Brian Walshe, the Massachusetts man charged in the alleged killing and dismemberment of his wife, was stabbed inside a correctional facility Thursday night and taken to a Boston hospital for treatment before being returned to custody, officials and his lawyer said.
The assault occurred just before 10 p.m. inside a housing unit at a Norfolk County correctional center in Dedham, the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to Fox News Digital. The sheriff’s office did not identify Walshe as the victim in its release; his attorney, Larry Tipton, later confirmed to MassLive that Walshe had been stabbed.
The sheriff’s office said the other individual involved was subdued by officers and that a makeshift blunt instrument was recovered. The agency said the incident is under investigation. Walshe was transported to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston for treatment and returned to the detention center overnight, the sheriff’s office said.
Walshe is charged in the disappearance and alleged dismemberment of his wife, Ana Walshe, who vanished on New Year’s Day 2023 and whose body has not been recovered. Prosecutors say Walshe killed Ana in January 2023 and later disposed of parts of her body; he is scheduled to stand trial in October.
Investigators have said surveillance video captured Walshe purchasing items including mops, brushes, splash-resistant goggles and a utility knife at a Home Depot; prosecutors say those items were used to dispose of a body. During searches related to the case, police recovered a hacksaw in a dumpster across from Walshe’s mother’s house that contained what authorities described as a small bone fragment. Prosecutors also have said Google searches about how to discard a body were made on a tablet belonging to one of Walshe’s children in the days after Ana’s disappearance.
At the time of Ana Walshe’s disappearance, prosecutors said the couple’s marriage was strained and that Brian Walshe had been under house arrest as part of pre-sentencing probation in a case involving the sale of counterfeit Andy Warhol prints. Walshe was arrested in connection with Ana’s disappearance and has been held pending trial.
Tipton, Walshe’s attorney, informed MassLive that his client was stabbed; he has not publicly provided additional details about Walshe’s condition following the hospital visit. The sheriff’s office did not release the name of the other inmate involved or provide further information about charges that could arise from the altercation.
Officials said the correctional center and local prosecutors are investigating the incident. The attack comes weeks before Walshe’s scheduled October trial, a proceeding that is expected to examine forensic evidence and surveillance records that prosecutors say link him to Ana Walshe’s disappearance and alleged death.
Court records and public statements from prosecutors have outlined the timeline and evidence underpinning the charges; the investigation into Thursday night’s jail assault will be handled separately by corrections and law enforcement authorities.
Fox News Digital and MassLive contributed reporting to early accounts of the assault. The Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment beyond its initial statement.