Texts Lindsay Clancy sent friend before 'loving mother' killed her three children
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide and child harm, which some readers may find distressing.
Messages Lindsay Clancy is said to have sent a friend shortly before the deaths of her three children have become a key part of testimony in her ongoing murder trial.
The 35-year-old Massachusetts mother has pleaded not guilty to three murder charges over the deaths of Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan at the family’s Duxbury home on January 24, 2023.
Her lawyers do not dispute that Clancy killed the children, but argue she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and severe mental illness at the time. Prosecutors maintain she acted intentionally and should be held criminally responsible.
Advert
As the trial continues, jurors have heard from people who knew Clancy personally, including friends, a former nanny and her former father-in-law, who have spoken about how she appeared in the weeks leading up to the killings.
Amy Bevins, who had known Clancy for 29 years, told jurors she communicated with her just days before the killings.
Reported by Good Morning America, Bevins testified: “She had shared that she had been taking a medication that caused her to have some dark thoughts, but that she was going to, or had been weaning, like tapering off that medication.”
Despite the alarming language, Bevins said she remembered the exchange carrying a sense that things could be improving.
She said: “I remember it being something where there was conveying of hope, and that it was going to be a, you know - we were moving in a positive direction.”
Another friend, Bethany DeCollibus, described speaking with Clancy around one of the kids' birthdays in January, when Clancy was struggling with sleep.
DeCollibus told the court: “She responded that things haven't gotten any better, and that she feels like a zombie.”
The accounts come alongside testimony describing Clancy as a loving and attentive parent.
Former family nanny Elaine Rossi told jurors she had never believed Clancy could be a danger to herself or the children.
Rossi said: “I observed a wonderful mom who loved her kids… She was concerned about their safety, and Callan eating and sleeping. She was a wonderful mother.”
Clancy’s former father-in-law, Christopher Clancy, similarly recalled what appeared to be an ordinary, happy family.
“She was very, very good. She fed them great. She did a lot of things with them… like the all-American family,” he testified, later adding: “I knew she was having a hard time sleeping. I knew she just didn’t feel well.”
The trial has previously heard that Clancy experienced anxiety, insomnia and suicidal thoughts and received psychiatric treatment before the deaths.
Her ex-husband, Patrick Clancy, has also testified that her mental health deteriorated in the months beforehand, although he said she appeared to be having ‘one of her best days’ on the day the children died.
If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole.
Timeline of the 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 and an open window. 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 and jumped out the window.”
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: True crime, Mental Health, Parenting
Ben Williams