The story

Corie Walsh, 40, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder after her 2-year-old son Barrett was found hanging lifeless from a rafter in the basement of their Frankfort, Illinois home on September 1. The boy was discovered by his two school-aged children when they returned home from school. A neighbor who responded to the children's call for help performed CPR, but Barrett had no pulse and was cold to the touch. He was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy later confirmed Barrett died of asphyxia due to ligature compression of the neck.

Walsh was found fully clothed in a bathtub filled with bloodied water after allegedly attempting to harm herself by slashing her wrists and thighs with a knife. She allegedly told police she killed her son because she believed he was the devil and the antichrist, and that she had planned to poison her husband with a drink. During police questioning, Walsh sang her own rendition of Follow the Yellow Brick Road from the Wizard of Oz. Her defense attorney Robert Kerr said she told police she went to McDonald's for a breakfast sandwich in the afternoon, even though the restaurant stops serving breakfast at 11am. In the ambulance, Walsh was reportedly in and out of consciousness and began yelling out names of fruits.

Prosecutors said Walsh had become very invested in the Lindsay Clancy case, in which a Massachusetts mother is accused of killing her three children. Walsh allegedly sent friends confusing text messages about the Clancy murder trial just three and a half hours before her son's body was found, saying she believed Lindsay Clancy's husband killed the children. Walsh's attorney Andrea Lyon said her client was psychotic and rejected any connection between her interest in the Clancy case and the alleged killing. Walsh is scheduled to appear in court on September 24.