Brian Walshe, the Massachusetts man charged with killing and dismembering his wife, was stabbed Thursday inside a correctional facility in Dedham, authorities said, weeks before his scheduled murder trial.
The Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office said the assault occurred inside a housing unit at the correctional center just before 10 p.m. The office did not identify the victim, but Walshe’s attorney, Larry Tipton, confirmed to MassLive that Walshe was stabbed. Walshe was taken to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston for treatment and was returned to the jail overnight, the sheriff’s office told Fox News Digital.
In a written statement, the sheriff’s office said officers subdued the other individual involved and recovered "a makeshift blunt instrument." The incident is under investigation, the statement said.
Walshe is charged in the January 2023 disappearance and alleged killing of his wife, Ana Walshe, a mother of three who worked in real estate in Washington, D.C. Ana Walshe disappeared on New Year’s Day 2023 and was reported missing days later; her body has not been recovered. Brian Walshe is scheduled to go to trial in October.
Investigators have pointed to surveillance footage and physical evidence in the case. Prosecutors say surveillance from a Home Depot showed Walshe purchasing items including three mops and brushes, splash-resistant goggles and a utility knife, which investigators allege were used to dismember and dispose of the body. During the search for Ana Walshe, investigators recovered a hacksaw with a "small bone fragment" from a dumpster across the street from Walshe’s mother’s home, according to court filings.
Prosecutors have also said Walshe used his son’s iPad to run more than a dozen internet searches about how to discard a body in the days after his wife vanished. Court records show that before Ana Walshe’s disappearance the couple’s marriage was strained and that Walshe had hired a private investigator after suspecting his wife of infidelity.
Walshe previously faced unrelated legal trouble tied to the sale of counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings. Prosecutors say he was under house arrest as part of pre-sentencing probation related to that case at the time of his wife’s disappearance.
Ana Walshe’s disappearance drew national attention and led to an intensive search and investigation. Her family and friends have repeatedly urged authorities to locate her remains and to press for a full accounting of the circumstances surrounding her death.
The stabbing in the Norfolk County facility adds a new development as Walshe awaits trial. The sheriff’s office has not released the name of the other person involved or provided further details about that inmate’s condition. The U.S. Marshals Service, state corrections officials or other agencies that handle detainee transfers have not been identified as involved in Thursday’s response.
The investigation by the Norfolk County Sheriff's Office is ongoing. County prosecutors and law enforcement have not yet indicated whether the jail assault will affect pretrial procedures or the October trial date. Defense and prosecution filings in the case have previously detailed the evidence prosecutors plan to present, and court proceedings in the coming weeks are expected to address pretrial motions and scheduling.
Authorities asked anyone with information about the assault or the broader case to contact the relevant investigators. The stabbing comes as the criminal case against Walshe, including allegations of homicide and abuse of a corpse, continues to move through the Massachusetts court system.