FRANKFORT, Ill. — A suburban Chicago mother is facing three counts of first-degree murder after prosecutors say she hanged her 2-year-old son from a basement rafter and then tried to kill herself, telling police the toddler was the “devil” and the “anti-Christ.”Corie Walsh, 38 to 40, was charged Friday in the death of Barrett Walsh, also known as “Bear,” who was found unresponsive Tuesday afternoon at the family’s home on the 22700 block of Brook Stone Court.
A neighbor discovered the boy hanging with a ligature around his neck and his feet off the ground, removed him, and began CPR while calling 911. He was cold and had no pulse. Barrett was later pronounced dead; an autopsy found he died of asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck.
Officers found Walsh upstairs in a bathtub, fully dressed and surrounded by bloody water, with cuts to her wrists and thighs. A neighbor had taken a knife from her. Walsh told investigators she killed her son because he was the devil and the anti-Christ, prosecutors said. She later described how she did it while hospitalized.
An infant was in the home and unharmed. Two school-age children arrived around the time Barrett was found. Walsh’s husband was out of state and flew home that evening. Prosecutors are seeking to keep Walsh detained, arguing she poses a threat to her husband and remaining children. She remains in custody for medical treatment before transfer to the Will County jail.
Witnesses told police Walsh had recently become “very invested” in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial and discussed it hours before the killing. Clancy, a Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three children in 2023, saw her case end in a mistrial Friday after a hung jury on her postpartum-psychosis insanity defense. Walsh’s attorney, Andrea Lyon, said her client was in a psychotic episode and called the case a tragedy for the entire family.
A memorial of flowers, stuffed animals, and balloons has appeared outside the family’s roughly $1 million home as the community reacts to the killing. The case has drawn national attention because of the alleged interest in Clancy and the similar sequence of a mother killing a young child and then attempting suicide.
Walsh is presumed innocent until proven guilty. A detention hearing is expected after she is released from medical care.
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