes watch and a Gucci necklace she was known to have worn, Hunter boots, a black Prada handbag and a short black coat, according to court documents.

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Walshe also allegedly used his son’s iPad to conduct more than a dozen Google searches about dumping a body in the days after his wife’s disappearance, prosecutors said.

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A motion hearing on DNA testing is scheduled for January 8, 2025.

Fox News’ Chris Eberhart contributed to this report.