No body discovered but Ana Walshe’s DNA turns up on hacksaw, blood in basement
Ana Walshe's remains have never been found.
But a clue as to what may have happened to the 39-year-old woman came in the form of DNA samples pulled from items found in a Swampscott dumpster — including a bloody hacksaw, a hatchet, blood-soaked towels, a Tyvek suit and a pair of grey slippers.
Investigators also found DNA on blood stains in the basement of the Cohasset home she shared with her three children and her husband, Brian, who is accused of killing her, then dismembering her body and disposing of her remains at dumpsters across the state.
On the seventh day of Brian Walshe 's murder trial Tuesday, prosecutors called to the stand roughly half a dozen forensic scientists at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab who tested those items for DNA. The final of those witnesses, Saman Saleem, was by far the most crucial to their case.
Saleem was the forensic scientist responsible for interpreting the data derived from the DNA samples in the case at the conclusion of a four-step process.
A hacksaw, included in tools that are presented as evidence which all tested positive for blood, shown during the murder trial of Brian Walshe, of Cohasset, who is accused of killing his wife Ana Walshe in 2023, at Norfolk Superior Court, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, in Dedham, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)AP
On the stand, Saleem testified about the results from 15 samples, some of which came from the same item. She told jurors that Ana Walshe was a highly likely contributor to the DNA found in blood stains on a gray slipper, in the basement of the Cohasset home, on the blade of a hacksaw, on a towel, on the head of a hatchet, on a cut-up piece of rug and on the exterior left pant leg of a Tyvek suit.
All of those items were recovered from trash bags found in a Swampscott dumpster near Brian Walshe's mother's apartment. Brian Walshe was excluded as a contributor to the DNA found on any of the blood stains.
The forensic scientists were able to cross reference the DNA samples to others investigators had collected from Brian and Ana Walshe years prior to her disappearance. FBI special agents obtained samples from the couple on May 9, 2018 when Brian Walshe was arrested on federal charges for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings . Those samples were brought to the Massachusetts State Police crime lab on Jan. 10, 2023.
Ana Walshe's DNA was also found on samples taken from the handles of the hatchet and hacksaw, as well as the interior of the slippers, the interior sleeves of the Tyvek suit and unknown tissue recovered from the dumpster. It's likely that Brian Walshe was also a contributor to DNA samples found on those items, Saleem told the jury.
The final item Saleem examined DNA results for was a piece of tape with a stained piece of apparent gauze attached to it. Testing of the stain revealed that the DNA was 23 octillion times more likely to have originated from Brian Walshe than an unknown, unrelated individual. An octillion is the number 1 followed by 27 zeros.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Larry Tipton highlighted what Saleem admitted during initial questioning: that there was no way for the scientists at the crime lab to determine how and when the DNA ended up on the items they tested.
"Based on all of your observations of the data and the results, you can't say how any of the biological material was deposited on any of the items?" Tipton asked. Saleem said that was correct.
Tipton also suggested to Saleem that the DNA she found on some of the items could have been transferred from other items while they were in a trash bag.
"If two items come into contact with each other, there's a possibility of transfer, correct?" Tipton asked.
Saleem said that was right. But she was less definitive when Tipton asked whether that would be the case if the items had been compressed together — alluding to the fact that some of the items were found in a trash compactor.
On cross-examination, Saleem also confirmed that the crime lab could not determine — in any case — what type of cells the DNA came from.
"Even if you got a full profile from a stain, you still don't know if it came from skin or blood?" Tipton asked. Saleem said he was right.
After Saleem completed her testimony, prosecutors called a keeper of records for HomeGoods, who authenticated surveillance video of Brian Walshe visiting a HomeGoods in Norwell on Jan. 2, 2023 and Jan. 4, 2023. Those videos further develop that Brian Walshe spent many of the days after his wife died shopping — prosecutors have already introduced surveillance videos of him at Lowe's, CVS and Walgreens, among other stores.
Prosecutors are expected to call a key witness Wednesday morning: Gem Mutlu, Ana Walshe's former boss and the last person other than her husband to see her alive.
Brian Walshe is accused of killing Ana Walshe inside their Cohasset home in the early morning of Jan. 1, 2023, then dismembering her body and disposing of her remains at dumpsters across the state. Before the trial started, Walshe pleaded guilty to two charges , admitting that he moved his wife's body and misled the police investigation into her disappearance.
During opening statements, his defense claimed Ana Walshe died a sudden, unexplained death .
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