Cohasset is small. Only about 9,000 people live there. More often than not, everyone knows their neighbors — or their neighbors’ neighbor.
“You can probably count on one hand how many times big events have happened in this town going back to the 1960s,” explained Sarah Geddes, whose family owns Cohasset Pizza House. “Nothing newsworthy really happens.”
That changed in early January, when mother-of-three, Ana Walshe, went missing. Neighbors in the tiny town describe Ana Walshe as “quiet” and Brian, her husband, as someone who “looked like a creep.”
Geddes confirmed Brian Walshe was a regular customer who visited the restaurant at least once a week.
“He seemed like a normal, happy, smiling dad,” Geddes said. “He would always come in and go out. But he was always pleasant. He was happy and that never changed.”
Ana was last seen on New Year’s Day, allegedly leaving the family’s Cohasset home, but she wasn’t reported missing until Jan. 4.
“We heard that there was a missing woman in town. I was like, ‘No, we haven’t seen her,’” Geddes said. “This is so strange. We’ve been here for so long we pretty much know everyone in town.”
On Jan. 9, Brian was arrested for misleading police in his wife’s missing persons investigation.
Geddes remembers at first she was “stunned” that her regular customer was arrested, believing it, “couldn’t have been him.” But after Brian appeared outside the Quincy District Courthouse smiling, Geddes said she changed her mind.
“At first when I looked up at the picture, I said, ‘There’s no way. This man is nice, he’s happy, he’s normal,’” she said “Then a few days after they arrested him, when he was coming out of the police station and he had that smile on his face, that was the exact smile he had when he was coming in here everyday. So I’m sure it was just his hidden self, his little demeanor that he just showed the world. And he didn’t know when to turn it off.”
Nine days after the first charge, state prosecutors charged Walshe for the murder of his wife.
Brian Walshe Charged with Murdering Missing Wife Ana Walshehttps://t.co/IJ9vTuFLiL
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) January 18, 2023
During his court appearance for the murder, prosecutors outlined a list of incriminating Google searches Walshe made, including:
- “How long before a body starts to smell?”
- “How to stop a body from decomposing?”
- “10 ways to dispose of a dead body if you really need to.”
- “How long for somebody to be missing to inherit.”
- “Can you throw away body parts?”
- “Is it better to throw crime scene clothes away or wash them?”
- “Dismemberment and the best ways to dispose of a body.”
‘Can you Identify a Body with Broken Teeth?’: Brian Walshe Dismembered Wife Ana’s Body and Made Incriminating Internet Searches, Prosecutor Sayshttps://t.co/3F3Q75jWMG
— Law & Crime (@lawcrimenews) January 18, 2023
“I feel like I was duped. I literally cannot believe I had such a wrong impression of the man,” Geddes said. “I was like, ‘No, they must be wrong.’ But with all the evidence coming out, I mean, it’s really hard to think it wasn’t him.”
Marykate Armstrong, who works at a coffee shop less than a mile from the Walshe’s home, said the news of Ana’s murder and Brian’s arrest made her feel “unsettled.”
“It was just strange,” she said. “It was just movie-like, I felt like it just didn’t seem real.”
Armstrong confirmed both Ana and Brian Walshe visited Pour Coffee and Bagel before her disappearance.
“She was always quiet,” Armstrong recalled. “I remember seeing her walk through here once, but this was a long time ago, like months ago,” Armstrong said. “I just remember her being quiet. He just kind of looked like a creep.”
Armstrong explained Ana usually made her order by using the drive-thru, but that Brian came inside the store. Geddes also confirmed Brian always picked up his pizza order from Cohasset Pizza House alone.
“I haven’t really met any customers that have had relationships with either of them, which I thought was strange, because they lived in town for about two or three years,” Geddes said. “They didn’t seem to make any friendships while they were here.”
Law&Crime Network spoke to the Walshe’s landlord who said the same thing: Brian hardly ever spoke to him. While he did not want to give his name, or speak on camera, the Walshe’s landlord said their payments always came in early and he never noticed anything out of the ordinary when meeting with Brian.
While searching for Ana, investigators found blood and a bloody knife in the basement of the home. Prosecutors believe her body was dismembered, but no remains have been recovered.
Geddes said the news is still difficult to understand.
“The first few weeks, definitely, it was really hard to adjust to and kind of grasp,” she admitted. “We always watch the news here and it was just all over.”
Brian Walshe is due back in Quincy District Court on Feb. 9 for a status hearing. He’s being held without bail.
