New Twist in 'Lindsay Clancy-Obsessed' Mom's Sickening Killing Case

She's the mom accused of killing her son, a horrific crime allegedly committed as she was heavily invested in the trial of another mom, Lindsey Clancy. "This is not a case of first degree murder, it's anything but that." Corey Walsh's defense is trying to push back on any Clancy comparison. I'll tell you what we learned in court today and what members of Corey Walsh's family were there as her attorney says her family is still by her side. We're on the case presented by law and crime, I'm Chris Stewart. No matter the reason it is impossible to comprehend why someone would take a life, any life, but why a mom would take the life of her son. Like Corey Walsh allegedly did, that will never make sense no matter what. But what Corey Walsh's defense team says is that this was truly a case of mental health and it's not a murder. A woman who is diagnosed they say with a psychotic disorder. Now these are sketches that we have in from Corey Walsh's court appearance today in Will County, Illinois, which is south of Chicago. It was her arrangement. Very brief court appearance. She pleaded not guilty. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom, but content creator, Abby Blabby. She's going to join me here in just a moment. She was at the court house today and we'll break down what happened. Now this case, it is really hard to talk about. The details are graphic. They're disturbing. We do have court records that came in about what authorities say happened on Tuesday, September 1st. And it was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Police say they were called to the home of Corey Walsh in Frankfurt, Illinois, which is a suburb of South of Chicago. And you can just take a look at this house, massive home, beautiful home, very nice neighborhood. Please say a neighbor called 911. And that neighbor came to the house and she allegedly found Corey Walsh and in upstairs bathtub. Walsh allegedly was in a pool of blood. Court documents state that she had cuts to her wrists and thighs. That neighbor allegedly took a knife away from Walsh. Now Walsh allegedly then tells the neighbor that bear was in the basement. And bear was what they called Walsh's son, bear it. The neighbor went downstairs and reportedly found the young boy hanging from the rafters. He was transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Authorities say he died of asphyxia. Police also say they found an infant in the house, but that infant was okay. And then Walsh has two other children and they arrived home from school around the same time police got on scene. Walsh's husband, he was out of town. Please say that Walsh made some very concerning statements. And these statements are very important when it comes to potentially what the prosecution of her will look like. Mom admitted to trying one of the child somewhere else in the house here so we're just giving her a look here. Right now we have two patients. That is police dispatch audio. Corey Walsh allegedly claimed that she drowned her kids. And that wasn't true. Walsh also made very disturbing statements about her son, bear it. The young boy she is accused of allegedly killing. Walsh allegedly told officers that she did this to her baby because he was a devil and the anti-Christ. They also say that she allegedly gave details of how she killed her son. Please say that Walsh allegedly had plans to kill her husband as well. And she allegedly said that she wanted to do it by poisoning her drink. Court record show there was medication out on the counter, but it's unclear what medication was there. When Corey Walsh was taken to an ambulance, the situation apparently got even more bizarre. Please say that Walsh sang a song from the wizard of eyes when she was questioned by authorities. That's according to documents that were reviewed by the son newspaper. Walsh also allegedly screamed at EMTs. She made threats were told. They also say her eyes were dilated and she was allegedly giggling. Now in her first court appearance, Walsh's attorney said that she had been diagnosed with a psychotic disorder and that diagnosis came after she was taken into custody. Now it's unclear the kind of mental health care she was receiving prior to the death of her son, bear it. Now this incident happened as the jury was deliberating the trial of Lindsey Clancy and prosecutors in court documents referenced that case and they said that Corey Walsh was quote heavily invested. September 1st, when you go back to that day, what was going on in the Clancy trial with the jury was deliberating at that point. And this was before we had heard about a holdout juror and the mistrial in all of that. Please say that Walsh had been texting in a group chat about the Lindsey Clancy trial with friends in the hours before she allegedly killed bear it. Her defense attorney, woman named Andrea Lyon, she once defended Casey Anthony, she has pushed back on any connection between the case of Corey Walsh and the case of Lindsey Clancy. Corey Walsh is currently facing three counts of murder in the death of young bear it his obituary was just posted online part of it reads that he was quote "beloved" to parents Michael and Corey bear will always be remembered as a joyful, funny, entertaining, rambunctious two-year-old who loves singing and dancing to super simple songs and misrachial learning his colors with ping pong and hogey kicking a soccer ball with his friends and counting out loud to five little duckies. He loved animals, bedtime stories, doing the goodbye dance with joyous perfection, feeding Oscar to many treats and really enjoyed playing his favorite game "Ready Set Go" bear will forever be missed by all who knew him, especially the way his smiling face would light up a room and fill it with joy, wonder and all. Join us now just outside the courthouse Abby Blabby true crime content creator you can find her coverage on Abby Blabby true crime and news across social media platforms thanks for talking with us again about this I know you just saw Corey Walsh's attorneys they spoke briefly after her hearing today what stood out to you just kind of about the approach that they seem to be taking I mean this is just such a terrible case but they have said that they don't believe it's first-degree murder. Yeah no she reiterated again that they fully believe this was psychosis somebody had asked her why the husband and you know both sides of the family are still supporting her and she basically said that she's a good person she doesn't have any kind of criminal history she said that to her knowledge Corey never even had a traffic violation she was asked if anybody had any concerns regarding a decline in Corey's mental health in the months leading up to the incident but she didn't want to answer that she moved on to the next question pretty quickly but yeah she made it very clear that they fully believe this was a psychotic episode. As I know we were talking about it last time I mean just some of the details that have come out related to how she acted not just in the in the death of her son which is alleged at this point but the singing of the Wizard of Oz the things that she said to the EMTs her eyes apparently were dilated and I don't know how that factors into to whatever situation was going on but it does seem like there was a lot of bizarre behavior surrounding this terrible terrible crime of Barrett's death. Yeah absolutely and that she allegedly planned on poisoning her husband right and had medication bottles sitting out on the counter with a drink so it's very bizarre to me that he's still supporting her. I don't know if I would be able to if I was in his shoes but I mean he knows her as a loving wife and mother and like I said both sides of the family are apparently saying that this is not at all who she is a lot of the other moms and you know neighbors are saying that this is completely out of character for her that she's a very good person that she was always active and attentive to her children so yeah it's it's it's very unfortunate the comments that she was making that day as far as you know the Wizard of Oz and just yelling out the random names of fruits. Yeah they said it was just totally not like her at all. It'll be interesting and I know her defensive said that she was diagnosed after the fact with some sort of psychotic condition but it's like what was her mental health care like like what was did she have a diagnosis prior to September 1st when all of this happened her husband supporting her that's what her defenses said the family supporting her he wasn't able to be at the last court hearing because they you know sadly we're having a funeral service for Barrett but he was at court today like when you saw him like what what like stood out to you about him he just seemed very I don't know flat in in sadden to me he just had a sad look on his face I was actually in the elevator with him after the hearing coming down he stood in the corner it was just sad seeing him honestly and then he came out and you know of course there was media he tried to avoid everybody he didn't speak to anybody which you know is completely understandable but I don't know he just the look on his face he just seemed defeated almost to me yeah and you can't imagine what he's going through you know the loss that that that family has gone through and then now the idea that Corey Walsh is facing these charges that she murdered her son. When you go back to that day and I know we talked about it in the past and in some of the details that have come out about what allegedly happened. When it comes to the neighbor, do we know yet how she and we had talked about this last time a little bit, but just like the, I think there's such a big question of like how did all of this, like how did people know that something was wrong in the house because law enforcement said that they arrived, they get this 911 call from a neighbor who goes next door, but like other than that, nothing officially has been put out there about how this neighbor knew that something was wrong inside. - Yeah, I think it was the children came home from school, they got off the bus and Corey would usually be there to meet them at the bus stop and then walk them back to their home, but she wasn't there. So apparently a neighbor walked the children back to the house and then after they went inside, they were trying to find their mom yelling out for her, but they couldn't find her. So during their search, one of them had apparently gone down to the basement and at that point saw Little Barrett hanging there and from what I was told, the kids just flew out of that house, screaming and crying and got the attention of a neighbor. I don't know if it was the same one that walked them back or if it was a different one, but at that point the neighbor entered the home and then went downstairs and lowered him and began CPR and called 911. - It was interesting that kind of circling back to Lindsay Clancy because in writing, that's what Law Enforcement said. Like she was talking about the Lindsay Clancy trial and the hours leading up to what happened. She was heavily invested, was there wording for it and it was enough that it wasn't just yours following the trial, like something they felt it was enough to put in a court document, but Corey Walsh's attorneys, like they have pushed back on any sort of comparison, which is hard once it's out there and that's how this story is going to, people will continue to see it as that. Was there anything more that Walsh's attorneys said today about Lindsay Clancy and kind of that comparison? - Nope, it did not get brought up at all. They are trying to completely separate the two cases. They don't want this to be considered a copycat crime or anything like that. They want a complete division, it didn't get brought up. - Yeah, and it will see how that goes because once it's out there again, I mean, it's hard to kind of undo that narrative. - Right. - But her attorneys have pushed back on it saying that it's unfair to make that comparison. We'll see what happens next. Abby Blabby, true crime content creator. It's always great to have you here on Law and Crime. Thank you for taking the time to be with us. We appreciate it. - Thanks. - Let's talk about the legal side of this. Sofa Robinson Ferreris here, criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, always great to have you on Law and Crime. It's possible that Corey Walsh had some sort of psychotic episode that was going on sadly when her son lost his life. Her attorneys have said they don't believe that this is a first degree murder case. How does this typically work though? 'Cause it's not just someone claiming that it happened. Like what do you really have to prove in some of these cases? And I know a lot of people will draw the comparisons of a Lindsay Clancy when it comes to arguing that maybe there was a psychotic episode or psychosis going on at the time, a tragedy like this happened. - So typically in cases like this, what you will often see is that there are a number of charges and the specific question is whether the government can prove the culpable mental state in the case or mens rare. And so essentially with your murder charges, oftentimes you're looking at the intent requirement. Could this person have formulated the appropriate intent to commit this act or to appreciate the act that they were ultimately committing? So it's not necessarily a dispute as to whether or not a homicide occurred or a death occurred, but whether the appropriate mental state requirement is established by the government. And there are other mental state requirements as well, such as reckless and things of that nature. So psychosis is essentially going to come into play here to negate the culpable mental state of intent. Should that be a requirement that the government needs to prove? And a lot of times what happens is when a person is under psychosis, they oftentimes cannot appreciate the acts that they are occurring in that are occurring in that moment or that they are doing in that moment. - Because on one hand, you look at what's been alleged to this point and you have very bizarre behavior. Frankly, by Corey Walsh, I mean, there was a part of this was that she allegedly was singing like a song from the Wizard of Ozman. Please want to question her. She had an outburst apparently in the ambulance when they were talking to her. Just very bizarre behavior. She allegedly claimed that she had drowned her kids and that actually was not true. But then at the same time, you have her recognizing that her son was in the basement. You have from what prosecutors have said, like she allegedly planned on taking the life of her husband and there was some medication out on the counter. There's still a lot of details we don't know in that sense. But it's like, how do you balance those things where it's like on one hand, you could say that there was this awareness of what was happening, but then on the other hand, you have this incredibly bizarre behavior that was going on. - Yeah, so and that's gonna be the dispute between both sides. The prosecution is going to say she knew exactly what she was doing. She looked up the Lindsey Clancy case shortly before these acts occurred. She spoke with another of individuals with respect to that verdict and case. And so she essentially pre-planned this to happen and take place and that she's essentially likely faking the psychosis or the alleged psychosis that she was under. From the defense perspective, they're gonna say who in their right mind is going to a murder their own two-year-old child? B, these singing songs that are really not appropriate or there's not an appropriate response for what's occurring. Whether that be having an incident with the EMT shortly thereafter, actually allegedly committing the murder and pre-planning and saying things such as, oh, I've drawn my other children when that's clearly not true. That begs the question of what is going on in the mind of this individual? And that's going to be what the defense essentially sets out to show the jury, in this case, shouldn't go to trial while the prosecution is gonna prove that or is intending to prove that she knew what she was doing. This wasn't an issue with psychosis. She planned this, she murdered her child and the jury should find her guilty. - Yeah, and I think of the Lindsey Clancy comparisons. And it's not just the fact that this was a mother who allegedly took the life of one of her children that this was going on at a time on September 1st when the entire country, whether you follow true crime or not, was kind of enthralled with this case and the attention was there. But in court documents, police write specifically that she was highly invested in the Lindsey Clancy case and they make that reference. On the flip side of it, you have her attorneys who have pushed back saying that there shouldn't be any comparison between these two cases. As a defense attorney, why would you not want that comparison in this case as you kind of move forward? - I think the Lindsey Clancy case verdict or mistrial is such a hat button issue in this country and that's reflected in the jury's ultimate decision that they ended up in a mist trial because people oftentimes can't come to an agreement on whether or not mental health came into play or not. And so as a defense attorney, you really want to get away from something that is highly controversial and stick to the facts of your case. And although they may be similar, we don't want to highlight the comparisons because that's going to draw attention to viewers and say, oh, well, I thought Lindsey Clancy was guilty even though that landed in a mist trial. I think this woman is guilty. Now, I cannot imagine what the family of Corey Walsh is going through, what the father of young Barrett, Corey Walsh's husband, what he is going through, he was in court today. And according to her attorneys, they say that family members support her. And what can that mean in these types of cases? Like where you have someone who's accused of doing something incredibly horrific, she's been facing these three counts of first degree murder for the death of her son. But how does the support, and you did see it to an extent, like not to make a Clancy comparison. And I know there's been a lot of talk about Patrick Clancy, but like he was someone who believed it was the medication and the mental state of his wife, that led to the death of his children as opposed to saying that Lindsey Clancy is a killer. How does that impact a defense and impact a case when you have that type of support from people who are closest to the defendant? Family support means everything in a case like this. And the optics are incredible. When you have a defendant who is accused of something as heinous as murdering their own child, but they have their family support, judges see that. And more importantly, down the line, if there's a trial in the case, jurors see that. And they reason in their mind, although they're not supposed to make any conclusions, but they see the family support sitting behind the defendant. And oftentimes, we'll wonder to themselves, well, why is this family supporting her? Is she truly innocent? Why would they support her if they believe she's guilty? And should I believe she's guilty if her own family doesn't think that because they're here supporting her? And so, optics and family optics come into play significantly here. And I think also when it comes to the prior appearances that occur before trial ultimately takes place, the judges will oftentimes give a lot more respect and that. when they see family support, they're for a defendant. They may not like the charges, they may not, you know, there is something to be said about how family members show up for a defendant and how that is viewed in the eyes of a judge or a jury. - Because, I mean, again, you just, you cannot imagine what this family is going through and the tragedy they're going through. I think about prosecutors in this case as well, because if you're gonna argue that this is a case of first degree murder, you're going against, you know, family members who have, you know, we haven't heard them speak publicly, but the attorney says that they're on her side and they support her. We don't really know what her mental health history was prior to this. But I think of prosecutors like, you can't try this case like the defendant is a Brian Coburger type figure. I feel like where this is someone who is clearly the bad guy, this is the person that you can go after and, you know, and we kind of saw it at the Clancy case. Like, there can be no matter, you know, and I know it's a very controversial case, but like, there were people that saw a very sympathetic figure in Lindsey Clancy and in the Corey Walsh case, I don't know how people will feel about it, but how do you approach this type of case compared to maybe some of the other murder cases that we'll see in color? - Well, so in this particular case, we also have what we call as a sympathetic defendant. Not only do we have a sympathetic defendant, but we also have a sympathetic victim, which is a child. And so cases like this, you have to deal with, take with extreme caution. And I think a lot of people understand, some people I should say understand what psychosis is, and how that can ultimately impact an individual's decision-making, particularly at that period of time. I believe the child was two years old, and so she's still in that post-partum period, and people don't actually realize how long that can last. And so you have somebody who's a mother, who is likely still in a post-partum and sensitive state, and has possible mental health history or has had just about of psychosis, and I've represented individuals who out of nowhere, they've had psychosis about, and the things that have happened as a result of that, are you just can't put into words a reason why they would even happen. - And so I think people are starting to understand to some degree, but I don't think that that is going to negate that this is a victim, that is a child, that is two years old, and people want justice for that. - Safa, because you've done cases with defendants who have been in states of psychosis, and I think you look at the Lindsey Clancy case, and on one hand, you had 11 of 12 jurors that seemed to comprehend the idea of mental health and reason of insanity in psychosis and all of that, like you did have notably one in that case, but then just take a poll of the internet, and it is what it is, but a lot of people don't see to look at that as a reason for an outcome, like not guilty by reason of insanity. They have a hard time looking at psychosis as the reason, even if there's medical evidence that supports it, compared to the individual who's responsible, like how difficult is it as an attorney to get someone to buy into the idea of psychosis in a case as horrific as this? It can be incredibly difficult, especially when you have individuals who are not versed in mental health or in the medical field and things like that. People have a really difficult time reasoning what they do not understand. And with psychosis cases, unless you've seen it firsthand, it can be extremely difficult for you to logically reason or for a jury to logically reason why this person would or could do this. And in case like this, because of the nature of, because it's so sensitive with a child victim, you're going to have individuals that look at this case in a manner of, I don't care what the excuse was, I don't care what the psychosis was, you killed somebody, you killed a child, you're guilty. The thing about this is though, is that jurors have to follow the law. And with the law, the judge is going to give them legal instructions on how they must determine their case. The judge is going to explain how the government has to prove the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt. And if the government needs to disprove anything or if the burden shifts to the defense to prove anything. And in a case like this, I would expect that the defense attorneys are going to put someone on the case that's an expert to explain to a jury how psychosis works. And the onset and triggers of it, whether or not postpartum played a factor in it, still at this point in time, considering the child is two years old. I don't know if she has any younger children than that. And how it can significantly impact individuals and truly just cause them to make decisions that make absolutely no sense and decisions that can be so detrimental to their lives and the lives of others. It's difficult to get jurors to understand that. It's difficult to get sympathy with regard to that. But those that truly know and understand because they have a medical background or experience or experience with mental health, we'll understand that. Yeah, software, Robinson, Ferrer, former prosecutor, current criminal defense attorney. We'll see what happens next just an incredibly sad case out of Illinois. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me. Corey Walsh is next slated to appear in court on October 26th. That will do it for this episode of On the Case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. See you next time. [BLANK_AUDIO]