Prosecutor Details MA Mom's Actions Before Deaths Of 3 Children

DUXBURY, MA — Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother accused of strangling her three children to death on the same night she attempted to take her own life in late January, was mentally competent and planned the killings of her children, a prosecutor argued as Clancy appeared in court via Zoom from her hospital bed Tuesday.

Lindsay Clancy, 32, was masked and lying in a hospital bed during the appearance, during which a not-guilty plea was entered on her behalf on charges of murder, assault and battery, and strangulation.

The Day Of The Killings

Jennifer Sprague, the Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney, said during the arraignment that on the morning of Jan. 24—the day which would end with the deaths of Cora Clancy, 5, and Dawson Clancy, 3, and the injury of their 8-month-old sibling Callan that would eventually prove fatal—Lindsay Clancy took Cora to the pediatrician for an appointment before returning home to build a snowman with Cora and Dawson.

She asked her husband, Patrick Clancy, to pick up takeout and a children's medication, according to Sprague. The restaurant she sent him to was farther from where they would normally get take out, Sprague claimed.

"She did not take advantage of the situation when her husband left the home that night," Sprague said. "She created the situation."

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When Patrick Clancy returned home, he found blood on the floor of the children's bedroom and the window open before finding Lindsay Clancy lying on the ground in the backyard with signs of self-harm, Sprague said.

While Patrick Clancy was on the phone with 911, Lindsay Clancy told him that she tried to kill herself, according to Sprague. Asking where the children were, Lindsay Clancy replied, "in the basement."

"Immediately after this happened, she knew what she had done, and she knew where the kids were," Sprague said. When EMS arrived, Patrick Clancy went inside to go find his children and was "screaming in agony and shock" upon finding them while doing everything he could to save them, Sprague said.

The two older children were pronounced dead at a local hospital, and their sibling was flown to a hospital in Boston for treatment and later died. Lindsay Clancy was taken to a hospital with several broken bones in her back and ribcage, according to Sprague.

"A Touch Of Postpartum Anxiety"

As part of a search warrant, investigators seized months of "meticulous" journal entries on Lindsay Clancy's phone, in which they said she "never indicated she was hallucinating, delusional, or had disordered thoughts or speech," according to Sprague.

In a journal entry from October, Lindsay Clancy wrote about resenting her two older children, according to Sprague. In January, she committed herself to a hospital for a few days and was prescribed medications for her mental health, but her husband told Sprague that she was never on more than four or five at a time.

That same month, Lindsay Clancy wrote in her journal that she had suicidal thoughts and ideations, and at one point told her husband she had thoughts of harming her children, according to Sprague. Sprague said the day before the children's killings, Lindsay Clancy wrote a note that she had "a touch of postpartum anxiety" around returning to work.

Lindsay Clancy's defense attorney, Keving Reddington, said in court that she had not experienced any postpartum mental health issues following the births of Cora and Dawson, but did after giving birth to Callan in October.

"Do I Need An Attorney?"

"On January 27, using an erasable whiteboard because she was still temporarily intubated, one of the first questions that Lindsay Clancy asked was, 'do I need an attorney?'" Sprague said."She knew that she had murdered her children, and she had the clarity, focus, and mental acumen to focus on protecting her own rights and interests."

Sprague alleged that on Monday, Lindsay Clancy called her husband from her hospital bed and admitted to the killings because she heard a man's voice telling her to do so and had "a moment of psychosis," though her husband told prosecutors it was the first time his wife mentioned hearing voices or used the word psychosis.

"She could have changed her mind at any point," while strangling her children, Sprague said.

Reddington argued Lindsay 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. Reddington also said she had been prescribed a variety of medications in the months before the killings.

She was ordered by a judge to remain hospitalized until medically cleared to move to a rehabilitation facility and will have a probable cause hearing May 2.

If you are having suicidal thoughts, dial 988 for the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.