Frankfort mother Corie Walsh ordered held in custody after 2-year-old son found hanged in basement

A Frankfort, Illinois, mother accused of killing her 2-year-old son last week was ordered detained in custody at her first court appearance Tuesday morning.

Corie Walsh, 40, appeared in Will County Court in Joliet. She is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the death of her son Barrett.

Walsh was present in court, wearing a red jumpsuit with a bandage wrapped around her wrist.

Her attorney said she was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of the toddler's death and should be released from custody to receive mental health treatment. But prosecutors successfully argued that she poses a real and present threat to her family, and that she should remain detained. 

Walsh is being represented by Andrea Lyon, who defended Casey Anthony against murder charges in the death of her daughter Caylee in 2011. 

"This is a tragedy," Lyon said after court. "There are no winners."

Frankfort police were called to the Walshes' home in the 22700 block of Brook Stone Court last week after a 17-year-old neighbor called 911 for help. Upon arriving, they found Barrett being given CPR by the teenager. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to court documents, the neighbor found the boy "hanging in the basement on a device from a rafter," and it was determined he "died from asphyxia."

The court documents also said, "one other child, an infant, was present in the home at the time and unharmed." Walsh, the documents say, was found clothed in an upstairs bathtub in a pool of blood with "cuts to her wrists and thighs."

Walsh appeared to be actively cutting herself when the teen found her, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the teenage neighbor took a knife away from Walsh before police arrived.

Two other kids came home from school around the time police arrived. Their father was out of state at the time.

According to the prosecutors, Walsh told officers "she did this to her baby because he was a 'devil' and the 'anti-Christ'" and even gave details of how she killed her son.

Prosecutors said Walsh also made statements that she was going to poison her husband and had bottles set aside for the purpose.

Court documents show Walsh was actively texting in a group about the Lindsay Clancy case hours before the alleged murder, but prosecutors said in court that they didn't think it was a copycat case.

Clancy is the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children. Her defense argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. The Clancy trial ended in a mistrial after jurors remained deadlocked on a verdict.

Walsh's defense team argued she was in a state of psychosis when the alleged incident happened, and she has not been diagnosed with postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis. Her attorneys said Walsh was in and out of consciousness with first responders, yelling out the names of different kinds of fruit and not making sense. They argued Walsh is severely mentally ill, was experiencing hallucinations and had a psychotic disorder.

Walsh's psychiatrist also said she was a good mother, and she attended to her own kids' special needs, defense attorney Robert Kerr said after court.

Kerr said Walsh was a risk to her other children only if she did not get medical treatment, and asked for pretrial release. He said Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox cared for her for three to four days, and she could be treated in a locked psychiatric ward.

But prosecutors reiterated their contention that Walsh was a real and present threat. They said they did not have her medical information, but a period of psychosis during which she might kill a child and potentially harm others is dangerous, and she could refuse treatment and be released from a psych ward.

A judge agreed and ordered Walsh held in custody.

"We're disappointed with the ruling, but we're going to continue to work really hard, to investigate this case and present the defense's correct [sic] that she was psychotic and this is not a first-degree murder," Lyon said.

The judge also wants Walsh to get medicine as soon as possible, after her attorneys claimed Walsh was not given psychiatric medication for days after her son was killed.

Walsh's husband and mother were not in court Tuesday because they were at her son's funeral. Her uncle and a friend were in attendance to support her in person.

CBS News Chicago Legal Analyst Irv Miller said the text messages about the Clancy trial could become a key piece of evidence for prosecutors.

"That will be exhibit A by the prosecutors," Miller said last week. "It will be the first thing said in opening statements, the first piece of evidence they introduce, and the first and last thing they say in closing arguments. That's how important that is."