An Illinois mother who reportedly was “very invested” in the Lindsay Clancy case is accused of killing her toddler before attempting to commit self-harm amid an alleged “brief psychotic disorder.”
The Frankfort Police Department said in a statement that officers responded to a report of an unresponsive juvenile just after 4 p.m. Sept. 1.
‘She was severely mentally ill at the time of the incident and requires treatment.’
Police found a 2-year-old boy at the home, and he was taken to a hospital where he later was pronounced dead.
The Will County Coroner’s Office ruled the toddler’s cause of death was “asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck,” the Patch Frankfort reported.
The statement added that three other juveniles were inside the home, and they were not harmed.
The victim’s mother, 40-year-old Corie A. Walsh, also was taken to the Silver Cross Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Court documents said after Walsh’s treatment at the hospital, she was taken to the Will County Adult Detention Facility.
Walsh was charged with first-degree murder, according to jail records.
“Court documents note that based on the age of the victim of this case, the sentencing range would be 60 to 100 years if she’s convicted,” according to the Patch Frankfort.
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WMAQ-TV obtained court documents saying Walsh’s son, 2-year-old Barrett “Bear” Walsh, was found dead hanging from a rafter in the basement of the Walsh family home.
Walsh appeared in court Tuesday, where prosecutors revealed that two of Walsh’s children arrived home from school to the chilling scene and asked a neighbor for help.
WMAQ reported that the neighbor quickly pulled Barrett down and attempted CPR but said he had no pulse.
An 8-month-old baby was found unsupervised on the floor of a room upstairs, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said the neighbor found Walsh fully clothed in a bathtub with bloody water, with injuries to her wrist and thighs.
Citing court documents, ABC News reported that the neighbor told officers Walsh was “actively harming herself” with a knife and was “trying to kill herself.”
The neighbor noted that Walsh had dilated eyes and a “weird giggle,” according to WMAQ.
Court documents said Walsh killed her son because she thought “he was the devil” and the “anti-Christ.”
Walsh’s attorney claimed that his client was suffering from a “brief psychotic disorder” at the time of the death of 2-year-old Barrett Walsh.
“She was severely mentally ill at the time of the incident and requires treatment,” defense attorney Robert Kerr said in court, according to WMAQ.
Walsh’s attorneys argued for inpatient medical care for their client.
However, prosecutors claimed Walsh had bad intentions for other members of her family, saying she later stated she intended to harm her husband when he arrived home and would “poison him with a drink,” WMAQ reported, adding that she also believed she had killed her other children.
A judge ordered Walsh detained because she could pose a risk to her remaining children and husband.
According to WLS-TV, prosecutors said Walsh had “recently become very invested in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial,” the high-profile case involving a mother killing her three children before trying to take her own life.
Court documents said, “The defendant had been actively discussing the case via group text message with her friends up until 12:30 p.m. on September 1, 2026, three and a half hours before the scene was discovered.”
Witnesses said Walsh believed Clancy’s husband — not Lindsay Clancy — murdered the children.
According to participants in the group chat, Walsh’s messages were “confusing” and “out of character.”
Clancy’s defense argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children in January 2023.
Despite text messages showing references to the Clancy case, defense attorneys branded claims of Walsh being a “Lindsay Clancy copycat” as “sickening.”
“Describing Corie to a copied Lindsay is to take an easy bait,” Kerr stated.
Walsh also is represented by Andrea Lyon — a lawyer for Casey Anthony during her infamous 2011 murder trial in which she was found not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter.
Lyon told ABC News:
This is a tragedy for the Walsh family, all of whom are mourning the loss of this child. It is also a tragedy in that Corie herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time this happened. It is our hope that through a thorough presentation and investigation of the facts, that all of us will come to see this heartbreak for what it is.
Walsh’s husband was out of state at the time of the alleged crime, according to court documents.
Defense attorneys said Walsh’s husband and mother “have unwavering love and support” for the murder suspect.
While Walsh was in court Tuesday, her son was laid to rest.
Walsh is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 24.
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