Lindsay Clancy’s admission about hurting her children month before killing them
Warning: This article contains discussion of child death and suicide, which some readers may find distressing.
Lindsay Clancy reportedly made a disturbing statement about hurting her children a month before their death.
The case examines the deaths of Clancy’s three young children in Duxbury, Massachusetts in January 2023. It has raised difficult questions about postpartum mental illness and criminal responsibility.
On 24 January, 2023, prosecutors allege that Clancy, then a 32-year-old labour and delivery nurse, killed her three children: Cora, five, Dawson, three, and Callan, eight months.
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According to investigators, she asked her husband, Patrick Clancy, to leave the house to pick up takeout and medication. While he was gone, prosecutors say she used exercise bands to strangle the children.
Patrick has testified about several times when his ex-wife was hospitalised, between November 2022 and January 2023. In December 2022, she was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital for suicidal thoughts.
That month, she also told her then-husband she had ‘intrusive thoughts’ about harming the children or something bad happening to them, however Patrick recalled she said she did not intend to hurt them, USA Today reports.
On New Year’s Eve 2022, the former couple decided she should be admitted to the McLean psychiatric hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.
A prosecutor said Lindsay asked doctors to discharge her on 5 January because she wanted to prepare for daughter Cora's upcoming birthday party. Patrick Clancy said he was unaware that she had requested to be discharged.
Clancy gave his first witness statement this week, backing up the Massachusetts mum's defence that she'd been battling severe postpartum psychosis before the January 2023 deaths.
Her team have raised an insanity defence, citing that Lindsay had been prescribed medical treatment for psychiatric issues that developed postpartum following the birth of her youngest son, and that she spent several days at a psychiatric institution in the weeks before the attack.
Lindsay also attempted to take her own life that day, which resulted in her becoming paralysed.
Prosecutors argue, however, that Lindsay, 35, had 'intentionally' killed her children.
They argue that Lindsay sending Patrick away from their Duxbury property to run errands on the day of the killings is proof that the attack was 'premeditated'.
Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney, Shanan Buckingham, claimed in court: "One by one, [Lindsay] grabbed exercise bands around each one of the kids’ necks and pulled until their little bodies were limp and lifeless."
Despite this, Patrick insisted Lindsay had been 'very depressed' before the alleged attack, and that in the immediate month prior, 'her big spiral started'.
"She started to lose a lot of weight, and she became very depressed, and she was having a really hard time," he said, per the BBC. "She started to say that she was suicidal."
Timeline of Lindsay Clancy case
May 2022
Lindsay gives birth to her third child, Callan.
She’s open about her postpartum struggles with her other two kids on social media. Six weeks after Callan’s birth, she posts that she’s feeling ‘dialed in’ while focusing on exercise, nutrition, and mindset, and ‘it has made all the difference’.
September 2022
As the end of her maternity leave nears, Lindsay, who works as a labour and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, starts to experience anxiety about returning to work.
She visits two different psychiatrists and receives a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder.
Lindsay is prescribed several different psychiatric medications.
October 2022
According to court docs, she writes in a note on her phone: “I think I sort of resent my other children because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby. And I know that’s not fair to them. I know that. I was feeling so depressed last evening when Cora and Dawson came home from school, I know it runs off on them, so we had a pretty rough evening, I want to feel love and connection with all my kids.”
December 2022
Lindsay undergoes an evaluation at the Women and Infants Hospital Center for Women’s Behavioral Health. She is not diagnosed with postpartum depression, prosecutors say.
Lindsay’s husband Patrick tells police she is having suicidal thoughts and thoughts of harming their children, according to his testimony in court.
1-5 January, 2023
Lindsay admits herself to McLean Hospital for psychiatric treatment. She is discharged after five days as clinicians do not believe she poses an imminent danger to herself or others, prosecutors say.
22 January, 2023
Lindsay, Patrick, Cora and Dawson have dinner at family friend Kyle Carney’s home. Kyle later tells police that Lindsay ‘seemed fairly normal’.
23 January, 2023
According to prosecutors, Lindsay pens a note on her phone which says she has ‘a touch of postpartum anxiety’ about going back to work.
24 January, 2023
Prosecutors allege the following took place this day:
Morning: Lindsay takes Cora to a scheduled pediatrician appointment. After returning home, they play in the snow with Dawson. She sends photos of the kids to Patrick and her mom.
4:02pm: Lindsay searches for ‘kids Miralax’ (a laxative) on her phone, and 11 minutes later looks up ‘take out 3v’, referring to restaurant ThreeV in Plymouth. She uses Apple Maps to calculate how long it would take to drive from the family’s home to ThreeV.
4:47pm: Lindsay rings a CVS in Kingston to ask if they have any Miralax in stock. A manager tells her they don’t, but they do have similar medications.
The manager later tells authorities that she did not slur her words or sound impaired during the call.
4:35pm: Lindsay texts Patrick, who is working from home: “Any chance you want to do takeout from 3V … I didn’t cook anything … It’s been a long day.”
Patrick says yes, and Lindsay asks him to ‘check the menu when you can’.
5:10pm: Lindsay calls ThreeV to place the order.
5:15pm: Lindsay allegedly texts Patrick: “Pedialax liquid stool softener.” He then leaves to pick up the medication.
5:33pm: When Patrick arrives at CVS, he rings Lindsay, but she doesn’t pick up. She rings back one minute later and confirms the medication.
5:54pm: Patrick gets to ThreeV, pays for the food and leaves.
6:09pm: Patrick returns home. “The first thing he noticed was the silence,” prosecutors say. “He did not see or hear the defendant or the children.”
Patrick calls for his wife but gets no response. He discovers their second-floor bedroom is locked. Patrick eventually manages to get in the room but sees blood on the floor and an open window. He runs outside and finds Lindsay lying on the ground, according to prosecutors.
6:11pm: Prosecutors say that Patrick rings 911 and Lindsay is saying: “I tried to kill myself and jumped out the window.”
He is then said to ask Lindsay: “Where are the kids?” She responds: “In the basement.”
While on the call, Patrick goes down to the basement and is heard ‘screaming in agony’,
Cora and Callan are discovered on the floor of the den. Dawson is found in his dad’s home office.
When officers arrive at the scene, Patrick alleges: “She killed the kids.”
Lindsay is taken to hospital, where she is treated for injuries that leave her paralysed below the waist. The three children are also rushed to hospital.
7:28pm: Cora and Dawson are pronounced dead. Callan is medically flown to another children’s hospital.
25 January, 2023
Police issue Lindsay an arrest warrant, charging her with two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation or suffocation, and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
27 January, 2023
Callan is pronounced dead at 11.18am.
According to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, Lindsay later wakes up and uses a whiteboard to ask: “Do I need an attorney?”
6 February, 2023
While in the presence of a psychologist hired by her lawyer, Lindsay calls Patrick and tells him she had a ‘moment of psychosis’ and heard ‘a man’s voice telling her to kill the kids and kill herself’ after he left on January 24.
7 February, 2023
On the day of her arraignment, Lindsay’s attorney says that she’s still suicidal. She pleads not guilty to three counts of murder.
October 2024
Patrick asks the public to forgive Lindsay, telling The New Yorker: “I wasn’t married to a monster - I was married to someone who got sick.”
January 2026
Lindsay and Patrick file a civil lawsuit, accusing medical providers of not properly diagnosing, treating and monitoring her for a ‘severe postpartum psychiatric condition’.
9 July, 2026
The Plymouth County District Attorney's Office says the three counts of strangulation would be subsumed into the murder charges.
27 July, 2026
Lindsay’s murder trial begins.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line at 116 123, or contact Harmless by visiting their website at https://harmless.org.uk.
If you're experiencing distressing thoughts and feelings, the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is there to support you. They're open from 5 pm–midnight, 365 days a year. Their national number is 0800 58 58 58, and they also have a webchat service if you're not comfortable talking on the phone.
Greg Harris