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By Gerrard Kaonga
US News Reporter
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There is a significant chance the body of Ana Walshe, a Massachusetts woman who vanished six months ago on New Year's Day, will never be found, a defense attorney has told Newsweek.
Following the 39-year-old's disappearance, her husband, Brian Walshe, was arrested and subsequently indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury on charges of first-degree murder, misleading a police investigation and the improper conveyance of a human body. If convicted, he faces spending life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The mother of three was last seen at the family home in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and was expected to travel to Washington, D.C, for work. She wasn't reported missing until January 4, however, when her increasingly worried co-workers called the police, sparking an investigation.
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Criminal defense attorney Rachel Fiset, managing partner of Los Angeles-based Zweiback, Fiset & Zalduendo, spoke to Newsweek about the likelihood of finding Ana Walshe's body at this stage in the investigation, as well as the chances of convicting her husband.
"Ana Walshe's body seems unlikely to ever be found particularly as the Internet searches specifically suggest that part of the crime was dismembering her body and discarding it in a way that would go undetected," she said.
"The damning evidence found on the computer Internet searches contemporaneous with when she went missing may be enough to convict Walshe.
"But when that evidence is combined with the blood and knife found in Walshe's basement, the hacksaw in the dumpster along with Ana Walshe's clothing, the tarp, a Tyvek suit and cleaning supplies, the circumstantial evidence is likely strong enough for a jury to convict him without a body."
Fiset also highlighted the developments that have been made public over the past few months—most notably that Ana Walshe was having an affair with a man in Washington, D.C., and was planning to move her sons there later in the year.
Prosecutors have also gathered evidence to indicate that Brian Walshe was aware of the affair and that he or his mother had hired a private investigator to have her trailed.
"While additional facts like these do not establish his guilt on their own, they have developed the story into why Brian Walshe may have committed the brutal murder of which he is accused and make it more likely that a jury would convict him," Fiset told Newsweek.
Fiset also stated that it's possible that authorities will declare Ana Walshe technically dead prior to the trial, "in an effort to tie up that loose end before the jury makes a determination."
However, she also stated that in some cases individuals can still be convicted even without a body and that the missing individual can still legally be pronounced alive.
"A defendant may be convicted of murder in a case of strong circumstantial evidence even where there is no body," she said.
"The absence of a body makes it more difficult for a prosecutor to overcome a 'reasonable doubt' that a defendant did not commit a crime – but where the evidence is strong, as it is in this case, the prosecution can meet its burden."
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