Illinois mother who closely followed Clancy trial ordered to remain detained in 2-year-old son’s murder

An Illinois mother charged with murdering her 2-year-old son was ordered to remain in custody at her first court appearance Sept. 8 after prosecutors alleged that she poses a threat to her surviving children and husband.

Corie Walsh of Frankfort, a suburb about 36 miles southwest of Chicago, had also closely followed the high-profile Lindsay Clancy murder trial in Massachusetts and discussed it with friends by text just hours before the boy was found dead, prosecutors said.

The 40-year-old mother faces three counts of first-degree murder in the Sept. 1 death of her son Barrett. According to NBC 5 Chicago, authorities said a neighbor discovered the toddler hanging from a ligature attached to a basement rafter that afternoon, performed CPR, and called 911. 

Barrett, whom the neighbor said was cold and had no pulse, was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. An autopsy determined that he died from asphyxia caused by ligature compression of the neck, and the Will County Coroner’s Office ruled his death an apparent homicide.

Police found Walsh upstairs fully clothed in a bathtub containing bloody water with cuts authorities said were self-inflicted. She was taken to a hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening and allegedly admitted to killing her son, according to court records cited by local outlets. Her husband was reportedly out of state at the time.

NBC News reported that an infant was home and unharmed. Two other children returned from school around the time Barrett was found, and they were also physically unharmed.

Witnesses told investigators Walsh had “recently become very invested” in the Clancy case, and a prosecution filing said Walsh actively discussed the trial in a group text with friends hours before her son was discovered unresponsive.

Clancy, a Massachusetts mother, stood trial on three counts of first-degree murder in the January 2023 strangulation deaths of her three children. Her attorneys did not dispute that she killed her children but argued that she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. Prosecutors argued that she remained criminally responsible.

As Zeale News previously reported, the case ended in a mistrial on Sept. 4 after jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether Clancy was criminally responsible for the killings. 

Court documents cited by NBC5 Chicago state that Walsh told officers she killed her son because she believed he was the “devil” and the “anti-Christ.” Prosecutors also alleged that Walsh spoke about harming her other three children and said she intended to harm her husband when he returned home. They are seeking to keep her detained pending trial, arguing that she poses a specific threat. 

Walsh was treated at a hospital for several days before being transferred to the Will County Adult Detention Facility. She appeared in Will County Court in Joliet Sept. 8, where a judge ordered her to remain in custody as the case proceeds, according to CBS News. 

Attorney Andrea Lyon, a veteran death penalty lawyer who was an early member of Casey Anthony’s defense team, is representing Walsh. Anthony was accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, whose remains were found near the family’s Florida home in 2008. She was controversially acquitted of murder, manslaughter, and aggravated child abuse in 2011 but was convicted of providing false information to law enforcement.

“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,” Lyon said in a Sept. 4 statement to NBC 5 Chicago. “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.”

Frankfort Police Chief Leanne Chelepis said in a release cited by NBC 5 Chicago that the police department’s “thoughts and prayers are with the family, their loved ones, and everyone affected by this heartbreaking tragedy.” 

Chelepis added, “We ask our community to keep them in their thoughts and prayers and to respect their privacy as they navigate this profoundly difficult time.”