Crime

‘How long before a body starts to smell’: A list of Brian Walshe’s Google searches, according to prosecutors

Brian Walshe is accused of murdering his wife, Ana Walshe, and dismembering her body. She was last seen Jan. 1.

By Abby Patkin

updated on January 18, 2023

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The day after his wife Ana Walshe was last seen, prosecutors allege Brian Walshe asked Google, “Can you be charged with murder without a body?”

Walshe, 47, got his answer Wednesday as he was arraigned in Quincy District Court on charges of murder and disinterring a body in connection with his wife’s disappearance. Ana Walshe’s body has not been found. A not guilty plea was entered on Brian Walshe’s behalf.

In court, prosecutor Lynn Beland rattled off a list of Google searches they say Brian Walshe made, some on his son’s iPad, in the days after the Cohasset mother of three was last seen in the early hours of New Year’s Day. 

Among the alleged Google searches:

Dec. 27

• “What’s the best state to divorce for a man”

Jan. 1

• 4:55 a.m.: “How long before a body starts to smell”
• 4:58 a.m.: “How to stop a body from decomposing”
• 5:20 a.m.: “How to embalm a body”
• 5:47 a.m.: “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to”
• 6:25 a.m.: “How long for someone to be missing to inherit”
• 6:34 a.m.: “Can you throw away body parts”
• 9:29 a.m.: “What does formaldehyde do”
• 9:34 a.m.: “How long does DNA last”
• 9:59 a.m.: “Can identification be made on partial remains”
• 11:34 a.m.: “Dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body”
• 11:44 a.m.: “How to clean blood from wooden floor”
• 11:56 a.m.: “Luminol to detect blood”
• 1:08 p.m.: “What happens when you put body parts in ammonia”
• 1:21 p.m.: “Is it better to throw crime scene clothes away or wash them “

Jan. 2 

• 12:45 p.m.: “Hacksaw best tool to dismember”
• 1:10 p.m.: “Can you be charged with murder without a body”
• 1:14 p.m.: “Can you identify a body with broken teeth”

Jan. 3

• 1:02 p.m.: “What happens to hair on a dead body”
• 1:14 p.m.: “What is the rate of decomposition of a body found in a plastic bag compared to on a surface in the woods”
• 1:20 p.m.: “Can baking soda make a body smell good”