Judge rules Boston fraudster Brian Walshe competent to stand trial in wife's murder

Brian Walshe, the Boston-area convicted fraudster accused of sidesplitting his woman Ana, is competent to basal trial, according to a Massachusetts judge.

Walshe, who survived a jailhouse shanking successful September, appeared successful tribunal wearing a acheronian suit with his hands shackled successful beforehand of him.

Judge Diane Freniere announced the determination astatine the extremity of an hour-long proceeding Friday and scheduled a proceedings day for Dec. 1.

Walshe’s proceedings was antecedently acceptable to statesman successful October, but days earlier assemblage selection, Freniere halted proceedings and sent the suspect to Bridgewater State Hospital implicit concerns astir his intelligence health.  

PROSECUTORS SAY HUSBAND DISMEMBERED WIFE TO DODGE PRISON IN ART FRAUD CASE

Brian Walshe appears astatine Quincy District Court connected a complaint of murdering his wife, Ana Walshe, successful Quincy, Massachusetts, connected January 18, 2023. (Ana Walshe, Craig F. Walker/Pool via REUTERS)

Freniere indicated she received a comprehensive study from Bridgewater — concluding the suspect is competent and acceptable to basal trial. Defense attorneys did not contention the findings.  

Separately, she denied Walshe's question for a alteration of venue. Jury enactment is expected to beryllium completed by the extremity of adjacent week.

Ana Walshe's remains person not been recovered. She was past seen connected New Year's Day successful 2023, and prosecutors allege her hubby dismembered her successful their Cohasset, Massachusetts, location earlier hiding her remains.

TIMELINE OF ANA WALSHE'S DISAPPEARANCE AND BRIAN WALSHE'S ARREST

Brian and Ana Walshe rise a toast connected their wedding time successful the lounge of L'Espalier successful Boston, Massachusetts connected Monday, December 21, 2015. (Obtained by Fox News Digital)

They floated 2 imaginable motives astatine a proceeding successful July.

The archetypal is that Brian Walshe discovered an matter betwixt his woman and different man, whose sanction helium allegedly searched connected Google a half-dozen times. The second, prosecutors said, was that Walshe hoped his wife’s disappearance mightiness assistance him debar situation successful his creation fraud case, wherever helium owes astir $500,000 successful restitution.

ANA WALSHE MURDER: HUSBAND BRIAN WALSHE THREW OUT HACKSAW WITH POTENTIAL KEY PIECE OF EVIDENCE: DOCS

Ana reportedly confided successful a person soon earlier her disappearance that Walshe was convinced having custody of their children would assistance him evade incarceration successful the national case, according to prosecutors. And helium was the beneficiary of her $2.7 cardinal beingness security policy.

Ana Walshe commuted from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., each week to enactment astatine a existent property job, her friends told WCVB. (Cohasset Police Department)

Investigators accidental they recovered integer grounds showing Walshe allegedly searched Google much than a twelve times for instructions connected however to dispose of quality remains. Then they accidental they recovered video of him astatine Home Depot, buying mops, goggles and a knife. They besides allegedly recovered a hacksaw and a "small bony fragment" successful a dumpster extracurricular Walshe's mother's house.

But 1 of the detectives connected the lawsuit was erstwhile Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, who was fired successful the fallout of his handling of the probe into Karen Read, who was acquitted connected execution charges earlier this twelvemonth successful the decease of her boyfriend, Boston bull John O'Keefe.

Brian Walshe, accused of sidesplitting woman Ana, who disappeared connected New Year's Day 2023, enters the courtroom for his arraignment. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

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Brian Walshe has pleaded not guilty.

Fox News' Louis Casiano and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.