Illinois mother charged with first-degree murder after 2-year-old found dead in basement
Police say Corie Walsh, 40, killed her toddler while reportedly fixated on a separate murder trial; she faces a first-degree murder charge and is being treated for self-inflicted injuries.
Police in Frankfort, Illinois, arrested 40-year-old Corie Walsh on September 1 after a neighbor discovered her two-year-old son hanging from a cord in the family’s basement. The child was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after emergency responders arrived. Investigators found Walsh in the bathtub with self-inflicted knife wounds and transported her to a medical facility for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
According to authorities, Walsh told investigators she killed the child because she believed he was “the devil” and “the anti-Christ.” Prosecutors say she also threatened to harm other children in the home and her husband upon his return. Walsh has been charged with first-degree murder and will be transferred to a detention facility after receiving medical care.
Walsh’s attorney, Andrea Lyon, described the incident as a “psychotic episode” and expressed sympathy for the family’s loss. Law enforcement noted that Walsh had been actively discussing the Lindsay Clancy murder trial—a separate case involving a mother charged with killing her three children—via a group text message hours before the child's death. The Clancy trial concluded in a mistrial on September 4.
A neighbor who found the child attempted CPR and removed a knife from Walsh’s hand before police arrived. Walsh’s husband was out of state at the time; another infant in the house and two school-aged children who returned later were unharmed.