Brian Walshe, a Massachusetts man set to go on trial for the murder of his wife, was stabbed behind bars late Thursday night, according to his lawyer.
He was taken to a hospital in Boston for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries and has since returned to jail.
Walshe, who’s been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Ana Walshe, is being held at Norfolk County Jail pending his Oct. 20 trial.
On Friday morning, the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that one individual in custody at the Dedham correctional center had been “assaulted inside one of the facility’s housing units” at around 9:55 p.m.
According to the sheriff’s office, a “makeshift blunt instrument” was recovered at the scene.
The individual, who was not named in the statement, was “conscious and alert” following the stabbing and then taken to the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for treatment. He was returned to the jail facility overnight, according to the sheriff’s office.
Later on Friday, Brian Walshe’s lawyer, Larry Tipton, confirmed to MassLive that his client had been stabbed, but was released from the hospital Friday morning.
Ana Walshe, a Serbian-American real estate executive, was reported missing by her employer in early 2023. She was last seen on Jan. 1 following a New Year’s Eve dinner with her husband and a family friend at the couple’s home in Cohasset, just southeast of Boston, where they lived with their three young kids.
A bloody knife was later recovered from the basement of the home, police said.
Ana Walshe
Instagram Ana Walshe is pictured in an undated photo. (Instagram)
Brian Walshe told investigators his wife had booked a ride-sharing service to take her to the airport for a work trip to Washington, D.C., but police said there was no record of her taking a car or boarding a flight.
He also said his wife had been asked to travel for a work emergency, but prosecutors said her employers later confirmed there was no such thing.
Investigators later found multiple disturbing searches on an iPad belonging to one of the couple’s sons. According to prosecutors, those searches, likely made by Brian Walshe, included “dismemberment and best ways to dispose of a body,” “how long before a body starts to smell” and “hacksaw best tool to dismember.”
While Ana Walshe’s body has never been found, prosecutors believe her husband killed and dismembered her before discarding parts of her body in different locations across the state.
He faces charges of murder, misleading a police investigation/obstruction of justice and improper conveyance of a human body. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
