Washington state braces for dangerous flooding from atmospheric river event
Heavy rain fall (Photography by Keith Getter (all rights reserved)/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — An atmospheric river event that’s been slamming the Pacific Northwest with rain is now focused on western Washington, where dangerous flooding is forcing people to evacuate.
Four to 8 inches of rain is possible Wednesday and Thursday in the higher elevations of western Washington state.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson issued a state of emergency on Wednesday and he pleaded with residents to follow evacuation orders.
“The situation is extremely serious,” he said at a news conference.
Most rivers in the region are forecast to reach moderate and major flood stages. Record flooding is forecast for some rivers, especially the Skagit River at Mount Vernon and Concrete, Washington, which could swell 3 to 5 feet above record levels beginning Thursday afternoon and continuing through Friday.
The Snoqualmie River, between Snoqualmie and Carnation, will continue to rise through Thursday morning, reaching major flood stage and bringing flooding to farmlands, roads and residential areas from Snoqualmie to Fall City to Carnation.
Amtrak said trains are suspended between Seattle and Vancouver on Thursday and Friday due to the level of the Skagit River.
While the heavy rain will be over by Thursday afternoon, some rivers will take several days to fully recede.
The heavy rain will also impact northern Idaho and Montana over the next 24 hours, with localized flash flooding possible.
Brian Walshe during the murder trial of Ana Walshe on December 9, 2025. (Photo by Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
(DEDHAM, Mass.) — The jury has begun deliberations afterclosing arguments were delivered Friday in the murder trial of Brian Walshe, a father of three accused of killing and dismembering his wife.
The Massachusetts man is accused of killing his wife, 39-year-old Ana Walshe, around New Year’s Day in 2023. He pleaded guilty last month, ahead of the trial, to lying to police following her disappearance and improperly disposing of her body, though he denies he killed his wife and has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Ana Walshe’s body has not been found.
The judge dismissed the jurors to begin their deliberations midday Friday.
Prior to the closing arguments, Judge Diane Freniere told the jury during instructions that they will be able to choose to convict on second-degree murder, not just the first-degree murder charge the prosecution has argued for and includes the element of premeditation.
During the trial’s opening statements last week, defense attorneys said Brian Walshe found his wife dead in bed on New Year’s Day in 2023 and then panicked and lied to police as they investigated her disappearance — but maintained he did not kill her.
Brian Walshe allegedly killed and dismembered his wife, then disposed of her remains in dumpsters, according to prosecutors. The internet history on his devices on Jan. 1, 2023, included searches such as “best way to dispose of a body,” “how long for someone to be missing to inherit,” and “best way to dispose of body parts after a murder,” prosecutors said.
Defense attorney Larry Tipton argued the Commonwealth hadn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Brian Walshe — whom he described as a “loving father and loving husband” — killed his wife or there was any motive to do so.
Positing what might account for the “unspeakable” internet searches and how someone could “dispose of the body of the woman that he adored,” Tipton said, “Could it be something that was sudden, something that was unexpected, something which was unbelievable, something that only a medical examiner would understand, have knowledge of, but not a man like Brian Walshe?”
Tipton conceded there’s evidence Brian Walshe lied and disposed of a body, but argued there was nothing proving that he planned to harm his wife. He claimed the internet search on murder came six hours after his wife died and “upsetting” searches about dismemberment and “cleaning up” do not point to a plan but rather his “disbelief.”
“Why is a man searching now if he had intended to kill his wife?” Tipton asked the jurors. “Where is the evidence of premeditation in thousands of pages of records?”
At the start of the Commonwealth’s closing argument, prosecutor Anne Yas told jurors, “Ana Walshe is dead because he murdered her,” while pointing toward Brian Walshe in the courtroom.
She argued Ana Walshe didn’t die of natural causes — but Brian Walshe killed her and then disposed of her body to hide the evidence.
“The defendant did not want anyone to find Ana’s body and to know how she died, so the defendant bought cutting tools at Lowe’s and Home Depot and he cut up Ana’s body — the woman that he claimed to love — and he threw her into dumpsters,” she said.
Yas argued the evidence shows Brian Walshe intended to kill his wife and was “methodical” — that his claims he misplaced his phone for two days around New Year’s Eve “allowed him to carry out his plan” and have an explanation for police as to why he hadn’t been in contact with her. She said he had a list when he was shopping at Lowe’s.
Yas said their marriage was in “crisis,” and they had been having arguments about Ana Walshe being away from the family due to her job in Washington, D.C. She also claimed Brian Walshe knew his wife was having an affair, which the defense has denied.
“Please do not allow the defendant’s self-serving act of dismembering and disposing of Ana’s body let him get away with this murder,” Yas said.
She urged jurors to use their “common sense” while they deliberate, and that they will “see that the evidence shows there is only one verdict” — guilty of the premeditated first-degree murder of Ana Walshe.
The defense rested on Thursday without calling any witnesses. Freniere noted in court on Thursday that it appeared that Brian Walshe would testify in his defense, based on the defense’s opening statement. Though he ultimately waived his right.
Evidence presented during the two-week trial in Dedham included surveillance footage of a man believed to be Brian Walshe buying tools and other supplies at a Lowe’s on Jan. 1, 2023. A receipt showed that items, including a hacksaw, utility knife, hammer, snips, Tyvek suit, shoeguards, rags and cleaning supplies totaling $462 were purchased with cash.
Additional surveillance footage presented in court showed someone throwing out trash bags at dumpsters on multiple days in early January 2023.
Several blood-stained items recovered from dumpsters by investigators — including a hacksaw, a piece of rug, a towel and hairs — and an unknown tissue were linked to Ana Walshe through DNA testing, a forensic scientist from the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory testified during the trial.
Blood was also found in the basement of the family’s rental home in Cohasset, another forensic scientist with the crime lab testified.
Ana Walshe was reported missing by her employer on Jan. 4, 2023. Brian Walshe told police at the time that she had a “work emergency” at her job in D.C. and left their Cohasset home on New Year’s Day, according to video of his interview shown in court.
At the time, Brian Walshe and their three children were living in Massachusetts while he was awaiting sentencing in a federal fraud case after pleading guilty to a scheme to sell counterfeit Andy Warhol paintings.
Ahead of the murder trial, Brian Walshe admitted to lying to police amid her disappearance and improperly disposing of her body. His defense said during opening statements that he panicked after finding her dead in bed, calling her death sudden and unexplained.
Jurors heard testimony, including from a D.C. man with whom Ana Walshe was having an affair, that the mother of three was upset about being away from her young children so much — who were 2, 4 and 6 at the time — and that there was stress in the marriage. The defense maintained that the couple were happy.
A man is facing murder charges after a social worker he allegedly attacked and stabbed repeatedly in a ward at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center died from her injuries, Dec. 6, 2025, according to police. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES) — Charges have been upgraded to murder against a man who allegedly attacked and repeatedly stabbed a social worker last week inside a San Francisco hospital after first allegedly threatening a doctor, according to prosecutors.
The charges against Wilfredo Jose Tortolero Arriechi, 34, were amended from attempted murder to murder on Monday after the victim died on Saturday, two days after he was stabbed repeatedly inside Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, according to the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office described the victim as a 51-year-old University of California, San Francisco, social worker. The victim’s age was initially reported by police as 31.
Arriechi is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice, according to the District Attorney’s Office, which said it will move to have the suspect held without bail pending a trial.
The attack unfolded around 1:39 p.m. local time on Thursday in the hospital’s Ward 86, which, according to the medical facility’s website, is an HIV/AIDS clinic on the facility’s sixth floor.
Before the attack, a sheriff’s deputy was called to the hospital after the suspect, who was at the hospital for a scheduled appointment, allegedly threatened a doctor, according to an earlier sheriff’s department statement.
“While providing security for the doctor, our sheriff’s deputy heard a disturbance unfolding in the hallway involving the suspect, who was attacking a social worker,” according to the sheriff’s office statement. “The deputy intervened immediately, restraining the suspect and securing the scene.”
The District Attorney’s Office released new details about the attack on Monday, alleging Arriechi went to the hospital with a concealed knife.
“Allegedly Mr. Tortolero Arriechi appeared calm and engaged in a in a conversation with a social worker and was advised to leave. Allegedly he and the victim walked to the elevator together when he suddenly grabbed the victim from behind and stabbed him numerous times,” the District Attorney’s Office said in their statement.
The victim, according to he sheriff’s office, suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck and shoulder.
A five-inch kitchen knife believed to have been used in the attack was recovered at the scene, according to the sheriff’s office.
UPTE-CWA 9119, the union representing professional and technical employees at the University of California, released a statement on social media Saturday, demanding a “full investigation and reliable, consistent, and transparent safety protocols that ensure every worker comes home safely at the end of their shift.”
“We at UPTE-CWA 9119 are devastated to learn of the death of a remarkable, compassionate, and dedicated social worker, who was beloved by their family, friends, colleagues, and fellow union members,” Dan Russell, UPTE president, said in the statement.
The San Francisco Deputy Sheriff’s Association union also released a statement, criticizing the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), which runs the hospital, for recently reducing the number of deputy sheriffs assigned to the hospital and shifting to a “response-only” security model.
“This was not a random unforeseeable incident,” Ken Lomba, president of the deputy sheriff’s union, said in a statement.
Lomba added that the hospital’s own data shows “years of serious assaults and weapons on campus.”
In a statement to ABC News on Sunday, the San Francisco Department of Public Health said, “Keeping our staff, patients, and community safe is our highest priority.”
DPH said it has taken steps to bolster security at the hospital, including adding more security officers, limiting access points and speeding up the installation of weapons detection systems.
“We are also conducting a full investigation and are committed to making both immediate and long-term safety improvements at all our facilities,” DPH said. “This tragic event underscores the urgency of our ongoing efforts to strengthen protections for every member of our workforce.”
The agency added, “We are committed to doing everything necessary to ensure that no one fears for their safety while providing care to the people of San Francisco.
