An Illinois mom accused of hanging her 2-year-old son was diagnosed with a grief psychotic disorder after the alleged murder – but her lawyers insist she’s not a Lindsay Clancy copycat.

Corie Walsh, 40, appeared in court on Tuesday and was ordered detained – despite her defense team’s plea to send her to a psychiatric hospital for treatment, claiming she was in the throes of a “psychotic episode” at the time of the slaying.

Walsh’s case has generated headlines after prosecutors revealed she had been discussing the Clancy case with friends shortly before she allegedly killed her son Barrett.

Prosecutors say Corie Walsh’s 2-year-old son was found with a ligature around his neck in the basement.

Corie Walsh is seen with her family in an undated photo posted to Facebook.

But her lawyers on Tuesday tried to dismiss any connection to Clancy, whose high-profile triple-murder case stunningly ended in a mistrial on Friday.

“Describing Corie to a copied Lindsay is to take an easy bait,” attorney Robert Kerr said in court, NBC 5 Chicago reported.

Kerr said mentions of Walsh being a “Lindsay Clancy copycat” are “sickening.”

In the hours leading up to the hanging, Walsh discussed the Clancy trial with her friends in a group chat.

A courtroom sketch depicts a hearing for Corie Walsh in September 2026.

Walsh’s pals described her messages as “confusing and “out of character,” and said she bizarrely believed that Clancy’s husband killed their children.

“It was manslaughter, please I’m really freaking out,” Walsh wrote to friends during jury deliberations on Sept. 1.

Barrett was found dead a few hours later.

Kerr told the court that Walsh was “severely mentally ill” and she was diagnosed with “grief psychotic disorder” at the hospital following the alleged killing.

The disorder is defined as a condition where “bereavement may lead to heterogeneous psychological responses, including prolonged grief disorder (PGD), depression, and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs),” according to the National Library of Medicine.

“This is a tragedy for the Walsh family, all of whom are mourning the loss of this child,” another one of Walsh’s lawyers, Andrew Lyon, said in a statement after Tuesday’s hearing.

“It is also a tragedy in 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.”

The state argued that Walsh can receive treatment while detained.

Prosecutors claimed during the hearing that two children returned to the Walsh home while the incident was underway and ran to a neighbor’s house to get help, NBC 5 reported.

The neighbor pulled Barrett down from the rafter where he was hanging and began performing CPR, but was unable to revive the boy.

Walsh was found in the bathroom fully clothed in a bathtub of bloody water, with wounds to her wrists and thighs, prosecutors said, according to the outlet.

Walsh allegedly later said she wanted to poison her husband, prosecutors claim, NBC 5 reported.

The neighbor said that Walsh had dilated eyes and a “weird giggle,” and that she was unlike herself.

An eight-month-old infant was at the home at the time and he was left on the ground unsupervised while Walsh allegedly carried out the sick murder.

Walsh allegedly told police she hanged her son because “he was the devil” and the “anti-Christ.”

Source: https://nypost.com/2026/09/08/us-news/kids-returned-home-to-shocking-scene-as-lindsay-clancy-obsessed-mom-corie-walsh-allegedly-killed-son-2-prosecutors/