Devastated dad was on the phone with 911 when he found his three children killed by postpartum mom using common household item, prosecutors say
Devastating court documents detail the moment a father found his three young children strangled to death at the family’s Massachusetts home.
Patrick Clancy returned to his Duxbury home the night of January 24, 2023 to find his wife, Lindsay, injured on the ground outside after she apparently jumped from a second-story window.
He was then already on the phone with a police dispatcher when he discovered Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight–month–old Callan dead with exercise bands around each of their necks.
When police then raced to the scene, Patrick cried out, ‘She killed the kids!’ prosecutors claimed in court papers obtained by Court TV.
Lindsay, 35, who was left paralyzed from her jump that night, is now facing two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
She has pleaded not guilty, arguing she had been suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time.
But prosecutors now say Patrick’s 911 call is crucial to proving Lindsay acted with ‘extreme atrocity and cruelty’ when she killed her children that night.
Patrick Clancy was already on the phone with a 911 dispatcher when he found his three children strangled to death in the basement of his Duxbury, Massachusetts home
Lindsay Clancy, 35, is facing two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon
In the call, Patrick explains that he found the exercise bands still wrapped around the children’s necks but that they were easy to take off.
‘The spontaneous and excited nature of the 911 call, made prior to any reflective thought, further established that the bands were wrapped around each child’s neck in a fashion that negates any theory that they were tied or knotted,’ prosecutors argued.
‘He further states he believed the bands were looped like you would tie a shoelace, but came off quickly.’
By the time first responders then arrived on the scene, ‘each band [was] lying next to each child,’ the filing alleges, according to the New York Post.
‘The brief time between finding each child and the fact that Mr Clancy was able to remove each band so quickly’ negates the theory Lindsay may have tied the bands in a knot and walked away.
Instead, prosecutors say, the evidence suggests she ‘manually pulled the bands around each child’s neck until they died,’ showing ‘the deliberateness of her acts and the extreme atrocity and cruelty of her acts.’
Lindsay’s defense, though, has said it does not plan to dispute that she carried out the horrific slayings, but will rather argue she was overmedicated and suffering from severe postpartum psychosis.
She is now planning to ask a jury to find her not guilty by reason of insanity when her trial begins on July 20.
Clancy’s three children and alleged victims, Cora, five (left), Dawson, three (right), and eight–month–old Callan (center), are pictured
Lindsay’s lawyers claim she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time
The claim may be bolstered by a lawsuit Patrick filed in January accusing his wife’s doctors of ‘misprescribing’ a cocktail of ‘powerful medications’ that worsened her mental health.
The lawsuit was filed against Dr Jennifer Tufts, nurse Rebecca Jollotta, Aster Mental Health Inc, and South Shore Health System.
It details how from September 2022 to January 2023, Lindsay suffered from depression and was prescribed multiple psychiatric drugs including antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and benzodiazepines, per the suit.
But the overmedication and the doctor’s poor monitoring of Lindsay’s symptoms allegedly led to her children’s deaths, according to the suit.
‘If [the doctors] had not acted negligently, and rather had provided adequate care, it is more likely than not that Patrick and Lindsay’s children would still be alive today,’ it stated.
Lindsay’s lawyers also claim the medications caused paranoia, suicidal thoughts, and fear of being alone, with no lab work conducted after they were prescribed.
Her lawyers have claimed the medications caused paranoia, suicidal thoughts, and fear of being alone, with no lab work conducted after they were prescribed
Patrick has filed a civil lawsuit against his wife’s doctor for overprescribing her medication
But prosecutors alleged that Lindsay had deliberately sent her husband out to run errands on the night of the murders so that she would have time to commit them.
They also argued that she was not suffering from postpartum depression, and they have alleged that she used her cellphone to research ways to kill in the days before her children died.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org.
