Psychiatric nurse's response to Lindsay Clancy’s alarming note months before she killed her children
A psychiatric nurse who treated Lindsay Clancy in the weeks before she killed her three children has told jurors how she responded to one of the Massachusetts mother's most alarming messages.
Clancy is currently on trial over the January 2023 deaths of her children: five-year-old daughter Cora, three-year-old son Dawson, and eight-month-old son Callan.
Her lawyers do not dispute that she killed the children, but argue the crime stemmed from her suffering from severe mental illness and postpartum psychosis at the time. Nevertheless, prosecutors maintain that she acted intentionally and should be held criminally responsible.
Reported by ABC News, during her treatment, Clancy wrote: "I also just feel concerningly numb right now, like I have no emotion whatsoever. I feel like I'm going to die, and I don't care. What do I do about this?"
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This wasn’t the only concerning note, though. Another, stating her concern about taking benzodiazepines, mentioned by CNN, says: “It’s just a very scary, stressful time for me, and starting new meds with side effects is very scary to me.”
Following testimony from friends who spoke about texts Clancy sent, psychiatric nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta told jurors that she tried to reassure Clancy that the symptoms could improve.
Recalling her response in court, Jollotta testified: "I said, 'Even though they feel terrible, remember that there are symptoms of an illness that is very real and very treatable. This is going to get better.'"
Jollotta, who worked with South Shore Health's perinatal behavioural health programme, began treating Clancy in November 2022 as she struggled with anxiety, sleep deprivation, and depressive symptoms.
The court heard that the pair regularly exchanged messages through a patient portal, with Clancy repeatedly raising concerns about medication and requesting changes to her treatment.
In another December message, reported by NY1, Clancy wrote: "I really don’t like the way I feel on the Remeron, and I know that I can’t stick with taking it."
She added: "I started having very intrusive thoughts that I never had before."
Jollotta said she believed intrusive thoughts could be associated with postpartum anxiety and encouraged Clancy to give the medication more time to work.
She told the court: "This could be some postpartum anxiety. And I wanted to familiarize her with the symptoms, so that she had them written down and she could report them to me"
Jurors also heard that Clancy raised concerns about becoming addicted to medications including Ativan, although Jollotta said she was not addicted.
By mid-December, the situation had escalated further. Jollotta testified that Clancy had experienced her ‘worst day’ and was ‘having persistent, intrusive thoughts of suicide’, prompting discussion about a higher level of care.
Despite those concerns, Jollotta testified that Clancy never told her she had a plan to harm herself or her children and did not show signs of psychosis or mania during their appointments. The defence has meanwhile scrutinised how Clancy's different medical providers communicated with one another.
During cross-examination, Jollotta acknowledged that she had never spoken with psychiatrist Dr Jennifer Tufts, who saw Clancy 14 times between September 2022 and January 2023, and had not accessed records from some of the other facilities where Clancy received treatment.
Clancy and her former husband Patrick have also sued Jollotta and other medical professionals over her care, alleging she was overmedicated and improperly treated. Jollotta has denied the allegations.
Timeline of Lindsay Clancy case
May 2022
Lindsay gives birth to her third child, Callan.
She’s open about her postpartum struggles with her other two kids on social media. Six weeks after Callan’s birth, she posts that she’s feeling ‘dialed in’ while focusing on exercise, nutrition, and mindset, and ‘it has made all the difference’.
September 2022
As the end of her maternity leave nears, Lindsay, who works as a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, starts to experience anxiety about returning to work.
She visits two different psychiatrists and receives a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder.
Lindsay is prescribed several different psychiatric medications.
October 2022
According to court docs, she writes in a note on her phone: “I think I sort of resent my other children because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby. And I know that’s not fair to them. I know that. I was feeling so depressed last evening when Cora and Dawson came home from school, I know it runs off on them, so we had a pretty rough evening, I want to feel love and connection with all my kids.”
December 2022
Lindsay undergoes an evaluation at the Women and Infants Hospital Center for Women’s Behavioral Health. She is not diagnosed with postpartum depression, prosecutors say.
Lindsay’s husband Patrick tells police she is having suicidal thoughts and thoughts of harming their children, according to his testimony in court.
1-5 January, 2023
Lindsay admits herself to McLean Hospital for psychiatric treatment. She is discharged after five days as clinicians do not believe she poses an imminent danger to herself or others, prosecutors say.
22 January, 2023
Lindsay, Patrick, Cora and Dawson have dinner at family friend Kyle Carney’s home. Kyle later tells police that Lindsay ‘seemed fairly normal’.
23 January, 2023
According to prosecutors, Lindsay pens a note on her phone which says she has ‘a touch of postpartum anxiety’ about going back to work.
24 January, 2023
Prosecutors allege the following took place this day:
Morning: Lindsay takes Cora to a scheduled pediatrician appointment. After returning home, they play in the snow with Dawson. She sends photos of the kids to Patrick and her mom.
4:02pm: Lindsay searches for ‘kids Miralax’ (a laxative) on her phone, and 11 minutes later looks up ‘take out 3v’, referring to restaurant ThreeV in Plymouth. She uses Apple Maps to calculate how long it would take to drive from the family’s home to ThreeV.
4:47pm: Lindsay rings a CVS in Kingston to ask if they have any Miralax in stock. A manager tells her they don’t, but they do have similar medications.
The manager later tells authorities that she did not slur her words or sound impaired during the call.
4:35pm: Lindsay texts Patrick, who is working from home: “Any chance you want to do takeout from 3V … I didn’t cook anything … It’s been a long day.”
Patrick says yes, and Lindsay asks him to ‘check the menu when you can’.
5:10pm: Lindsay calls ThreeV to place the order.
5:15pm: Lindsay allegedly texts Patrick: “Pedialax liquid stool softener.” He then leaves to pick up the medication.
5:33pm: When Patrick arrives at CVS, he rings Lindsay, but she doesn’t pick up. She rings back one minute later and confirms the medication.
5:54pm: Patrick gets to ThreeV, pays for the food and leaves.
6:09pm: Patrick returns home. “The first thing he noticed was the silence,” prosecutors say. “He did not see or hear the defendant or the children.”
Patrick calls for his wife but gets no response. He discovers their second-floor bedroom is locked. Patrick eventually manages to get in the room but sees blood on the floor. He runs outside and finds Lindsay lying on the ground, according to prosecutors.
6:11pm: Prosecutors say that Patrick rings 911 and Lindsay is saying: “I tried to kill myself.”
He is then said to ask Lindsay: “Where are the kids?” She responds: “In the basement.”
While on the call, Patrick goes down to the basement and is heard ‘screaming in agony’,
Cora and Callan are discovered on the floor of the den. Dawson is found in his dad’s home office.
When officers arrive at the scene, Patrick alleges: “She killed the kids.”
Lindsay is taken to hospital, where she is treated for injuries that leave her paralysed below the waist. The three children are also rushed to hospital.
7:28pm: Cora and Dawson are pronounced dead. Callan is medically flown to another children’s hospital.
25 January, 2023
Police issue Lindsay an arrest warrant, charging her with two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation or suffocation, and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
27 January, 2023
Callan is pronounced dead at 11.18am.
According to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, Lindsay later wakes up and uses a whiteboard to ask: “Do I need an attorney?”
6 February, 2023
While in the presence of a psychologist hired by her lawyer, Lindsay calls Patrick and tells him she had a ‘moment of psychosis’ and heard ‘a man’s voice telling her to kill the kids and kill herself’ after he left on January 24.
7 February, 2023
On the day of her arraignment, Lindsay’s attorney says that she’s still suicidal. She pleads not guilty to three counts of murder.
October 2024
Patrick asks the public to forgive Lindsay, telling The New Yorker: “I wasn’t married to a monster - I was married to someone who got sick.”
January 2026
Lindsay and Patrick file a civil lawsuit, accusing medical providers of not properly diagnosing, treating and monitoring her for a ‘severe postpartum psychiatric condition’.
9 July, 2026
The Plymouth County District Attorney's Office says the three counts of strangulation would be subsumed into the murder charges.
27 July, 2026
Lindsay’s murder trial begins.
Topics: Lindsay Clancy, True crime, Mental Health
Ben Williams