Illinois mother Corie Walsh charged with strangling 2-year-old son Barrett — hours after texting friends about Lindsay Clancy trial

A 40-year-old Illinois mother allegedly strangled her 2-year-old son to death with a ligature, according to a criminal complaint.

Corie Walsh, 40, lives in Frankfort, Illinois.

Authorities revealed the cause of death for her 2-year-old son, Barrett, two weeks after the incident, according to a criminal complaint viewed by People.

Officials determined the toddler’s death was caused by asphyxia “due to ligature compression of the neck,” the complaint states.

On September 1, a neighbor discovered the boy inside the family’s home, police said.

The neighbor told police she tried to administer CPR as she called 911. But the toddler had no pulse and was cold by the time she found him, according to police.

Walsh was also found inside the house trying to harm herself with a knife, according to authorities.

The mother was discovered fully clothed in a bathtub full of “bloodied water,” officers said.

She allegedly told responding officers that her son was the “devil” and the “Antichrist,” according to police.

Walsh and Barrett were home alongside her youngest child when she allegedly killed the boy, authorities said. Meanwhile, her two oldest children returned home from school around the time the body was discovered, police said.

Amid the investigation into the case, witnesses told authorities that the suspect had become “very invested” in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial, according to court documents.

Clancy, 36, was accused of strangling her three young children in January 2023, according to prosecutors.

Deliberations were underway in that case at the time Barrett was killed, records state.

On September 4, the Clancy case was declared a mistrial after the jury was unable to come to a unanimous verdict, court records show.

Witnesses said Walsh was “actively discussing” Clancy’s case via text messages with her friends just three and a half hours before her son’s body was found, according to court documents obtained by WLS.

On September 8, claims made in court revealed the mother reportedly wrote in a group chat that she was “freaking out,” according to NBC Chicago.

The defendant allegedly wrote that she believed Lindsay’s ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, was involved in their children’s deaths, according to court records.

Patrick Clancy has consistently shut down claims that he was involved in the murders of his children. He has also threatened legal action against those spreading the conspiracy rumors, according to reports.

After the child’s death was revealed, Walsh was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder, according to online records viewed by Us.

It is not currently clear if she has entered a plea or retained legal counsel following her arrest, records show.

Walsh is next scheduled to appear in court on September 24, according to court records.