Frankfort, Illinois. Prosecutors say 38-year-old Corie A. Walsh told officers at the scene she killed her son because he was the "devil" and the "anti-Christ."
Frankfort police were called to 22700 block of Brook Stone Court at about 4:04 p.m. Tuesday. When officers arrived, a neighbor was performing CPR on 2-year-old Barrett Walsh. The neighbor told investigators she found the boy hanging in the basement from a device attached to a rafter, with a ligature around his neck and his feet off the ground.
She removed the ligature, lowered the boy to the ground and called 911, but he was cold and had no pulse. He was pronounced dead Tuesday. An autopsy conducted Wednesday preliminarily found the boy died from asphyxia caused by ligature compression of the neck.
Walsh was found lying fully dressed in a bathtub in the master bedroom, surrounded by bloody water, according to the proffer. A neighbor had taken a knife from Walsh's hand and threw it into a sink; police recovered it.
Walsh was taken to Silver Cross Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Three other children were inside the home or returned home around the time the boy was discovered. An infant was present and unharmed. Two school-aged children returned home around the time of the discovery and were not physically injured. Walsh's husband, who lives at the home, was out of state at the time and flew home Tuesday evening, prosecutors say.
Following an investigation by the Frankfort Police Department and the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force, Walsh was charged with three counts of first-degree murder. The counts rest on different legal theories of intent. While hospitalized, Walsh allegedly made additional statements to investigators describing how she killed him.
Witnesses told investigators Walsh had recently become very interested in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy. Walsh reportedly discussed the case with friends in a group text as recently as about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, roughly three and a half hours before her son was discovered.
