More than three years after Lindsay Clancy, 35, strangled her three young children in January 2023, her ex-husband Patrick Clancy testified about the day of the killings during a trial in Massachusetts. The incident occurred while Patrick was on an errand away from their home in the Boston suburb of Duxbury.

Patrick Clancy described returning home to the aftermath and the jury heard his frantic 911 call. He recounted how Lindsay had told him months earlier that she was having thoughts of suicide and harming their children. She had been prescribed medications and stayed at a psychiatric hospital earlier that month. However, Patrick said she showed no signs of planning harm after her discharge and appeared to have a “normal” demeanor when he left to get takeout and pick up medication for one of their children.

On the day of the killings, Lindsay Clancy said she heard voices telling her, “This is your last chance.” Despite this, Patrick testified that she seemed to be doing better as recently as two weeks before the killings on 24 January 2023.

Lindsay Clancy’s attorneys argue that she was driven by postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness affecting about one to two per 1,000 women after delivery, distinct from postpartum depression. They contend that the jury cannot find she intentionally murdered her children due to this condition.

Patrick Clancy has since divorced Lindsay Clancy and left the court after his testimony.

Sources