MET Cybersecurity Director Choi Lends Investigatory Expertise to True Crime Podcast
“How do you dispose of a body?”
Typing a question like that into your online search engine could get you more than just simple query results—it could turn out to be used as evidence of criminality.
As director of Metropolitan College’s Cybercrime Investigation and Cybersecurity programs, Dr. Kyung-shick Choi is an expert in digital forensics and cybercriminology. In the courses he teaches, like Applied Digital Forensic Investigation (MET CJ 710), his students come to learn the essentials of leading successful criminal investigations in the digital space. It’s an increasingly important sector to law enforcement, as sometimes the best available evidence is digital.
One such instance is the case of Ana Walshe, the Cohasset woman who last year went missing. As the case turned from missing person to murder, her husband Brian Walshe was identified as the lead suspect. He now stands trial, and his search history, which is alleged to contain multiple references to dealing with a lifeless body, is being considered evidence.
Dr. Choi was recently invited to join NBC Boston’s “The Searches for Ana Walshe” podcast to offer his insights into the case’s particulars. As he described, investigators can look to more than just the macabre online search records to uncover insights into the case. He cited evidence that, during their marriage difficulty, the accused was snooping into his wife’s personal life through social media, suspicious of an affair, which could offer additional motivation, if the murder was deemed premeditated.
In this case, Dr. Choi added, digital evidence will be especially vital, as the body was never found. If Brian Walshe were found guilty, with no body and only digital and circumstantial evidence, Dr. Choi says it would be a historic turn of events—and a new benchmark for the importance of cybersecurity.
A case like this underscores the need for skilled cyber-investigators, like the graduates of BU MET’s Criminal Justice programs, including the MS in Criminal Justice with concentration in Cybercrime Investigation and Cybersecurity as well as the four-course graduate certificates in Digital Forensics and Cybercrime Investigation & Cybersecurity.
Visit NBC10 Boston to listen to the podcast episode.