Lindsay Clancy Trial Updates: Key Evidence in the Massachusetts Mom’s Case

There is no dispute over who killed Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy inside their Duxbury, Mass., home on January 24, 2023.

Lindsay Clancy’s attorneys acknowledge that she strangled 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan before trying to take her own life. What jurors must decide is whether she was criminally responsible at the time, as Clancy pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder.

Under Massachusetts law, a person is not criminally responsible if a mental disease or defect left them substantially unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of their conduct or follow the law. Prosecutors say Clancy deliberately created an opportunity to kill the children, while her defense says months of psychiatric symptoms, medication changes and failed attempts to get help culminated in postpartum psychosis.

Here are the key pieces of evidence jurors have heard so far.

Patrick Clancy, Lindsay’s former husband, described her as a devoted mother whose mental health deteriorated after Callan’s birth. He testified that she discussed suicidal thoughts and intrusive thoughts about harming the children. She sought treatment, entered McLean Hospital and was then discharged 19 days before the killings.

But Patrick also said Lindsay appeared normal on January 24. She took Cora to a doctor’s appointment, played with the children and sent him photos throughout the day. He described it as one of her best days.

The jury later heard Patrick’s seven-minute 911 call, including his screams after finding the children in the basement.

Prosecutors are using Patrick’s account to show Lindsay could conceal her intentions and, on the flipside, the defense points to his testimony about her decline as evidence that the killings followed a prolonged psychiatric crisis, not ordinary anger or resentment.

At 4:53 p.m., Lindsay texted Patrick about ordering dinner from ThreeV restaurant. As he prepared to leave, she asked him to stop at CVS for a children’s constipation medication. He left at about 5:15 p.m. and returned less than an hour later.

Prosecutors argue that the timeline reveals planning: Lindsay selected a restaurant farther from the house and added the CVS stop, creating a window in which she was alone with all three children.

The defense argues that routine errands do not establish a calculated plot—its experts have testified that someone experiencing psychosis can still complete ordinary tasks before or between periods of delusional thinking.

Investigators extracted calls, texts, internet searches and health information from Lindsay’s iPhone and Apple Watch. Her searches in the weeks before the killings included questions about psychiatric medications, hallucinations, psychosis and treatments for suicidal ideation. On January 24, she searched for children’s MiraLAX, CVS and the restaurant.

The digital evidence also showed her phone was last unlocked at 5:13 p.m. and recorded her movement around the house that evening.

For prosecutors, the records help establish a deliberate sequence of actions and show Lindsay was capable of researching, communicating and navigating normally. For the defense, searches about psychosis and suicide corroborate that she knew something was seriously wrong and was looking for help.

Months before the deaths, Lindsay documented insomnia, guilt and the strain of caring for three young children. “I feel like I’m drowning every day,” she wrote in one of several diary entries read to jurors.

She also told Patrick and family members about thoughts of suicide and harming the children. In messages to providers, she described feeling numb, experiencing racing thoughts and struggling after repeated medication changes.

Prosecutors say these statements show she understood her thoughts were dangerous and knew harming her children would be wrong. The defense says they trace an escalating illness that she repeatedly disclosed to relatives, therapists, hotlines and emergency departments.

First responders found the children in the basement with exercise bands around their necks. Investigators also recovered a blood-covered knife from the bedroom, where Lindsay cut her neck and wrists before jumping from a second-story window.

Medical examiners testified that the children died from strangulation. Callan initially had a pulse but suffered catastrophic oxygen deprivation and died after life support was withdrawn. Jurors visited the home to view the basement, bedroom and window.

Prosecutors contend the three separate strangulations required sustained, intentional acts. They have also suggested Lindsay’s cuts were superficial. The defense points to her jump, spinal injury and resulting paralysis as evidence of a genuine, nearly fatal suicide attempt rather than a staged one. No usable fingerprints were recovered from the knife or exercise bands, although the defense does not dispute that Lindsay used them.

Jurors heard from numerous clinicians who treated Lindsay during the months before the killings. She had received several diagnoses and tried multiple psychiatric medications. Toxicology testing found prescribed drugs including mirtazapine, lamotrigine, trazodone and quetiapine in her blood.

Some providers testified that Lindsay appeared depressed and anxious but didn’t necessarily exhibit psychosis. During an appointment the day before the killings, she denied plans to harm herself or anyone else.

The defense highlighted gaps in her psychiatric care, including providers who did not obtain records from one another. One nurse practitioner said Lindsay reported going 48 hours without sleep and feeling increasingly numb, depressed and suicidal. The defense argues antidepressants worsened an undiagnosed bipolar disorder. But prosecutors say the records show organized thinking and repeated denials of psychotic symptoms.

In the hospital, Lindsay reportedly said she heard a male voice ordering her to kill the children and then herself. A chaplain testified that Lindsay later said she was glad the children were “safe.”

Defense psychologist Paul Zeizel and psychiatrist Dr. Phillip Resnick concluded that she was psychotic and not criminally responsible. Resnick described the killings as “altruistic,” meaning Lindsay delusionally believed death would protect the children. He said she experienced a command hallucination and felt as if an outside force had taken control of her body.

Prosecution psychiatrist Dr. Avram Mack disagreed. He diagnosed major depression but said Lindsay retained control and understood that killing was wrong. He cited her normal phone conversations and her recollection that she told each child to “go to God.”

As testimony continued on August 24, the defense challenged Mack’s experience and conclusions. Later that day, Clancy’s attorney requested a mistrial after prosecution witness Dr. Kirk Heilbrun referred to Clancy’s Catholic faith and questioned whether suicide was a “mortal sin.” The judge denied the request but instructed jurors that the religious remarks were irrelevant and should be disregarded. The testimony brought the trial back to the question underlying nearly every piece of evidence, which is whether Lindsay’s ability to plan and function the day of the killings disproves psychosis, or whether both could have existed at once.