Brian Walshe Sentenced to Life in Prison

Days after his first-degree murder conviction, the husband of the late Tishman Speyer executive Ana Walshe received a life sentence without parole.

The judge sentenced Brian Walshe to the mandatory penalty on Thursday morning, WCVB reported. Sentencing was originally scheduled for Wednesday — two days after the jury returned a guilty verdict against Walshe — but was postponed by a day for unknown reasons.

Walshe was emotionless as the judge delivered the sentence. His first-degree murder conviction triggers an automatic appeal with the Supreme Judicial Court.

“Your acts in dismembering your wife’s body and disposing of her remains in multiple area dumpsters can only be described as barbaric and incomprehensible,” the judge said to Walshe, pointing to “lifelong mental harm” inflicted on his three sons.

“I struggle with the grief that comes without warning, hoping every morning that this is all just a terrible dream,” Ana’s sister said in a victim impact statement.

A jury deliberated for roughly six hours across two days before rendering its verdict against Walshe on Monday. The conviction carried a life sentence.

Before the trial, Walshe conceded that he misled police and unlawfully disposed of Ana’s body, switching to a guilty plea on two of the three counts he faced. On Thursday, he was sentenced to up to 20 years for misleading police and up to three years for the illegal disposal of a body, which will be served consecutively to the life sentence.

Prosecutors alleged Brian killed Ana, an executive with Tishman Speyer, in the couple’s Cohasset home on New Year’s Eve 2023. He allegedly Googled body disposal tips on his son’s iPad and moved evidence around Greater Boston.

Investigators found a hacksaw, a blood-soaked rug and a broken knife in searches across the family’s home and a network of trash facilities.

Ana, a 39-year-old mother of three and a rising real estate professional whose work took her to Washington, D.C., was reported missing days after the holiday. Her disappearance launched a high-profile investigation; Walshe was arrested for allegedly misleading investigators looking into his wife’s disappearance. Her body has not been found.

A Norfolk County grand jury indicted Walshe in March 2023 on charges of murder, misleading investigators and improper conveyance of a human body. He was deemed competent to stand trial ahead of jury selection.

Walshe earlier received a three-year federal sentence for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings and had been held without bail since his 2023 arrest.

— Holden Walter-Warner