An Illinois mother accused of hanging her 2-year-old son from a basement rafter pleaded not guilty Thursday to three counts of first-degree murder.
Meanwhile, prosecutors tied the killing to her absorption in the Lindsay Clancy child-murder trial and her husband appeared in court in her support her.
Corie Walsh, 40, of Frankfort, entered the plea at the Will County Courthouse. She remains jailed after a judge denied pretrial release earlier this month, citing prosecutors’ allegation that she posed a threat to her husband and surviving children. Her next court date is Oct. 26.
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Prosecutors say Walsh killed Barrett Walsh, called Bear, on Sept. 1 at the family’s home on Brook Stone Court, about 30 miles southwest of Chicago. Court documents described the boy as hanging in the basement from a rafter.
The Will County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled that he died of asphyxia from ligature compression of the neck.
A teenage neighbor called 911 after Barrett was found unresponsive in the basement and CPR was attempted. An infant in the home was not injured.
Two other children returned from school as the emergency unfolded.
Walsh’s husband, Michael Walsh, was out of state that day. He was in the courtroom Thursday supporting his wife.
Corie Walsh was found injured in an upstairs bathroom and reports indicate she had tried to kill herself by slashing her wrists and thighs. Prosecutors allege she told investigators she killed her son because she believed he was “the devil” and “the Antichrist,” and that she spoke of harming other members of her family.
They also allege she had become “very invested” in the Massachusetts trial of Lindsay Clancy, who was accused of killing her three children in 2023. Clancy’s lawyers argued she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis. That trial ended in a hung jury and a mistrial and a second trial may be in the offing following a September 29 hearing.
Will County prosecutors say Walsh discussed the Clancy case in text messages with other mothers shortly before Barrett was killed and could use those messages to show she understood what she was doing.
Defense lawyer Robert Kerr said Walsh was “severely mentally ill” and in a “psychotic episode.” He rejected the copycat label and accused police of “a careless and insensitive investigation of a copycat theory.”
“Prior to this incident, [Corie] outwardly embraced and agreed on a theory that Lindsay Clancy’s husband [Patrick Clancy] committed the acts in that case,” Kerr said.
He quoted a witness describing Walsh’s sudden reversal: “We were all going back and forth, like, [he did it, he did it, and then all of the sudden she, Corie, goes, ‘He’s not guilty, she’s not guilty, 100% not guilty.’ And we’re like, ‘Corie, Corie, are you okay? Ha-ha. Who’s home? Do we need to do a well-being check?’ because all of the sudden she just changed her thought.”
Mental illness alone does not decide criminal responsibility under Illinois law. The court will consider whether Walsh’s condition left her unable to appreciate the criminality of the alleged conduct. Her lawyers have sought to move her to an inpatient psychiatric facility.
An obituary released before the hearing remembered Barrett as a child whose life was taken, not as a footnote to his mother’s defense.
He “will always be remembered as a joyful, funny, entertaining, rambunctious 2-year-old who loved singing and dancing to Super Simple Songs and Miss Rachel.”
He liked learning colors, kicking a soccer ball and counting along to children’s songs. The family called him a “cherished little brother” to Grady and Anna and a “caring big brother” to baby Cormick.
Those children no longer have him.
