The Commonwealth of Massachusetts called Ana Walshe confidante William Fastow to the stand during day four of the Brian Walshe murder trial. Fastow, a broker at TTR Sotheby’s International Realty in Washington, D.C., sold Ana Walshe her D.C. townhome and says that led to a friendship and, later, an intimate relationship in the months prior to her disappearance.
READ: What to know as real estate exec Ana Walshe’s husband goes on trial for her murder
William Fastow
Fastow testified that the romantic relationship became serious during the summer prior to Ana’s disappearance, at which time Fastow stopped seeing other people. He said that Ana Walshe felt it was important that her husband find out about the affair from her.
However, during defense cross-examination, Fastow said that he was not aware of any specific plan Ana had to tell Brian about the relationship.
Fastow testified that Ana had expressed frustration over the fact that her husband, Brian Walshe, had to stay in Massachusetts while awaiting sentencing for an art fraud conviction involving the sale of paintings falsely attributed to Andy Warhol. Because of Brian’s legal issues, Ana felt she was unable to bring her children back to live with her in Washington, D.C.
Fastow said that Ana felt that Brian’s legal stalemate was “holding up her life.”
Fastow and Ana spent the holiday season together prior to her disappearance on New Year’s Day 2023, including traveling together to Dublin, Ireland, and spending Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve together. He testified that Ana and Brian Walshe argued after a flight cancellation delayed her Christmas Day arrival back home in Massachusetts.
Text messages between Ana and Fastow were subsequently entered into evidence.
Fastow said that he last heard from Ana at around midnight before her disappearance the next morning. He said that his messages over the next two days went unanswered, and that he tried calling her at multiple numbers on Jan. 2.
Brian Walshe
Fastow became concerned, since the couple had made plans for later that week to have dinner, celebrate the new year and discuss their future.
When Brian Walshe began to call Fastow in the days following Ana’s disappearance, Fastow didn’t answer because he believed that Brian was calling to confront him about the affair. After Brian left a voicemail saying he hadn’t heard from Ana, Fastow called back and told him he was also concerned.
Jurors have been dismissed for the day.
In other news from the trial, Judge Diane Frenier said she would put off sentencing on the two lesser charges Brian Walshe pleaded guilty to until after a verdict is reached on the first-degree murder charge. Walshe pleaded guilty to misleading a police investigation/obstruction of justice and improper conveyance of a human body on Nov. 18, prior to the start of the trial.
