One of the last people to see Ana Walshe alive testifies in husband's murder trial
Brian Walshe is accused of murdering and then dismembering his wife in 2023.
One of the last people to see missing mother-of-three Ana Walshe alive testified on Wednesday, as her husband stands trial in Massachusetts for her alleged murder.
Brian Walshe is accused of murdering and then dismembering his 39-year-old wife around New Year's Day in 2023. He pleaded guilty last month, ahead of the trial, to misleading police and unlawfully conveying a body, though he denies that he killed his wife and has pleaded not guilty to murder. Ana Walshe's body has not been found.
During the trial's opening statements last week, defense attorneys said that Brian Walshe found his wife dead in bed on New Year's Day and then panicked and lied to police as they investigated her disappearance -- but maintained he did not kill her.
Gem Mutlu, a Boston-area realtor and family friend of the Walshes, was the last person to see Ana Walshe alive besides her husband.
He said Ana Walshe invited him over to their rental home in Cohasset on New Year's Eve in 2022 because she knew he would likely just be at home, and that it was the last time he saw or heard from her.
Mutlu said he had known the Walshes since 2020, after meeting Brian Walshe at a leadership program. Ana Walshe also worked as a director of operations for his team until 2022, when she started a job in Washington, D.C., and had become a "very close" friend, he said.
"I saw them as my own," Mutlu said when asked to characterize his relationship with the Walshe family.
Mutlu said it was difficult for Ana Walshe to be away from her children so much, though the plan was for the whole family to move to D.C. At the time she went missing, Brian Walshe and their three children were still living in Massachusetts while he was awaiting sentencing in a federal fraud case after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings.
Mutlu said Ana Walshe's demeanor that New Year's Eve was "festive," and that her husband seemed fine. He got emotional talking about seeing their eldest son.
"He ran to me, and he said, 'Gem, I haven't seen you in a while. I miss you,' and he hugged me," Mutlu said.
He said he didn't see any visible problems between Ana and Brian Walshe, saying, "It was a festive evening."
The prosecutor showed images of a Noble Cuvee champagne box the three of them had signed.
Ana Walshe signed the box, "Wow! 2022 … What a year! And yet, we are still here and together! Let's make 2023 the best one yet! We are the authors of our lives … Courage, love, perseverance, compassion & joy."
Brian Walshe wrote, "To the best triumvirate ever!" under their three names.
"No place I'd rather be but here," Mutlu wrote.
Mutlu said he left around 1 a.m. or 1:30 a.m. New Year's Day. Three days later, on Jan. 4, 2023, he said he got a call from Brian Walshe asking if he had heard from Ana Walshe, and that she'd been missing after leaving the house on New Year's Day to head to D.C. for a "work emergency."
Mutlu recalled being "incredulous" there would be a work emergency at a commercial property on New Year's.
"I said, 'Listen, did you guys have an argument or something? Did you have a fight?'" Mutlu said.
He said he "vividly" remembers Brian Walshe's response: "No, did it look like we had an argument? You were there."
Mutlu said he "didn't know what to make of that" response and that he was in shock.
Brian Walshe's tone on the call "was not panicked," Mutlu said.
During cross-examination, Mutlu said the couple seemed happy that New Year's Eve but noted, "I cannot know what was going on in their hearts and minds."
Prosecutors allege Brian Walshe killed and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her remains in dumpsters. The internet history on his devices on Jan. 1 included searches such as "best way to dispose of a body," "how long for someone to be missing to inherit" and "best way to dispose of body parts after a murder," prosecutors said.
Defense attorneys said there was stress in their marriage due to the federal case but Brian Walshe loved his wife and he panicked after finding her dead in bed on New Year's Day, calling her death sudden and unexplained.
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