A bathtub of bloodied water. A rope. A 2-year-old boy with no pulse. And, according to investigators, an eerie musical performance in place of answers.
That is the scene Illinois authorities describe in the case against Corie Walsh, a 40-year-old Frankfort woman now charged with first-degree murder in the death of her son, Barrett, whom relatives called “Bear.”
Detectives questioning Walsh about how her toddler ended up hanging from a rafter in the family’s home got no direct explanation, court records show.
Instead, she allegedly launched into “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” from “The Wizard of Oz.”
Frankfort sits roughly 30 miles southwest of Chicago, and it was there that Walsh’s two older, school-aged children stumbled upon their little brother’s body, his feet dangling above the floor and a rope wrapped around his neck.
The children fled to a neighbor’s house. That neighbor dialed 911 and attempted CPR on the toddler, but he was already cold and pulseless. He was declared dead at the scene.
Medical examiners later ruled the manner of death as asphyxiation caused by ligature compression around the neck, according to court documentation.
Somewhere between verses, investigators say, Walsh confessed to the killing — telling them she viewed her own son as the “anti-Christ” and the “devil.”
Police discovered Walsh submerged in bathwater tinted red, still fully dressed. She had allegedly cut her own wrists and thighs in an apparent suicide attempt before officers arrived.
Her mental state was reportedly so fractured at the time of her arrest that she believed she had killed not just Barrett but all four of her children.
One of those children, an 8-month-old baby, was later located elsewhere in the house, alive and unsupervised.
Beyond the murder charge, prosecutors allege Walsh also plotted to poison her husband by lacing his drink, noting she had access to several prescription drugs at the time.
Investigators have tied the timeline of the killing to another closely watched case: that of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother whose trial for allegedly strangling her three children with exercise bands ended without a conviction.
Clancy’s attorneys had argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis and was legally insane at the time.
Hours before Barrett’s death, Walsh allegedly fired off a string of unusual text messages to friends.
In them, she claimed Clancy’s husband — not Clancy — was the one who actually killed the Clancy children.
One of those messages, sent Sept. 1 as the Clancy jury deliberated, read: “It was manslaughter, please I’m really freaking out.”
That message, combined with the timing of Barrett’s death, has led prosecutors to argue Walsh was fixated on the Clancy case in the days leading up to her own son’s killing.
Walsh’s legal team has leaned on a similar insanity-adjacent defense to the one used in the Clancy trial, describing their client as “severely mentally ill” and in the middle of a “psychotic episode” when Barrett died.
But defense attorney Robert Kerr flatly rejected any suggestion that Walsh modeled her actions on Clancy’s, calling that theory “sickening” when he addressed the Will County court during her first appearance.
“Describing Corie to a copied Lindsay is to take an easy bait,” Kerr told the courtroom.
A judge denied the defense’s request to move Walsh into psychiatric care, instead ordering her held in custody.
The judge pointed to the danger she poses to her three surviving children and her husband as the reason for detention.
That husband, who was out of state when his son was killed, has stood by his wife throughout the ordeal.
According to Kerr, he holds “unwavering” support and love for her and has cooperated fully with both police and social workers since the incident.
Kerr has not responded to requests for comment. The Will County District Attorney’s Office likewise declined to discuss specifics, citing the ongoing nature of the litigation.
The next major date in the case arrives Sept. 24, when a preliminary hearing is set to take place in Will County court.
Until then, the charges against Walsh remain pending, and the broader questions about what triggered the killing remain part of an active investigation.
