Frankfort mother charged in murder of 2-year-old son said the toddler was 'the devil and anti-Christ'

Friday, September 25, 2026 - The husband of a woman accused of hanging their 2-year-old son supported her in court Thursday, September 24, as she pleaded not guilty during a preliminary hearing in the case. 

Corie Walsh was said to be obsessed with the case of Lindsay Clancy, a mother who k!lled her three kids. 

Then, on September 1, 2026, amid the trial on Lindsay Clancy, Corie Walsh allegedly left the lifeless body of her 2-year-old son, Barrett Walsh, dangling from a rafter before trying to k!ll herself. 

She appeared in bright red jail outfit with her hair tied back during the brief, three-minute hearing today, September 24. 

She stood alongside her attorney, who told the judge the defense had subpoenaed Corie Walsh’s treatment records from the jail. 

Following the hearing, the alleged k!ller mum was taken out of the courtroom. 

As she was led away, she caught the eyes of her husband, Michael Walsh, sitting in the public gallery alongside a white-haired elderly couple with tears in their eyes. 

Outside the courtroom, Michael Walsh’s friends offered him comfort, with one supporter saying, “She will get through this, she’s strong.” 

Michael Walsh told another supporter he had been “packing up” the family home. 

At a news conference held outside the courtroom, Corie Walsh’s attorney Andrea Lyon said the treatment info had been subpoenaed “to see whether or not she’s getting the treatment she needs.” 

The lawyer said they still hope to get Corie Walsh pretrial release to a hospital, despite a judge’s refusal earlier this month. 

“Her whole family is here today — her husband, mother, mother’s best friend,” Lyon said. 

“They love her and this is not — she’s never been violent… she was psychotic. They all know that and want her to get better. This is not who she is,” she added. 

Corie Walsh, 40, was charged with first-degree murd£r after her two older kids found Barrett with a rope around his neck and feet off the ground in the basement of the family’s home in Frankfort, a suburb about 30 miles southwest of Chicago, and ran to a neighbor’s house for help, according to court documents. 

The frantic neighbor called 911 and tried fruitlessly to perform CPR on the toddler, who didn’t have a pulse and was cold to the touch. 

He was pronounced de@d at the scene. 

An autopsy later confirmed that Barrett – who was affectionately called “Bear” – di£d of “asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck,” according to court records. 

Corie Walsh, whom cops discovered fully clothed, soaking in a bathtub full of bloodied water at the house, tried to take her own life by slashing her wrists and thighs with a dull kitchen knife.  

She allegedly confessed to k!lling her son, claiming he was the “anti-Christ” and “devil,” the documents state. 

Thursday’s hearing comes less than 24 hours after a heartbreaking obituary was released remembering little Barrett as a happy-go-lucky child who loved playing games with his siblings. 

The tragic toddler “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,” reads the obituary. 

He also enjoyed “learning his colors with Pingfong and Hogi, kicking a soccer ball with his friends and counting out loud to 5 Little Duckies.” 

Most importantly, Barrett was a “cherished little brother” to Grady and Anna and a “caring big brother” to a baby boy, Cormick, the devastating webpage states. 

Corie Walsh’s defense team argued that she is not guilty by reason of insanity during her last court date. 

Prosecutors claimed she was infatuated with Clancy’s high-profile murd£r trial, which captivated the nation. Clancy’s defense team argued that she was legally insane due to postpartum psychosis when she f@tally strangled her three children with exercise bands. 

Corie Walsh had even sent several “confusing” and “out of character” text messages about Clancy’s trial to her neighborhood mommy friends just a few hours before Barrett was discovered hanging, her defense attorney admitted during that hearing. 

“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,” defense lawyer Robert Kerr said at the time. 

“According to the witness, Judge, ‘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’,” Kerr continued while quoting the purported neighbor. 

Court documents state that Walsh allegedly told investigators that she committed the act because her son was the "devil" and the "anti-Christ."

Corie Walsh’s lawyers argued she was “severely mentally ill” and in the throes of a “psychotic episode” during the grisly incident – arguments echoing those used by Clancy’s attorneys during her weeks-long courtroom battle that ultimately ended in a hung jury and mistrial. 

“This prosecution may result in a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity, a finding of guilty on any number of lesser-included offenses,” Kerr said, insisting that it wasn’t “first-degree murd£r.” 

But he refuted the idea that his client is a Clancy “copycat” and described the accusation as “sickening.”  

“Describing Corie to have copied Lindsay is to take an easy bait,” Kerr said, according to a transcript of that hearing.