From New York Post · · 1m 40s
A mother, a trial, and a toddler's death
Illinois prosecutors say Corie Walsh killed her 2-year-old son hours after texting friends about Lindsay Clancy's murder trial.
In brief
Illinois prosecutors say Corie Walsh killed her 2-year-old son hours after texting friends about Lindsay Clancy's murder trial. Walsh's case is being argued on the same ground as Clancy's, severe mental illness, while her lawyer rejects the copycat label prosecutors are pushing. Originally reported by New York Post.
Singing during questioning
Asked how her toddler ended up hanging from a rafter, Corie Walsh broke into her own rendition of "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," per court documents.
Her children found him
Walsh's two school-aged kids found 2-year-old Barrett with a rope around his neck at their home in Frankfort, Illinois, then ran to a neighbor for help.
Cold to the touch
The neighbor called 911 and tried CPR, but the boy his family called Bear had no pulse. An autopsy found he died of asphyxia from ligature compression of the neck.
“asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck”
Anti-Christ and devil
Between the singing, Walsh confessed to killing him and called the boy the "anti-Christ," prosecutors said. Police found her fully clothed in a bathtub of bloody water, wrists and thighs slashed.
She thought all four were dead
Walsh was so disoriented she believed she had killed all four of her children, including an 8-month-old found unsupervised. She later said she had planned to poison her husband's drink.
“poisoning [her husband] with a drink”
The texts hours before
Just hours earlier, Walsh sent friends messages about Lindsay Clancy's trial, insisting Clancy's husband killed the children. Prosecutors say she was infatuated with the case.
“It was manslaughter, please I'm really freaking out”
Copycat, or coincidence
Her lawyers call it a psychotic episode, echoing Clancy's postpartum psychosis defense that ended in a mistrial. Attorney Robert Kerr called the copycat claim "sickening." She stays jailed until a Sept. 24 hearing.
“Describing Corie to a copied Lindsay is to take an easy bait”
In short
Walsh's case is being argued on the same ground as Clancy's, severe mental illness, while her lawyer rejects the copycat label prosecutors are pushing.
