Illinois Mother Faces Three Murder Counts in Toddler’s Death

Corie Walsh, 40, of Frankfort, Illinois, faces three counts of first-degree murder after her 2-year-old son, Barrett “Bear” Walsh, was found hanging and unresponsive in the family’s basement on Tuesday and later pronounced dead. Preliminary autopsy findings indicate the child died from ligature compression of the neck, while Walsh was found with self-inflicted injuries in an apparent suicide attempt; her infant and two older children were unharmed, and her husband was out of state. Prosecutors allege Walsh told officers the child was the “devil” and “anti-Christ” and have cited statements involving potential harm to her husband and other children in seeking to deny her pretrial release. Court filings say Walsh had discussed the nationally publicized Lindsay Clancy murder trial in a group chat hours before the incident, but the records do not establish that it influenced her alleged actions. Walsh’s attorney says she was experiencing a psychotic episode, but that claim has not been established by a court, and Walsh remains presumed innocent. Clancy’s trial, involving the deaths of her three children and competing arguments over postpartum psychosis and criminal responsibility, ended in a mistrial after jurors deadlocked.