Corie Walsh is reportedly dealing with “overwhelming” psychosis nearly two months after her arrest in connection with her two-year-old son’s death.
Barrett Walsh was found hanging in the basement of the family’s Frankfort, Illinois, home on September 1.
Police reports say Corie, a mother of four, was found in a bathtub “surrounded by bloody water” and “actively harming herself.”
Authorities arrested Corie and charged her with three counts of first degree murder.
Her lawyers have argued that she was suffering from a “brief psychotic disorder” when the killing happened.
After a court appearance on Monday, October 27, NBC Chicago reported that her attorney, Robert Kerr, described her psychotic condition as ongoing and “pretty overwhelming.”
At a press conference, Corie’s attorney Andrea Lyon said that “psychosis is not a choice.”
“We are committed with our head, our heart, and hard work, to represent her to the best of our ability so that everyone can understand what happened here,” she said, adding that her team is also “learning everything they can about her psychosis.”
Barrett’s death comes on the heels of the high-profile trial of Lindsay Clancy, who killed her three children in 2023.
Clancy did not deny murdering the children, but her defence argued that extreme postpartum psychosis meant she wasn’t criminally responsible.
The trial ended with a hung jury, with just one of the 12 jurors unable to agree with the verdict.
Corie had reportedly been “invested” in the case, which was still underway when Barrett died.
Hours before his body was found, she allegedly wrote in a group chat: “It was manslaughter, please help I’m really freaking out.”
Police reports went on to claim that Corie told authorities she wanted to harm her husband and her three other children.
NBC Chicago reported that Corie’s two eldest children came home from school, saw the situation unfolding, and ran to a neighbour for help.
The neighbour allegedly pulled Barrett down and tried CPR, but said he had no pulse.
Barrett was later pronounced dead at the hospital, and the Will County Medical Examiner’s office ruled his cause of death as asphyxia.
She allegedly told authorities at the time that she killed her son because “he was the devil” and the “anti-Christ.”
Corie’s husband and mother sat in the courtroom on Monday, when she pleaded not guilty to three murder charges.
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