A woman accused of killing her three children before throwing herself out of a window has appeared in-person in court for the first time.
A mum has appeared in-person in court for the first time accused of killing her three children before throwing herself out of a window. Lindsay Clancy, 35, asked husband Patrick if he could go to a nearby chemist and pick up some medication for one of their children on his way for a takeaway – but in the time he was out of the house, his three children – Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8-months-old – all died.
Lindsay has been accused of strangling her three children with fitness bands in the basement of their home, and she has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. After the alleged crime, she jumped out of her bedroom window, and became paralysed below the neck. She has previously appeared at court hearings via-video link from hospital, where her parents have been visiting her, but last week she made her first in-person appearance in a wheelchair.
Her legal representative has asked for the trial to be split into two parts, the first which will examine her alleged role in the deaths of her children, and the second which would take place if she is found guilty of their murder. This next trial would interrogate and decide if she was suffering from post-natal psychosis at the time, reports the Mirror.
Her mother, Paula, who has been visiting Lindsay at the Tewksbury State Hospital where she has been receiving treatment, told news outlets about her daughter: “She’s a lovely mother, she always has been”.
Lindsay’s father has also been going to see his daughter on a daily basis at the hospital in Massachusetts. Her husband Patrick has launched a civil wrongful death suit against Lindsay’s former nurse practitioner and psychiatrist, accusing them of overprescribing her medications “to the point where she heard voices,” The Sun reports.
Lindsay had reportedly been given antidepressants and mood stabilisers, and was on 12 different medications at the time of her children’s deaths. Just weeks before she had left a residential facility where she had spent five days being treated for mental health issues and had been given two new prescriptions.
It’s claimed that Patrick was not informed that Lindsay was so unwell she should not be left alone. Her legal team also alleges that some of the medications cause severe side effects, including “homicidal and suicidal ideation.”
In December 2022, she was evaluated by medical professionals for post-natal depression and was told she did not have the symptoms that indicated she had developed it, but later that month she admitted she was having suicidal thoughts and thinking about hurting her children, which her husband Patrick reported to the police.
On January 1 2023, she admitted herself to McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Belmont, where she spent five days. Upon leaving there was no record of an indication that she was a danger to other people or herself.
Just three weeks later, Patrick told a friend who had come round for dinner that Lindsay was struggling intensely. The following day, January 23, she wrote a note to herself admitting she has “a touch of postpartum anxiety.”
The next day would be the last of her three children’s lives. It began filled with the usual appointments and outings that a young mother might regularly undertake: Lindsay took her eldest child to the doctor, and then played in the snow with her kids in the afternoon. She called a pharmacy enquiring about a laxative for one of the children, and asked her husband to pick it up while he went to grab them a takeaway from a local restaurant.
Just after 5.30pm he spoke with Lindsay on the phone and she confirmed which would the right medication to get for their child. Half an hour later he came back to the property they lived at in Duxbury, Massachusetts, to find “silence”.
The door to the couple’s bedroom was locked and he claimed that when he got inside the room the window was open and there was blood on the floor. Lindsay lay severely injured on the ground outside.
He called the emergency services and asked his wife where the children were: he found their bodies in the basement. He tried to revive his children but was unsuccessful, telling police who arrived “she killed the kids”.
Lindsay has alleged that she heard voices in her head that day and claimed that a man told her to kill her children. She has been on suicide watch in hospital after her arrest and her full trial is due to take place in July at Plymouth Superior Court, US, where it will be decided if she had mental capacity and legal responsibility.
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email **jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
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