‘Her life was unfairly taken’: Ana Walshe’s sister speaks after Brian Walshe convicted of murder
Ana Walshe’s sister wakes up every morning hoping the events of the last nearly three years have all been some terrible dream.
Speaking Thursday morning at a sentencing hearing for Walshe’s husband, Brian, who was convicted this week of first-degree murder for killing her in January 2023, then dismembering her body, Aleksandra Dimitrijevic addressed the impact losing her sister has had on her family.
Ana Walshe immigrated to the U.S. from Serbia, working in hospitality — where she met Brian Walshe — before getting jobs in real estate. At the time of her death, she had landed her dream job at Tishman Speyer, working out of the company’s Washington, D.C. offices.
At the time Ana Walshe was killed, she and her husband had three children, who are now 9, 6 and 5.
“The most painful part of this loss is knowing her children must now grow up without their mother’s hand to hold,” Dimitrijevic said on the witness stand Thursday, speaking on behalf of her and her mother. “They now face a lifetime of milestones, big and small, where her absence will be deeply and painfully felt.”
Since her daughter’s death in January 2023, Ana Walshe’s mother has suffered from depression and chronic exhaustion, Dimitrijevic said.
“Every single day, she carries the weight of losing her daughter,” she said.
“Losing my sister, Ana, so unexpectedly has altered our world in ways we never imagined,” she continued. “Ana was not just my sister, she was someone I grew up with, someone who knew me in ways no one else ever will.”
The circumstances of Ana Walshe’s death, and particularly, the fact that Brian Walshe dismembered her body, then threw her remains in dumpsters across the state, have left her family unable to observe traditional customs for when a person dies, Dimitrijevic said.
Prosecutor Greg Connor said the district attorney’s office was trying to get the state medical examiner to issue a death certificate for Ana Walshe, given the verdict handed down Monday. Ana Walshe’s remains were never found.
That has added a “layer of profound unfinished grief to our loss,” Dimitrijevic said. “Her life was unfairly taken. We miss her beyond words.”
She urged Judge Diane Freniere to consider the profound impact her sister’s death had on the family in handing down her sentence, urging her to follow prosecutors’ recommendation of consecutive terms.
Dimitrijevic thanked investigators for their work on the case.
“Your dedication to seeking justice for my sister has provided my family with a sense of support in our darkest hours,” she said, calling her sister’s murder an “incomprehensible act.”
“Ana will never be forgotten; we will carry her light and her memory with us forever,” she concluded.
Freniere ultimately sentenced Brian Walshe to the maximum punishment he was eligible for. Issuing not just a life sentence without the possibility of parole, but also a sentence of 19 to 20 years for misleading police and a sentence a day shy of three years for disposing of his wife’s body.
He will serve his time at Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster, the state’s maximum security prison.
The state sentences will run consecutively, one after the other. Walshe’s 37-month federal sentence for selling forged Andy Warhol paintings will run at the same time as the state sentences.
In addition to the statement from Dimitrijevic, Freniere considered a victim impact statement from the Department of Children and Families on behalf of the Walshes’ three children and from some of Ana Walshe’s friends.
Brian Walshe’s conviction on Monday came after a two-week trial and about five hours of jury deliberations. His first-degree murder conviction will be appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court, as all such convictions are in Massachusetts.
