A 40-year-old mother in an upscale Chicago suburb has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder after allegedly killing her toddler son and attempting to take her own life, with prosecutors revealing she had become obsessed with a high-profile murder trial involving another mother who killed her three children.
Discovery in Frankfort Home
Frankfort police responded to a residence approximately 35 miles southwest of Chicago just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday following reports of an unresponsive child. Officers arrived to find a neighbor performing CPR on 2-year-old Barrett Walsh, whom she had discovered hanging in the basement. The neighbor had taken the child down and called 911, but he was already cold with no pulse. Barrett was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The Will County Coroner’s Office ruled the death an apparent homicide. Preliminary autopsy findings determined Barrett died from asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck, according to court documents. Upstairs, officers found the boy’s mother, Corie A. Walsh, lying fully dressed in a bathtub surrounded by bloody water with cuts to her wrists and thighs.
Obsession With Murder Trial
Prosecutors revealed in their petition to deny pretrial release that Walsh had recently become fixated on the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, which was livestreamed nationally. Clancy killed her three children in January 2023, and her trial culminated in a mistrial on the same Friday Walsh was charged. Court filings show Walsh had been actively discussing the Clancy case in group text messages with friends until 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, just three and a half hours before the grim discovery at her home, while the Clancy jury was deliberating.
The neighbor who found the scene told police she had discovered Walsh with a knife in her hands, actively harming herself. After taking the knife and throwing it into the sink, Walsh asked why she did that, stating she was trying to kill herself. Walsh then directed the neighbor to find Barrett in the basement.
Disturbing Statements and Family Impact
According to court documents, Walsh told responding officers she harmed her baby because he was the devil and the anti-Christ. She also allegedly made statements about harming her other children and her husband upon his return home. Walsh’s husband was out of town during the incident. An infant was present in the home but unharmed, and two school-age children returned home around the time Barrett was found, also physically unharmed.
Once hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries, Walsh described to officers the manner in which she killed Barrett, which prosecutors said was consistent with evidence at the scene. Walsh remains in custody receiving medical treatment and will be transferred to the Will County Adult Detention Facility upon release. Frankfort police called the case a heartbreaking tragedy and asked the community to keep the family in their thoughts and prayers.