Illinois mother, who became ‘very invested’ in the Lindsay Clancy case, has been charged with murder in death of her 2-year-old

Corie A. Walsh, a 40-year-old mother from the affluent village of Frankfort, Illinois, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder following the death of her 2-year-old son, Barrett Walsh, NBC News reported. Police announced the charges this Friday after the toddler was discovered unresponsive in the basement of the family home earlier in the week.

The investigation into the incident revealed that Walsh had recently become very invested in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. Prosecutors noted in their petition to deny pretrial release that Walsh was actively discussing the Clancy case in group text messages with her friends as late as 12:30 PM on Tuesday.

This timing is particularly unsettling because it occurred only three and a half hours before the discovery of the scene at her home. At that specific moment, the jury in the Clancy case was already in deliberations. The Clancy trial, which centered on a mother who killed her three children in January 2023, ended in a mistrial on Friday.

Frankfort police arrived at the residence shortly after 4:00 PM on Tuesday following a report of an unresponsive child

Upon their arrival, officers found a neighbor performing CPR on Barrett, who had been discovered hanging in the basement. Despite the neighbor’s attempts to save the child while calling 911, he was already cold and lacked a pulse. The Will County Coroner’s Office subsequently ruled the death a homicide, with preliminary autopsy results indicating the cause of death was asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck.

When officers searched the house, they located Walsh in the master bedroom upstairs. She was lying in a bathtub, fully dressed and surrounded by bloody water, with visible cuts on her wrists and thighs.

The neighbor who discovered the scene told authorities that she had initially found Walsh holding a knife and actively harming herself. After the neighbor disarmed her and threw the knife into the sink, Walsh reportedly asked why she had intervened as she was trying to kill herself. It was then that Walsh told the neighbor that the child was in the basement.

Following her transport to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, Walsh provided statements to officers regarding her actions. She told the police, as per the filing, “she did this to her baby because he was the ‘devil’ and the ‘anti-Christ.”

Prosecutors also stated in their court filing that Walsh described the specific manner in which she killed Barrett, and her account was consistent with the physical evidence discovered at the scene. Furthermore, the filing indicates that Walsh made statements regarding her intent to harm her husband, who was out of town at the time, and her other children. An infant and two school-age children were present in the home during the incident but were thankfully found to be physically unharmed.

Walsh remains in custody and is currently receiving medical treatment. Once she is released from the hospital, she will be transferred to the Will County Adult Detention Facility. It is not yet clear if she has obtained legal representation. The Frankfort Police Department has described the situation as a “heartbreaking tragedy” and requested that the community keep those involved in their thoughts and prayers.