Corie Walsh’s husband is standing by her as she faces murder charges for strangling their toddler son, her attorney said.
Walsh, 38, of Illinois, is accused of killing 2-year-old Barrett on Sept. 1 in what her defense team describes as a psychotic episode. Prosecutors allege she also plotted to poison her husband and had developed an intense fixation with the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. Her attorney, Andrea Lyon, denied any link between the two cases.
Walsh told officers she killed Barrett because she believed he was the “devil” and “Antichrist,” according to court documents. The toddler was found hanging in the basement from a rafter. A neighbor discovered him, administered CPR, and called 911; court documents noted he was “cold and had no pulse.” Barrett was pronounced dead later that day at New Lenox Hospital, with his cause of death determined to be “asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck.”
Walsh was treated at a local hospital for self-inflicted wounds to her wrists and thighs. Her husband and mother “have unwavering love and support” for her, defense attorneys said. Neither was present at her Sept. 8 detention hearing because that fell on the same day as Barrett’s funeral.
Lyon, who previously served on Casey Anthony’s defense team, said in a statement that Walsh’s actions were driven by mental illness.
“This is a tragedy for the Walsh family, all of whom are mourning the loss of this child,” Lyon said.
“It is also a tragedy in that Corie herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time this happened.”
Lyon acknowledged Walsh was “psychotic” but pushed back hard against the copycat theory.
“They are not correlated at all. It’s just accidental,” Lyon said, describing as “baseless and cruel” any suggestion that Walsh’s actions constituted a copycat crime.
Court documents indicate Walsh had “recently become very invested” in the murder trial for Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children. Clancy acknowledged she killed her children but argued she was experiencing postpartum psychosis. Walsh “had been actively discussing the [Clancy] case via group text message with her friends up until 12:30 PM on September 1, three and a half hours before the scene was discovered.”
Retired Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Eugene Roy said that psychiatric defenses face steep odds in cases involving children.
“It’s very rare. It’s more predominant in adult cases,” Roy said.
“Cases like this are, with children involved, because of the publicity and just the pain it causes the community are what we call heaters. There’s a lot of media focus on them. There’s a lot of attention. There’s a lot of demands to resolve the case promptly.”
Walsh’s attorney and her husband did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment.