Husband backs wife in court as she denies charges in 2-year-old son's death

FRANKFORT, Ill. — The husband of a woman accused of hanging their 2-year-old son was in court Thursday, Sept. 24, to support her as she pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing. Corie Walsh is alleged to have been fixated on the case of Lindsay Clancy, a mother who killed her three children. According to authorities, on Sept. 1, 2026, while Clancy's trial was underway, Walsh left the body of her 2-year-old son, Barrett Walsh, hanging from a rafter before attempting to take her own life. During a three-minute hearing Thursday, Sept. 24, Walsh wore a bright red jail uniform with her hair pulled back. She stood beside her attorney, who told the judge that the defense had subpoenaed her treatment records from the jail. After the hearing, Walsh was escorted from the courtroom. As she was led away, she looked toward her husband, Michael Walsh, who was seated in the public gallery with an elderly white-haired couple, all of them tearful. Outside the courtroom, friends consoled Michael Walsh. One supporter said, "She will get through this, she's strong." Michael Walsh told another supporter that he had been packing up the family's home. At a news conference outside the courthouse, Walsh's attorney, Andrea Lyon, said the treatment records were subpoenaed to determine whether Walsh is receiving the care she needs. Lyon said the defense still hopes to have Walsh released before trial to a hospital, despite a judge's denial earlier this month. "Her whole family is here today — her husband, mother, mother's best friend," Lyon said. She added that the family loves Walsh and that "she's never been violent — she was psychotic." They know that and want her to get better, Lyon said, adding, "This is not who she is." Walsh, 40, faces a first-degree murder charge. According to court documents, her two older children found Barrett in the basement of the family's home in Frankfort, a suburb roughly 30 miles southwest of Chicago, with a rope around his neck and his feet off the ground. They ran to a neighbor's house for help. The neighbor called 911 and attempted CPR, but the toddler had no pulse and was cold to the touch, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy later determined that Barrett, affectionately known as Bear, died of asphyxia caused by ligature compression of the neck, according to court records. Police found Corie Walsh fully clothed in a bathtub filled with bloodied water at the home, according to the documents. She had tried to kill herself by cutting her wrists and thighs with a dull kitchen knife, the records state. She allegedly confessed to killing her son, saying he was the anti-Christ and the devil, the documents say. Thursday's hearing took place less than 24 hours after an obituary remembered Barrett as a happy-go-lucky child who enjoyed playing games with his siblings. The obituary described him as a joyful, funny, entertaining and rambunctious 2-year-old who loved singing and dancing to Super Simple Songs and Miss Rachel, according to the webpage. He also liked learning colors with Pingfong and Hogi, playing soccer with friends and counting aloud to 5 Little Duckies. The obituary said Barrett was a cherished little brother to Grady and Anna and a caring big brother to a baby boy, Cormick. At her previous court appearance, Walsh's defense team argued that she is not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors said she was infatuated with Clancy's high-profile murder trial, which drew national attention. Clancy's defense argued that she was legally insane due to postpartum psychosis when she fatally strangled her three children with exercise bands. Walsh sent several confusing and out-of-character text messages about Clancy's trial to neighborhood mom friends just hours before Barrett was found hanging, her defense attorney acknowledged at that hearing. Before the incident, defense lawyer Robert Kerr said, Walsh "outwardly embraced and agreed" with a theory that Lindsay Clancy's husband, Patrick Clancy, committed the acts in that case. Kerr quoted a purported neighbor who described a conversation in which people debated the case before Walsh suddenly said, "He's not guilty, she's not guilty, 100% not guilty." The neighbor recounted that they asked whether Walsh was okay, who was home and whether a welfare check was needed because her thinking had shifted so abruptly, Kerr said. Walsh's attorneys argued she was severely mentally ill and suffering a psychotic episode during the incident, arguments similar to those made by Clancy's lawyers during a weeks-long trial that ended in a hung jury and mistrial. Kerr said the prosecution could result in a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity or a conviction on lesser included offenses, and he insisted the case was not first-degree murder. He also rejected the suggestion that his client was a copycat of Clancy, calling the accusation sickening. "Describing Corie to have copied Lindsay is to take an easy bait," Kerr said, according to a transcript of the hearing.