In a fascinating twist to an already complex legal saga, Brian Walshe, who chose to remain silent during his murder trial, reportedly attempted to seize control of his deceased father’s estate shortly after facing indictment for art fraud in 2018. This revelation sheds new light on the family’s fraught dynamics.

Brian, the sole child of Thomas Walshe, had been estranged from his father for an extended period. Despite their rocky relationship, he maintained that Thomas died intestate, lacking a will. This assertion enabled him to persuade the Plymouth County Probate Court in Massachusetts to appoint him as the personal representative of the estate in December of that year, as reported by The Boston Globe.

However, Brian’s claim was soon contested by Thomas Walshe’s friends and family. They accused Brian of having deliberately destroyed the will, liquidating his father’s assets, and draining his bank account. Allegations surfaced that Brian had illicitly gained and sold over $500,000 worth of his father’s possessions after Thomas had specifically disinherited him.

Fred Pescatore, a close confidant of Thomas Walshe, provided a signed statement to the court, asserting that Brian had indeed stolen from his father. This declaration adds a layer of complexity to the already contentious legal proceedings surrounding Brian Walshe.

In a poignant moment captured during his murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court, Dedham, Massachusetts, on December 1, 2025, Brian Walshe was seen entering the courtroom holding a stack of papers and a rosary, as documented by Greg Derr for The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool.

“Brian and Tom’s estrangement had everything to do with money,” Pescatore said. “Brian stole money from Tom and swindled him out of almost one million dollars…”

Pescatore added that Brian had a violent streak and said he was “very angry” and a “sociopath.”

“I saw Brian attempt to smuggle out antiquities from China,” Pescatore added. “When Brian was confronted, he picked up a stanchion and literally attempted to kill four or five guards that had come to talk to him about his crime.”

When Thomas died, Brian “almost had zero” contact with him for over a decade, friends and family wrote to the probate court.

Brian Walshe arrives at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, on Monday, Dec. 1, 2025. Walshe is charged with murdering his wife, Ana Walshe. (David McGlynn for Fox News Digital)

Walshe is accused of killing his wife, Ana, in January 2023 after learning she was having an affair. Ana disappeared on New Year’s Day and was never seen again. Jurors will begin deliberations on Friday. The defense unexpectedly rested its case on Thursday morning without calling any witnesses and did not put Brian on the stand.

On Tuesday, a forensic scientist testified that DNA consistent with Ana’s profile was found on a hatchet and hacksaw recovered from the trash.

Saman Saleem, a DNA unit supervisor at the state police crime lab, also said that several items found at a Peabody, Massachusetts, trash collection site also had Ana’s DNA on it, which included pieces of a rug, a Tyvek suit, unknown tissue and slippers.

Tools that tested positive for blood are submitted as evidence in the murder trial of Brian Walshe, of Cohasset, at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Brian Walshe is seen on surveillance camera at Lowe’s in Danvers on Jan. 1. 2023 with a shopping list buying $463.26 in goods, including cleaning supplies. This evidence was presented in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

Brian’s wife had a $2.7 million life insurance policy which he was the beneficiary of, court records show. He owed nearly $500,000 in restitution for his federal case.

Another one of Thomas’ longtime friends, Jeffrey Ornstein, said in a signed statement to the probate court that he had proof Brian was taken out of the will. Ornstein said Brian reached out to him following Thomas’ death and asked if he had the keys to his father’s house in Hull, Massachusetts. Brian claimed he “needed some paperwork.”

When Ornstein entered the house, he saw Thomas’ will in the office.

“I reviewed the Will and left it where we found it, however, I took some pictures,” Ornstein wrote. “I noticed a list of beneficiaries, but as Tom had told me many times over the years, he had expressly disinherited Brian.”

Brian Walshe was charged with murder and misleading a police investigation in Cohasset, Massachusetts on Jan. 17, 2023. Walshe was already behind bars for misleading a police investigation into the disappearance of his wife, Ana Walshe, when he was charged with her murder. (Cohasset Police Department/File)

Thomas’ nephew, Andrew Walshe, was named as the executor of the will, Ornstein said. 

“I still felt bad,” Ornstein continued, “so when I texted Brian later that day to tell him that I had left him a set of keys under the mat, I did not tell him about being disinherited.”

Brian and Thomas’ dispute stems from the acquisition of a home in Lenox, Massachusetts, according to the report. Brian bought the house, with his father reportedly agreeing to fund renovations with the stipulation that he’d be paid back, which never happened.

Ana Walshe wrote in an Instagram post on May 21, 2018: “Mild concussion, bruised hip and a cut…#vulnerability” as the caption with a picture of her with a cut above her eye. (Ana Walshe/Instagram)

Andrew eventually asked the court in July 2019 to remove Brian as the estate’s personal representative.

“It is clear that Brian destroyed the Last Will and Testament which excluded him from any inheritance, when he gained access to the Hull property,” Andrew wrote in a statement to the court. “Brian R Walshe had estranged himself from all Walshe family members due to their knowledge of the theft he had committed to his father.”

“I hereby bequeath to Brian R. Walshe my best wishes but nothing else from my estate,” Thomas wrote in the will.

Ana Walshe was last seen at her home in Cohasset, Mass., shortly after midnight on Jan. 1, 2023. (Facebook/Ana Walshe)

Andrew unsuccessfully pressured Brian to account for what happened to the estate and alleged that the only child drained at least $250,000 from Thomas’ bank account and sold his possessions, worth about $250,000.