Pulling from our extensive archive and new reporting, we're diving deeper into the Ana Walshe case in our new podcast, "The Searches for Ana Walshe," hosted by NBC10 Boston anchor Colton Bradford and Matt Fortin.
Subscribe and listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts for a comprehensive look back at the search, new insights on what happened and updates on the case as they come in, right through the trial.
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Is Brian Walshe a coldhearted killer? Or a loving husband who cried when he scraped himself at the beach?
That's part of what a jury will have to decide when he goes to trial for the alleged murder of his wife, Ana. It's also a question we're exploring in the latest episode of our podcast, "The Searches for Ana Walshe."
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In this episode, we hear from some of the people who knew Brian best, including Ana Walshe herself. Prior court cases held documents, like affidavits and letters, that gave insight into the dealings, tendencies and personalities of Brian Walshe.
The accounts of Brian included in the court cases paint starkly contrasting pictures.
Take his art fraud scheme for example, which you can hear all about in episode 2 of our podcast. In a sentencing memo, Ana writes the following of Brian to a federal judge: “When I met Brian, I witnessed his kindness and generosity on many occasions, however I also saw the level of suffering in his life. He was afraid of relationships and for years did not allow anyone to get close to him, including me."
In the same case, a Los Angeles-based art dealer named Ron Rivlin, who fell victim to Brian's con, had a differing view of Brian, which he told our sister station, NBC Washington: "I feel like he has no sense of accountability, compassion or empathy towards myself and other victims."
Whether or not Brian had it in him to be physically violent is another question that would elicit different answers, depending on who you ask.
In an affidavit about Brian's father's estate, a close friend of Brian's dad, Dr. Fred Pescatone, had this to say of the alleged killer: "Brian is not only a sociopath but also a very angry and physically violent person."
But a friend and former tenant of Brian's, Mike Silva, didn't believe he was capable of harming someone: "Brian fell on the beach, had a little scrape, and he cried like a little baby. I don't think Brian's capable of injuring anybody."
You can hear more from these accounts, and others, in episode 3 of our new podcast, out now.
