Two mothers in two states killed five children between them, and the institutional press can't stop telling you to feel sorry for the killers — because "postpartum psychosis," not moral agency, is now the preferred explanation for strangling and hanging toddlers.
The cases are converging in real time. In Massachusetts, Lindsay Clancy heads back to court Tuesday after her triple-murder trial ended in a mistrial September 4. In Illinois, Corie Walsh just pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder for hanging her 2-year-old son Barrett from basement rafters on September 1. In both cases, defense teams and compliant reporters want you to believe these were victims of maternal mental illness — not women who made the choice to kill.
Clancy admitted she strangled Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in January 2023. Her defense: postpartum psychosis. A jury deadlocked after one holdout refused to join the other eleven in a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdict, according to CNN. Juror Nick Dargie told ABC News that nine times out of ten, another jury would reach the same conclusion. Plymouth County DA Tim Cruz called the first-degree murder charges "warranted and appropriate" and said the case "has always been about getting justice for those three little babies."
In Frankfort, Illinois, 40-year-old Corie Walsh had reportedly become "very invested" in Clancy's trial before killing her own child, prosecutors allege. Her defense attorney Robert Kerr told the court she was in a "psychotic episode" — and offered as evidence that hours before the killing, she'd been texting family about an upcoming Disney World trip for little Barrett, whose first words were "Bluey" and "Mickey Mouse." The New York Post framed this as evidence she was a "quintessential suburban mom" who snapped. Her family still stands by her; her husband wiped away tears in court.
Here is what neither outlet mentions: the pharmaceutical connection. Postpartum depression and psychosis are routinely treated with SSRIs and other psychotropic drugs that carry FDA-documented side effects including akathisia, suicidal ideation, and — in rare but recorded cases — homicidal ideation. Whether Clancy or Walsh were on these medications is a question the press doesn't ask, because asking would implicate the pharmaceutical industry that spends billions advertising on their networks and platforms.
The CNN report casts Clancy's supporters as advocates for "a healthcare system that often overlooks maternal mental health." The Post paints Walsh as a loving mother who simply broke. Neither asks whether the healthcare system's preferred treatments — the pills — might have contributed to the break.
One mother strangled three children. Another hanged a toddler from the ceiling. The press calls it tragedy. The pharmaceutical industry calls it a market. And five children are dead.
