FRANKFORT, Ill. (Court TV) — A woman accused of killing her toddler after becoming deeply invested in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial appeared in court on Tuesday, when a judge ordered her to be held without bond.
Corie Walsh (Will County Sheriff’s Office)
Corie Walsh, 40, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old son, who was found dead at her family’s home on Sept. 1, 2026. When first responders arrived at Walsh’s home, they found her suffering injuries as well, Frankfort police said in a news release.
In court on Tuesday, Walsh’s defense attorney, Robert Kerr, said that she was “severely mentally ill at the time of the incident,” WMAQ reported. Kerr said that his client had been suffering a psychotic episode when her son was killed. Walsh is also represented by Andrea Lyon, a prominent attorney whose previous clients include Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in 2011 of murder charges in connection with her daughter’s death.
Prosecutors said at Tuesday’s hearing that the defendant had planned to harm her husband, telling police she planned to “poison him with a drink.”
In court documents obtained by WMAQ, investigators said that witnesses reported Walsh had “recently become very invested in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial” before she allegedly killed her son. Clancy admitted to killing her three young children but claimed that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time; her murder trial, which spanned seven weeks, ended with a mistrial when the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Walsh allegedly admitted to killing her son, telling police at the hospital that “he was the ‘devil’ and the ‘anti-Christ,'” police said in court documents.
The 2-year-old victim, identified as Barrett, was found hanging in the family’s basement “on a device from a rafter,” according to court records reviewed by WBBM. A medical examiner determined he “died from asphyxia.”
Investigators said that Walsh was found in an upstairs bathtub, in a pool of blood, with “cuts to her wrists and thighs.” A teenage neighbor, who called 911, took the knife from the defendant before police arrived, WBBM said.
An infant who was also in the home at the time of the child’s death was not hurt, WLS reported. Two other school-age children arrived home around the same time the neighbor called 911. Prosecutors said that Walsh’s husband was out of town that day.
The judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Sept. 24.
