An Illinois mother allegedly accused of killing her young son delivered a bizarre interview to detectives after the death, a court heard. Prosecutors said Corie Walsh had taken an interest in the Lindsay Clancy case.
Walsh, 40, faces a first-degree murder charge after her two-year-old son, Barrett “Bear” Walsh, was found hanged in the basement of the family’s home on September 1.
According to a petition seeking to deny her pre-trial release, the mother of four was discovered in an upstairs bathtub covered in blood and allegedly attempting to harm herself with a blunt kitchen knife.
At a detention hearing last Tuesday, Walsh’s attorneys said she had been experiencing a “psychotic episode” when she allegedly killed her two-year-old son.
The court heard that, when a neighbor found her in the bathtub, Walsh had “fixed, dilated eyes,” let out a “weird giggle” and appeared “unlike her normal self.”
Defense attorney Robert Kerr cited Walsh’s behavior and conflicting accounts to investigators as further evidence of the alleged psychosis. He told the judge that his client appeared unaware of what was happening to her.
Kerr said Walsh told detectives she had gone to McDonald’s that afternoon for a breakfast sandwich, even though the fast-food chain does not serve breakfast after 11 a.m.
She also broke into her own version of “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” the song from the 1939 film and later musical “The Wizard of Oz,” the court heard.
Corie Walsh, 40, was charged with first-degree murder after her two-year-old son, Barrett “Bear” Walsh, was found hanged in the basement of their family home on September 1. She has not yet entered a plea
The defense claims Walsh was suffering from a “psychotic episode” when she allegedly killed Bear, pictured as an infant in his mother’s arms
Paramedics transported Walsh to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, roughly a 20-minute drive from her home in Frankfort, for treatment.
She was “in and out of consciousness” during the ambulance ride and did not respond to questions from emergency responders, Kerr said.
He claimed that medics said she was ‘talking to us, but not coherent.’
Walsh told one of the first responders that they ‘looked like her daughter’ and kept saying things that ‘did not make sense,’ the court heard.
She even started yelling out the names of fruits, including oranges, bananas and apples, Kerr said.
‘When she was talking, it seemed like she wanted to know what she was saying. But what she was saying that she didn’t make sense,’ Kerr said, apparently reading a statement one medic gave to detectives.
According to the prosecution, Walsh was actively discussing the Clancy case in a group chat on the day of the killing.
Clancy admitted to strangling her three children in January 2023, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis and overmedication.
Walsh was found in a bloodied bathtub in her Frankfort home trying to harm herself with a blunt kitchen knife, according to the pre-trial release denial petition
Walsh’s attorneys Andrea Lyon and Robert Kerr, pictured outside the Will County Courthouse last Tuesday, claim their client was unaware of what was happening to her and gave conflicting reports to investigators
Prosecutors said Walsh told police she killed Bear because he was ‘the devil’ and ‘the Antichrist,’ and claimed that the 40-year-old had intended to poison her husband.
‘She was going to poison him with a drink. She had a drink and a number of prescription bottles on the table,’ the prosecutor said.
But the defense claimed that Walsh’s own statements cannot be relied on for the truth.
She told investigators that she took her children ‘one by one and drowned them,’ the court heard, with Kerr adding: ‘It’s not true judge. No child was drowned. No child was found in water. No child but [Bear] was harmed.’
Walsh’s defense team, which is led by Andrea Lyon, who represented Orlando mom Casey Anthony, also criticized the characterization of a ‘copycat theory,’ and claimed that media attention around the Clancy trial ‘just happened to coincide with Corie’s psychosis.’
At the hearing on Tuesday, Walsh’s defense team revealed that her family members were not in court because Bear was being laid to rest.
Her husband, 44-year-old Michael Walsh, and their families ‘fully support’ her, Kerr told the judge.
Michael and Walsh’s mother are ‘heartbroken’ that they cannot be here and ask that the court know they have ‘unwavering support for her,’ he added.
The defense asked that Walsh be released to her mother pending trial so she can receive psychiatric treatment.
She told detectives that she had gone to McDonald’s that afternoon for a breakfast sandwich and then launched into her own rendition of Follow the Yellow Brick Road from The Wizard of Oz, Kerr told the court
Walsh’s defense has fiercely rejected suggestions that she was a Clancy ‘copycat.’ Lindsay Clancy’s case, pictured, which has captured the world, was ruled a mistrial
However, the judge ruled that Walsh will be held in jail and the State Attorney’s Office must ensure she gets proper medical treatment.
Her next court appearance has been scheduled for September 24. She has not yet entered a plea.
Walsh was in a group chat with several mothers in her neighborhood that regularly discussed the Clancy trial, the court heard.
The chat peddled baseless conspiracy theories about Clancy’s husband, Patrick, but on the day of Bear’s death, Walsh seemed to change her mind, Kerr said.
Walsh allegedly texted her friends: ‘It’s manslaughter. Please help. I’m really freaking out.’
Jurors were deliberating murder charges against Clancy when Walsh sent the message, but the case ultimately ended in a mistrial.
