The Massachusetts mother who allegedly strangled her children before attempting to kill herself was arraigned in court on Tuesday.
Lindsay Clancy appeared before a judge in Plymouth District Court on Zoom from her bed in a local hospital. She wore a blue surgical mask for the entire proceeding, and only spoke to say ‘yes, your honor’ while setting up the video conference.
Prosecutors allege that Clancy, 32, planned the murder of her children and asked her husband to run errands while she committed the crime. They asked the judge to deny her bail and keep her detained until trial.
Clancy was charged with first-degree homicide, strangulation, and assault and battery with a deadly weapon – an exercise band.
According to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, Clancy asked staff at the hospital ‘do I need an attorney?’ with an erasable whiteboard while she was still intubated and couldn’t speak.
‘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 said.
During the hearing, the assistant district attorney revealed some details about the horrifying night her husband, Patrick Clancy, arrived home to find the gruesome triple murder scene.
Patrick had worked from his home office that day, and stepped out for a short trip to pick up a takeout order for the whole family and medicine for one of the children.
‘When he arrived home, the first thing he noticed was the silence,’ Sprague said. ‘He did not see or hear the defendant or the children.’
She continued: ‘when he looked inside, he saw blood on the floor in front of a full-length mirror and the window open. He immediately runs down stairs and into the back yard, where he finds the defendant on the ground.’
Clancy had cuts on her wrists and neck, but her husband told 911 that she was no longer bleeding.
According to prosecutors, Patrick can be heard speaking to his wife on the 911 call he then placed. ‘What did you do,’ he asks.
She responded: ‘I tried to kill myself and jumped out the window.’
He then asks her ‘where are the kids?’ She told him they were in the basement.
When the EMTs arrived at the scene, Patrick asked them to stay with his wife while he checked on the children.
‘He can then be heard screaming in agony and shock as he found his children, Sprague said. ‘His screams seem to get louder and more agonized as time passes.’
Patrick found Cora, 5 and Callan, 8 months, lying face-down in the finished basement’s den area. Dawson, 3, was lying alone in the home office.
Each child appeared to be strangled with an exercise band.
‘He removed the bands and begged them to breathe,’ Sprage said. ‘He continued to scream uncontrollably and screamed for officers to come to the basement.’
When police officers finally found Patrick in the basement, they said he yelled out: ‘she killed the kids!’
Cora and Dawson were declared dead when they arrived at the hospital. Callan was flown by helicopter to Boston Children’s Hospital, where they were able to restart his pulse but not his brain activity.
‘She strangled each child in the place where they should have felt the safest – in their home, with their mom,’ Sprague said.
Clancy was transported to Boston South Shore Hospital, where she was treated for several broken bones in her back and rib cage.
After a obtaining a search warrant, police combed through Clancy’s journals and notes kept on her phone.
According to prosecutors, Clancy had never written down any indication of suicidal ideation or harming her children, but she did confide in her husband and her psychiatrists. She voluntarily committed her self to McLean Hospital on January 1, 2023. She was discharged four days later.
Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, called the prosecution’s request to keep her detained ‘inhumane,’ as she was suffering from a ‘dire medical condition.’
He claimed that Clancy was still suffering from post-partum depression and psychosis, for which she was over-medicated with 13 different prescriptions since the birth of her youngest child.
‘Our society fails miserably at treating women with post-partum depression or even post-partum psychosis,’ Reddington said. ‘It’s medicate, medicate, medicate.’
In addition to her mental health problems, Reddington said she was paralyzed from the waist down due to her spinal injuries.
Last week, Patrick Clancy announced that he forgave his wife, and said he would be supporting her through her medical and legal problems. He also started a GoFundMe fundraiser, which as since gathered over $1,000,000 in donations.
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