An Illinois judge denied a pre-trial release Tuesday for Corie Walsh, a Frankfort mother accused of killing her toddler son earlier this month.
Walsh, 40, is facing three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the death of her 2-year-old son, Barrett Walsh, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
Prosecutors pushed to keep Walsh behind bars, after stating she posed “a specific, real and present threat” to her husband and three surviving children, according to court documents.
The incident happened in the 22700 block of Brook Stone Court in Frankfort on September 1. A neighbor discovered Barrett unconscious in a basement, hanging from a rafter with a ligature around his neck.
Walsh was in an upstairs bathroom with reported self-inflicted knife wounds. Prosecutors stated that Walsh was “fully dressed, surrounded by bloody water.”
The neighbor contacted 911 and attempted CPR until authorities arrived. First responders took Barrett to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“When officers arrived, a neighbor was performing CPR on a toddler, later identified as two-year-old Barrett Walsh, born March 26, 2024,” court documents read.
A September 2 autopsy performed by the Will County Coroner’s Office indicated that the victim died from “asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck,” court documents obtained by NBC 5 Chicago stated.
Walsh later told investigators that her son was the “devil” and the “anti-Christ,” while her attorney claimed she had been in the midst of a “psychotic episode” when she attacked her child.
“This is a tragedy, for the Walsh family all of whom are mourning the loss of this child,” Walsh’s defense lawyer, Andrea Lyon, told CNN.
“It is also a tragedy in that [Corie] herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time this happened. It is our hope that through a thorough presentation and investigation of the facts, that all of us will come to see this heartbreak for what it is.”
Walsh’s other children were unharmed. Her husband was out of state when the incident happened.
KSL News reports that Walsh told investigators that she had plans to harm her other children and her husband, once when he arrived home.
Prosecutors also said that Walsh had become “very invested” in the high-profile Lindsay Clancy case before the murder, and discussed the case in chat groups hours before killing her son, court documents stated.
Clancy, a Massachusetts woman accused of killing her three children, allegedly strangled them with exercise bands while experiencing what her defense called postpartum psychosis. The case ended in a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Walsh is currently behind bars the Will County Adult Detention Facility.
Check back for updates.
[Featured image via Will County SO]
