Who is Collier Landry? Man who heard his dad murder mom as child hopes Ana Walshe's children find peace
COHASSET, MASSACHUSETTS: Collier Landry, whose father killed his mother in 1989, said that the three young sons of Ana Walshe can't let their trauma control them. "It's what you do with it that defines you... I just hope they can find peace," he said of the children, whose father, Brian Walshe, is accused of murdering their mother.
It was 23 years ago, when Landry was just 11 years old, when he heard his father kill his mother on New Year's Eve in 1989. He heard two loud thuds during the night and then heard his father coming down the stairs. He remembers waking up the next morning with his mother missing. When he asked his father where she was, his father told him, "Mommy took a little vacation."
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Who is Collier Landry?
Collier Landry, 44, is now a well-known producer, cinematographer, director, and podcast host. He rose to fame after sharing his tragic life story via the 'A Murder in Mansfield' documentary by two-time Oscar-winning director Barbara Kopple for Discovery. His IMDb profile describes him as "a formally trained musician and photographer who segued into filmmaking as a means to creatively express and deal with his own traumatic childhood story — the premeditated murder of his mother Noreen by his own father, Dr. John F. Boyle, Jr. - and to give a narrative voice to others in similar circumstances."
As a child, he chose to go to the police about his mother's murder, instead of protecting his father. He also became the prosecutions' key witness during the month long murder trial that put his father in prison. Landry is also a TED Speaker and a featured guest on the 'Dr Phil Show'.
In his podcast 'Moving Past Murder,' Collier claimed that just days before her murder, his mother had confided in him that she was afraid his father would murder her. “My mother had told me about two months before she was killed that she was afraid my father would kill her. She said, ‘Honey if I ever disappear, your father did something to me, your father had me killed,'” Collier said.
What Collier Landry has said about the Walshes' three boys
"I know how this movie ends. I've seen this before. It's a little different, but the plot is still the same. The protagonist, the antagonist are still the same. The hero is still the same with the kids. And I know what that journey is going to be," Landry told Fox News. The trauma could be lifelong and grief comes "in waves" as they get older, he said. It could hit them differently at different stages of their lives.
"As you're growing up, you start to think, if my father did this, am I capable of such things?" Landry said. "Not only do you think that internally, but the rest of the world looking at you thinks the same thing … Like I get you love this guy, daughter, but be careful because his father murdered his mom, and I get it, but that's a hard pill to swallow."
Where are Ana Walshe's children now?
The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) took custody of the three boys when Brian Walshe was arrested on January 8 for allegedly lying to police while they were investigating Ana's disappearance. It's unclear whether any of the family members will be granted custody of the children or have filed paperwork to do so. DCF is currently unable to offer any information.
Landry himself went through the foster care system in Mansfield, Ohio after his father was arrested and he was abandoned by both sides of his parents' families. Needless to say, he is concerned about the future of the three boys. "What people don't realize is that they don't give a s**t about you in foster care. Let me just be really clear. It's the worst f***ing thing in the world," he said. "I had a horrible time. There's abuse, there's neglect, there's verbal abuse that occurs or sexual abuse that occurs … You're just a number. That's how so many children fall through the cracks," he said.