Crime
The Duxbury mother’s mental health will be in the spotlight as she stands trial for killing her three children in 2023.
July 27, 2026 | 8:54 AM
1 minute to read
Livestream via CBS Boston.
Opening statements begin Monday in Lindsay Clancy’s murder case, putting a spotlight on the Duxbury mother’s mental health as she stands trial for killing her three children.
Clancy, 35, has admitted to strangling 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan Clancy on Jan. 24, 2023, with her lawyer telling the court last week that “the circumstances of this horrific act are not in dispute.”
But as Clancy mounts a so-called insanity defense, the onus is on prosecutors to prove she was in her right mind at the time of the killings. Prosecutors have painted Clancy as a cold and calculating killer who wrote in her journal about “resenting” her two oldest children and wanting to “feel love and connection with all of my kids.” They allege she sent her then-husband out on errands and proceeded to “execute” their children “one by one” in the family’s basement.
By contrast, defense attorney Kevin Reddington has woven a tale of a young mother so wracked by postpartum mental illness, she can’t be held criminally responsible. Clancy’s lawyers say she desperately sought help from mental health care providers following the birth of her third child and was prescribed a revolving door of psychiatric medications that ultimately triggered a psychotic break.
The night of Jan. 24, Clancy says she heard a voice in her head telling her to kill the children and herself. She allegedly strangled the children with exercise bands before attempting suicide, leaving her paralyzed from the chest down.
Following opening statements, jurors are expected to hear from Clancy’s former husband, Patrick Clancy, who has since divorced and remarried. Judge William Sullivan on Friday barred media outlets from recording or livestreaming the anguished 911 call Patrick Clancy made upon returning home on Jan. 24, 2023, to find his wife badly injured and their children unresponsive.
Lindsay Clancy, on day three of jury selection in her murder trial. – Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger, Pool
Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.
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