A mother of four whose two-year-old son was found dead in her home allegedly sent ‘confusing’ texts about the Lindsay Clancy trial hours before his death.

Corie Walsh, 40, was alleged to be suffering from a psychotic episode, according to her lawyer, when her son, Barrett Walsh, was found dead in the basement of her Frankfort, Illinois home.

Court records say the toddler died by hanging, and that Walsh was found in a bathtub attempting to harm herself, CNN reports.

Witnesses have claimed that Walsh had been ‘invested’ in the case of Lindsay Clancy, who killed her three children in January 2023, alleging she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time.

Walsh has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder after prosecutors say she fatally strangled her son.

The court documents reportedly state that Walsh had been ‘actively discussing’ the Clancy case hours before Barrett’s death.

She allegedly wrote in a group chat that she believed that Lindsay Clancy’s husband, Patrick Clancy, killed their children — a conspiracy theory without evidence that has swept the internet during the course of the trial.

NBC Chicago reported that she messaged: ‘It was manslaughter, please help I’m really freaking out.’

A witness, who is allegedly a member of the group chat, said Walsh’s texts were ‘confusing’ and ‘out of character’.

One of Walsh’s attorneys, Robert Kerr, argues the mother was ‘severely mentally ill’ at the time of her son’s death, and had been diagnosed with a ‘brief psychotic disorder’.

Frankfort Police Department responded to a report of an unresponsive toddler at 4pm on Tuesday, September 8. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

According to court documents, a neighbour had found the two-year-old in the basement of the property with a ligature around his neck, and Walsh in the bathroom with a knife.

The neighbour allegedly removed the ligature from the child, lowered him to the ground, and administered CPR while calling 911.

Walsh reportedly told officers that she killed her son because he was ‘the devil’ and ‘the anti-Christ’, CNN reports.

She also allegedly made claims that she would poison her husband, who was out of the state at the time of the killing.

Walsh was hospitalised with non-life-threatening injuries and her other three children were unharmed.

Speaking to CNN, another of Walsh’s attorneys, Andrea Lyon, said: ‘This is a tragedy, for the Walsh family all of whom are mourning the loss of this child.

‘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.’

Prosecutors are attempting to deny her pretrial release, alleging Walsh ‘made statements regarding harming her other children and statements that she intended to harm her husband upon his return home’.

Days ago, the judge in the trial of Lindsay Clancy declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision.

The Massachusetts mother, 36, was on trial for the murders of her three children: Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight, in January 2023.

Clancy did not deny killing her children by strangling them with an exercise band in the basement of their home, but her defence claimed she was in a state of postpartum psychosis when the crimes took place, and therefore was not criminally responsible for her actions.

The prosecution said that, while there was no doubt Clancy was suffering from depression, she still made a calculated decision to kill her children.

In order to convict a defendant in the United States, juries must reach a unanimous decision.

It’s expected that a new jury will be selected and a retrial will commence again later this year. 


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