Takeaways from Day 6 of testimony in Brian Walshe’s murder trial

(CNN) — The second week of witness testimony in the murder trial of Brian Walshe is underway as prosecutors continue to work to prove he killed his wife Ana Walshe around New Year’s Day in 2023.

Much of Monday was spent revisiting the early hours and days after Ana’s purported disappearance: Prosecutors retraced what they say were Brian Walshe’s movements on the afternoon of January 1, 2023, through surveillance footage from several stores where he made cash purchases. And two of Ana’s colleagues testified about their own search for her in Washington, DC, on January 4 after Brian Walshe called the office claiming she was missing.

The jury also saw photos of evidence recovered from Brian Walshe’s home and dumpsters near his mother’s apartment that a witness said tested positive for blood.

Unbeknownst to the jury, Walshe has pleaded guilty to illegally disposing of his wife’s body and misleading police after her death. But he insists he did not kill her.

His attorneys say he found his wife dead in their bed in the early hours of the new year and panicked, fearing no one would believe he was not involved in Ana’s death. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of her murder.

Here’s a recap of the sixth day of witness testimony.

Various pieces of evidence tested positive for blood, witness says

A forensic scientist from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory testified he found evidence of blood on numerous items, including those recovered from the Walshe home and others Walshe allegedly threw away in dumpsters.

A kitchen knife found in a cabinet above Walshe’s refrigerator tested positive for traces of blood though there were no visible stains, according to Matthew Sheehan, the scientist.

Blood stains were also identified in several locations in the Walshe home, including on the stairs leading down to the basement and on the basement floor, Sheehan said.

Sheehan testified several items recovered in a search of dumpsters near Walshe’s mother’s apartment complex – a hacksaw, hammer, hatchet, a pair of tin snips and a Tyvek suit among them – tested positive for blood. The jury saw photos of those items, along with blood-covered towels and pieces of carpet also found in that trash.

Sheehan submitted many of the blood samples for DNA testing, he said, but he did not discuss the results of those tests during his testimony Monday.

Prosecutors have previously said Ana’s blood was recovered in the basement of her family’s Massachusetts home, and that the couple’s DNA was found on items recovered from the dumpsters.

Ana’s body has never been found: On Monday morning, a medical examiner said they could not determine a cause or manner of death for Ana Walshe because there was no body to autopsy.

Surveillance footage tracks Walshe’s activity on New Year’s Day, prosecutors say

Prosecutors walked the jury through surveillance footage they allege shows Brian Walshe making cash purchases on January 1, 2023 – hours after his defense attorney now says Walshe found Ana dead in their bed of sudden unexplained death.

Footage from a CVS and Stop & Shop grocery store shown in court Monday captured a man who looked like Walshe buying five bottles of hydrogen peroxide and three bottles of ammonia with cash.

A manager from a liquor store who knew Brian Walshe as a regular customer also identified Walshe in surveillance footage captured as he tossed a garbage bag in a dumpster near the store.

Joseph Cesarz, the manager, identified Walshe in the footage captured at 5:12 p.m. on January 1, 2023, as he carried a black garbage bag from his Volvo parked near the front of the store to a dumpster at the side of the building. The liquor store, which was down the road from Walshe’s mother’s apartment, would have been closed for the holiday, Cesarz said.

Security cameras at a Lowe’s Home Improvement store similarly showed a man who looked like Walshe wearing latex gloves and a medical mask as he shopped for more than $400 in cleaning supplies and other items, like a hacksaw.

Again, he paid in cash, according to a receipt admitted into evidence Monday.

Ana Walshe’s colleagues describe their search for her

Two of Ana Walshe’s colleagues in Washington, DC, testified about their interactions with Brian Walshe on January 4, 2023, after he called the office looking for her.

Theresa Marchese, who dealt with human resources at the company, Tishman Speyer, said she spoke to Walshe on the phone several times that day. She also drove to Ana’s townhouse in DC to look for her, she said. Marchese remembered seeing a wet package outside the home and thinking Ana could not have been home recently, because it hadn’t rained in days.

The company’s chief security officer, Hugh Dunleavy, also went to the home with two company engineers and two local police officers, he testified. Walshe gave them permission to drill into a door to gain entry to the interior of the home.

The officers performed a wellness check and found no signs of Ana, Dunleavy said.

In a call, Marchese told Walshe someone in their office called hospitals in Washington, DC, and found no record of Ana, she said. Marchese recommended Walshe call hospitals in Boston, she said.

Walshe was calm and cordial on the calls, only once becoming emotional, Dunleavy and Marchese both said.

Walshe told them his wife left their home to return to Washington, DC, for a work emergency on January 1, 2023, and he hadn’t heard from her since – the same narrative Walshe initially gave police.

Dunleavy testified he could not identify a work emergency that would have forced Ana to return to DC around that time.

Dunleavy also said he told Walshe he was going to call local police in Cohasset, Massachusetts, where the Walshes lived, to report Ana missing and advised Walshe do the same.

Ana Walshe’s car was eventually found at a Tishman Speyer property that she managed. She left it there December 30, which was also the last day she used her work email and corporate card, Dunleavy said.

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