Lindsay Clancy Pleads Not Guilty In Killings Of Her 3 Children

DUXBURY, MA — Lindsay Clancy — the 33-year-old Duxbury mother accused of strangling her two children to death in January and causing injuries to her third child that would later prove fatal — pleaded not guilty in court Thursday to all murder and strangulation charges, the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

She remained held without bail at Tewksbury State Hospital, where she has been treated for months for mental health issues.

Court documents unsealed this week allege that Clancy searched the internet for ways to kill prior to her children's deaths.

According to one search warrant affidavit, "Investigators are aware that Ms. Clancy used her cellular telephone and her journal to document her mental state and her feelings about her children, in addition to keeping track of her medications, and researching ways to kill."

The more than 200 pages of documents, made up of multiple search warrant affidavits, do not detail the specific ways in which Clancy allegedly researched ways to kill. However, the documents do outline the items from the Clancy home which were seized as part of the investigation, including multiple laptops, tablets, cell phones, notebooks, and journals.

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In February, Clancy appeared from her hospital bed at Brigham and Women's Hospital for her arraignment, during which a not-guilty plea was entered on her behalf on charges of murder, assault and battery, and strangulation in the deaths of her children: 5-year-old Cora Clancy, 3-year-old Dawson Clancy and 8-month-old Callan Clancy. On the night of the killings, Clancy also attempted to take her own life, according to authorities and her lawyer.

During Clancy's arraignment, Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague outlined the events of the day leading up to the killings on the evening Jan. 24, when Sprague claims Clancy "created the situation" that enabled her to cause the deaths of her children by sending her husband out to get takeout dinner and run another errand.

However, Clancy's lawyer Kevin Reddington argued that Clancy was mentally ill and the killings "were not planned by any means," reiterating her past suicidal thoughts and emphasizing her recent stay in a mental health facility.

The Boston Globe reported that around the time of the killings, Clancy was experiencing postpartum anxiety – which the Cleveland Clinic defines as excessive worrying that occurs after childbirth or adoption – claims that were later reiterated in court.

Clancy has claimed that a man’s voice told her to kill her three children in a moment of psychosis, according to allegations previously made in court by Sprague.

It’s unknown what specific conditions Clancy suffered from as her defense team has only said she has struggled with her mental health. Reddington told the court in February that she had been prescribed a variety of medications in the months before the killings, including Prozac, Benadryl and other mood stabilizers.

"I question whether she would ever make it to a trial," Reddington said, according to WCVB."She's suicidal. She's extremely emotional. However, she's unable and has been unable to express any happiness or sadness or cry."

In a statement shared on a GoFundMe campaign, Clancy's husband Pat wrote that Lindsay had been portrayed "largely by people who have never met her and never knew who the real Lindsay was,"adding that his marriage was "wonderful and diametrically grew stronger as her condition rapidly worsened."

"I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have," he wrote.

Clancy was indicted by a grand jury in September before her case was moved to Plymouth Superior Court.