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As I previously posted, Corie Walsh hanged her 2-year-old son and now her lawyer is claiming the same excuse as has Lindsay Clancy's lawyer that this murderous mom was suffering from a "psychotic episode."
There are people who watch true-crime documentaries because they want to understand what makes someone capable of committing an unspeakable crime.
Then there is Corie Walsh who takes it to the next step.
The Illinois mother, who prosecutors say became deeply invested in the Lindsay Clancy trial, is now accused of allegedly killing her own 2-year-old son after apparently deciding that the toddler was the "anti-Christ" and the "devil."
At this point, "I was just doing research" probably isn't going to make the strongest closing argument, so she may need to take a different tact.
Walsh, 38, has been charged with murder after her son was found hanging from the rafters of the family's basement. Prosecutors say Walsh allegedly told police she killed the child because she believed him to be the "anti-Christ" and the "devil." Turns out she was wrong.
Authorities have also said Walsh was "very invested" in the Lindsay Clancy trial, involving the Massachusetts mother who admitted killing her three children by strangling them before attempting to kill herself.
Apparently, Walsh didn't merely follow the case. According to prosecutors, she became sufficiently fascinated by it that investigators are now examining the connection between her obsession with the case and the horrific death of her own child.
Walsh's attorney, Andrea Lyon, says there is another explanation. Her client, Lyon argues, suffered a severe mental break and was experiencing a "psychotic episode" when the killing occurred.
Police were called to the family's home Tuesday after a teenage neighbor discovered the toddler in the basement and began performing CPR. The child was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead. The coroner determined that he had died from asphyxia.
"It is also a tragedy that Corie herself was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time this happened. It is our hope that through a thorough presentation and investigation of the facts, that all of us will come to see this heartbreak for what it is," Lyon said, per CBS News.
That last part will presumably be left to the jury, because "psychotic episode" is a defense lawyers' phrase, while "your mother allegedly killed you because she thought you were the devil" is the kind of sentence that makes everyone else in the room desperately wish reality had an edit button.
Walsh was later found in a bathtub with cuts to her wrists and thighs. She was transported to a hospital for treatment of injuries that were not considered life-threatening before being transferred to the Will County Adult Detention Facility.
She is scheduled to appear in court on September 8.
The Illinois Department of Child and Family Services said it had no prior contact with the Walsh family before the incident.
The case now presents an especially grim collision of mental illness, true-crime obsession and alleged murder, with a 2-year-old boy paying the ultimate price for a nightmare that no child should ever have been forced to enter.
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