Man who Ana Walshe was allegedly having an affair with testifying in Brian Walshe’s murder trial. Follow live updates.

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Watch live: Testimony continues in Brian Walshe murder trial

Man who Ana Walshe was having an affair with testifies about their relationship — 9:51 a.m.

By Travis Andersen, Globe staff

Following the sidebar, William Fastow said he “did not” conceal his relationship with Ana Walshe.

He said they socialized with his friends as a couple.

“Ana felt it was really important that when Brian was to find out about the relationship that he would hear it from her,” Fastow said, adding that she felt it would be “a strike against her integrity if he found out a different way.”

He said their relationship became more serious after Brian Walshe’s sentencing was delayed in his art fraud case, and that he and Ana Walshe had spent Thanksgiving together in November 2022, flying to Dublin together to celebrate.

He said he and Ana Walshe also dined with his friends in Annapolis, Md., on Dec. 24, 2022, and on Christmas, “she left because I was taking custody of my children” either that day or the next for a winter vacation.

Ana Walshe drove back to Massachusetts on Christmas, he said.

Fastow said Ana Walshe had told him that she and Walshe had argued about her late arrival in Cohasset.

Ana Walshe, Fastow said, felt like Brian Walshe’s legal situation and separation from her children “was holding up her life.” She also told him about sports memorabilia purchases Brian Walshe made on a credit card for some type of business venture, he said.

Ana Walshe felt ‘deeply disappointed’ she wasn’t with her children full-time, witness testifies — 9:39 a.m.

By Travis Andersen, Globe staff

William Fastow said Ana Walshe “settled in very quickly” to the townhouse and furnished it.

He said Ana Walshe had acquired beds and furniture for the children’s rooms, and that he never met them.

“She told me that her children were with their father, Brian Walshe,” and that Walshe’s home confinement provision in his federal case “was predicated” on him being the “primary caregiver” for their three children.

“As time [went] on, it became a significant issue for her,” he said of Ana Walshe’s view of her husband’s legal status at the time. “She was deeply upset about it. … Ana felt deeply disappointed that she wasn’t in a position to be the mother the children deserved.”

The lawyers later came to a sidebar.

‘We became close friends, then confidants,’ William Fastow testifies — 9:38 a.m.

By Sean Cotter, Globe staff

After William Fastow took the stand, Judge Diane Freniere told the jury, “What you’re going to hear from this witness is evidence about Ana Walshe’s state of mind.” She said this is not evidence of a criminal act.

Fastow said Ana Walshe had been “despondent” because she wasn’t in a position to be the mother he wanted to be for her three sons.

Fastow, a real estate agent in Washington, acknowledged that they’d had a relationship.

“We became close friends, then confidants, and before long we started an intimate relationship,” he said.

Man Ana Walshe was having an affair with takes the stand — 9:35 a.m.

By Travis Andersen, Globe staff

After the jury entered the courtroom, prosecutors called William Fastow to the stand.

He spoke clearly and deliberately as he recounted how he met the Walshes, when a mutual friend, Gem Mutlu, told him they were looking to buy property in Washington, D.C.

Fastow said the Walshes’ townhouse was four floors with a two-car garage. He said Ana Walshe closed on the property in March 2022.

Fastow said he never met Brian Walshe in person but had spoken with him on “teleconference calls to discuss the property.”

He said he “immediately” had further contact with Ana Walshe after selling her the home, and they quickly entered an intimate relationship.

“I was separated” from someone else, Fastow said.

He said he and Ana Walshe would sometimes sail on his boat, see movies together, and do yoga, among other activities.

“She was very focused on staying in shape,” Fastow said.

Fastow said he normally saw Ana Walshe two to three times each week when she was in Washington, communicating “pretty much daily” through calls, texts, and Instagram messages.

He said he contacted Ana Walshe on one cell phone, and that he did not know her to use more than one device.

Fastow identified Ana Walshe’s cell number and said she was a “frequent Instagram poster.”

He said she also has a Facebook account and that he sometimes commented on her social media posts.

Fastow said he never stayed overnight at Ana Walshe’s townhouse, though she sometimes stayed overnight at his residence.

Jury will hear text messages between Ana Walshe and man she was having affair with — 9:23 a.m.

By Sean Cotter, Globe staff

Judge Diane Freniere ruled that the jury could hear text messages sent between Ana Walshe and the real estate agent with whom she was having an affair in Washington D.C.

Prosecutors have said the affair and other struggles in the relationship gave Brian Walshe motive to kill his wife. Walshe’s lawyers have argued that he did not know about the affair and would not have seen the text messages, which would have revealed the relationship.

But Freniere wrote that based on evidence already before the jury, Walshe told police at the time that he knew of text messages between the pair, so “it is reasonable to infer that the defendant had seen the text message exchange.”

Freniere did not detail the contents of the texts but said they reveal Ana’s Walshe’s confusion about her marriage and “intimate” details of her affair.

Fourth day of Brian Walshe’s murder trial begins — 9:20 a.m.

By Travis Andersen, Globe staff

Brian Walshe was escorted into the courtroom around 9:05 a.m. for day four of his murder trial.

A suited Walshe took a seat at the defense table and began reviewing papers ahead of the jury’s entrance.

Judge Diane C. Freniere discussed the issue of Walshe’s guilty plea before trial on the lesser charges of conveying a body and lying to investigators.

Freniere said sentencing for the latter count can range from 10 to 20 years, if committed in connection with a life felony such as murder.

She said she will put off sentencing on the lesser charges until the jury comes back with a verdict on the murder charge.

Freniere said she will allow the jury to see text messages between Ana Walshe and William Fastow, the realtor she was having an affair with.

Fastow also sold the Walshes their townhouse in Washington, D.C.

Freniere said prosecutors contend the texts show evidence of Ana Walshe’s state of mind shortly before her death.

“In this case there is evidence … that the defendant saw the text messages exchanged between William Fastow and Ana Walshe,” Freniere said, noting that Brian Walshe had told police that sometimes his wife’s messages came up on his phone.

Freniere said it is “reasonable to infer” that Walshe had seen his wife’s text exchanges with Fastow.

Freniere said the texts also indicate “her desire to make future plans” with Fastow.

“I continue to believe that there are certain messages that are not relevant” to Ana Walshe’s state of mind, Freniere said, and if defense counsel objects to them she’ll issue rulings “in real time,” as is done frequently during trials.