A husband searched for a pornographic video about a cheating wife — alongside a string of queries on dismemberment and DNA cleanup — before killing her, chopping up her body and dumping the remains in trash bags near his mother’s home, a court has been told.

Jurors in Brian Walshe’s murder trial then saw the grim haul investigators recovered from a skip outside his mother’s house in Swampscott in early January 2023, as police searched for his missing wife, Ana Walshe. Among the items were pieces of her clothing, her purse and her COVID vaccination card. Officers also found two towels with red-brown stains, stained tissues and hair samples, as well as a blood-soaked, chopped-up rug, a stained bathrobe and slippers.

A Tyvek suit and safety goggles were uncovered in one bag; shears, a hacksaw, a hatchet and a large tarp in another.

Assistant District Attorney Mr Gregory Connor walked Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab technician Mr Davis Gould through the evidence item by item. Wearing gloves, Mr Gould opened sealed bags and presented what had been recovered, each piece entered into evidence as Mr Connor carried it across the courtroom to underscore the scale of the findings.

Under cross-examination, defence attorney Mr Larry Tipton pressed Mr Gould on whether the items could have contaminated one another before they were retrieved, potentially transferring biological material. Mr Gould acknowledged that it was possible under Locard’s Exchange Principle.

Mr Gould also described processing Mr Walshe’s Volvo SUV in January 2023, confirming that blood-screening tests conducted on the interior produced five positive results. He confirmed he also handled the evidence pulled from the Swampscott skip.

Earlier in the day, jurors heard again from Massachusetts State Police Trooper Mr Nicholas Guarino, who has spent hours outlining Mr Walshe’s search history. Mr Guarino said Mr Walshe looked up repeated queries on disposing of human remains and cleaning DNA off a knife, along with the pornographic video involving a cheating wife.

He also searched for classified advertisements for high-end cars, diamond jewellery and the name of the Washington, DC, realtor Ms Walshe was having an affair with — William Fastow.

Mr Fastow previously told the court that he met Ms Walshe in March 2022 when he sold her a DC townhouse and that the pair quickly developed an “intimate relationship.” He said they went out for dinners and drinks, spent time on his sailboat, and even travelled to Ireland together for Thanksgiving. Ms Walshe stayed at his home overnight on multiple occasions.

Mr Fastow testified that they discussed how Mr Walshe should eventually be told about the relationship, but conceded on cross-examination that he knew of no firm plan for Ms Walshe to do so.

Prosecutors have flagged the affair as one potential motive, and Mr Walshe’s ongoing art-fraud case as another — alleging he believed he stood a better chance of avoiding prison if he were the sole parent of the couple’s children. The defence insists Mr Walshe had no knowledge of the affair.

Jurors also heard from a US Customs and Border Protection agent who outlined Ms Walshe’s air travel around the time she vanished. Her Christmas Day flight from Washington to Boston was refunded, and she flew again from Washington, DC to Boston on December 30. She was marked a no-show on her planned return flight on January 3 and missed four more pre-booked flights later in the month. Ms Walshe was last seen on January 1, 2023.

Cohasset Police K-9 Sergeant Patrick Reardon testified that he and his dog, Einstein, searched the area around the Walshe home on 5 January but found nothing of note. The defence declined to question him.

JetBlue corporate security official Mr Thomas Menino then detailed the same flight records, and again the defence passed on cross-examination.

The day’s testimony ended with Cohasset Police School Resource Officer Mr Gregory Lowrance, who took the missing-person report from Mr Walshe on January 4. Mr Lowrance said Mr Walshe told him, “Ms Walshe had left for a flight to Washington the last time he saw her.”