As a Massachusetts father of three is on trial for the alleged murder of his wife, a man who was having an affair with the woman took the stand Thursday.
Brian Walshe is accused of murdering and then dismembering his wife, Ana Walshe, 39, around New Year’s Day 2023. He pleaded guilty last month, before trial, to misleading police and illegally transporting a body, although he denies killing his wife and has pleaded not guilty to murder. Ana Walshe’s body has not been found.
During opening statements in the trial this week, defense attorneys said Brian Walshe found his wife dead in bed on New Year’s Day and then panicked and lied to police as they investigated her disappearance, but maintained that he did not kill her.
Brian Walshe attends his trial for murdering his wife Ana, on December 4, 2025, in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Matt Stone/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool
On Thursday, on the fourth day of the murder trial in Dedham, Massachusetts, jurors heard testimony from a man with whom Ana Walshe was having an affair before her disappearance, as well as a voicemail Brian Walshe left her the day she was reported missing.
William Fastow, a real estate broker in Washington, D.C., said he met Ana Walshe while she was looking for a home in the D.C. area for her family and helped her buy a townhouse in 2022.
At the time, Brian Walshe and his three children were living in Massachusetts while he awaited sentencing in a federal fraud case after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings.
Fastow said he separated from his wife when he and Ana Walshe began an affair after she moved to D.C. for work.
“We quickly became close friends, then confidants, and before long, we began an intimate relationship,” he said.
“We would share conversations about our lives, what we were going through, personal problems, that kind of thing,” he said.
Fastow said Ana Walshe was “disheartened” about being away from her children for so long, and that the children were in Massachusetts with their father because “their home confinement was based on him being the primary caregiver.”
“At first, she felt like it was something necessary that she had to get over, but as time went by, it became a big issue for her. It bothered her deeply,” he said.
“Ana felt deeply disappointed that she was not in a position to be the mother that the children deserved,” she said.
William Fastow, Ana Walshe’s boyfriend, looks at a photo of Ana while on the witness stand during the trial of Brian Walshe for murdering his wife Ana, on December 4, 2025, in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Matt Stone/The Boston Herald via AP, Pool
He testified that the federal fraud case was a “huge stressor” on Ana Walshe’s marriage and “it seemed like it was setting her life back.” She said she and her husband also had a “heated” argument over credit card charges she told her Brian Walshe made for a sports memorabilia business.
He said their relationship was kept hidden from Ana Walshe’s husband, but that it was serious and that they were planning to travel abroad together.
“Ana felt it was really important that when Brian found out about the relationship, he would find out about it, she had expressed great concern, and I think she felt it would be an attack on his integrity if he found out in a different way,” Fastow said.
He said they spent Christmas Eve 2022 together and she left for Massachusetts the next day. She said she and Brian Walshe “had an argument” because she was not with her family on Christmas Eve.
“There were some points of contention,” he said.
He said they were supposed to have dinner to discuss their future together on January 4, 2023, after they were both supposed to return to D.C. after visiting their children over the holidays. But they never had that dinner and he never heard from her after receiving a text from her on New Year’s Eve wishing her a happy new year.
Ana Walshe’s employer reported her missing on Jan. 4, 2023. That day, Fastow said she received two calls from Brian Walshe, which she sent to voicemail.
“He was in an intimate relationship with his wife. I hadn’t heard from her in several days and, frankly, I was worried that maybe she had found out and was calling me to confront me,” he said.
Brian Walshe left a voicemail on the second call, which was played in court.
“I was reaching out to basically everyone I could. Ana hasn’t been in touch for a few days. I spoke to work today. She hasn’t been in,” Brian Walshe is heard on the call as he asks if Fastow had heard from her recently.
“I’m sorry to bother you. I’m sure everything is fine,” he said.
Fastow said he immediately called back at that point and offered to go to DC’s house to see if Ana Walshe was there. No one was home, he said.
On cross-examination, when asked if Ana Walsh ever told her that her husband suspected she was having an affair, Fastow said no. She said she did not know if there were any plans for her to tell Brian Walshe about the affair when she returned home for Christmas.
A missing person poster that Cohasset police produced while searching for Ana Walshe is displayed on the first day of Brian Walshe’s murder trial at Norfolk Superior Court, December 1, 2025, in Dedham, Massachusetts.
Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool
Prosecutors allege Brian Walshe killed and dismembered his wife and then dumped her remains in trash bins. His devices’ Internet history on Jan. 1 included searches such as “best way to dispose of a body,” “how long can someone be missing an inheritance” and “best way to dispose of body parts after a murder,” prosecutors said.
On Christmas Day, there was an Internet search for Fastow on Brian Walshe’s phone, prosecutors said.
Defense attorneys said Walshe did not know about the affair and that there was stress in his marriage because of the federal case, but that he loved his wife.
