Updated: August 16, 2026
Three children are dead. Their mother acknowledges that she killed them. Their father returned home to a scene that would change every part of his life. And more than three years later, a Massachusetts jury is being asked to decide a question that is far more complicated than simply who committed the killings.
Was Lindsay Clancy criminally responsible for killing her children — or was she so severely mentally ill that she could no longer appreciate or control what she was doing?
That question is now at the heart of one of the most closely watched murder trials in the country.
Lindsay Clancy, a former labor-and-delivery nurse, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the January 24, 2023 deaths of her children: Cora Clancy, 5; Dawson Clancy, 3; and Callan Clancy, 8 months old. Her attorneys do not dispute that she strangled the children. Instead, they argue she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder and therefore lacked criminal responsibility. Prosecutors say she was mentally distressed but nevertheless understood what she was doing, deliberately created an opportunity to be alone with the children and carried out a planned killing. (AP News)
And yes, for those just discovering the case and wondering why Clancy is now seen in court in a wheelchair: she became paralyzed after the killings.
The disability did not exist beforehand.
Who Was Lindsay Clancy?
Before this case, Lindsay Clancy lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts, with her husband, Patrick Clancy, and their three young children.
She worked as a labor-and-delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital — a job that makes the circumstances of this case especially striking considering her professional experience with mothers and newborns. Witnesses including relatives, friends, coworkers, and the family's nanny have described her as attentive, loving and deeply involved with her children before her mental health deteriorated. (The Guardian)
Patrick and Lindsay had married in 2016. Their children were born in 2017, 2019, and 2022. After the birth of Callan, Lindsay eventually began experiencing escalating anxiety, insomnia, depression, and difficulty functioning. (CT Insider)
By the fall of 2022, her mental health had become serious enough that she was receiving psychiatric treatment.
That period — the months between Callan's birth and January 24, 2023 — has now become one of the most important parts of her murder trial.
Fall 2022: Anxiety, Insomnia and a Growing Mental-Health Crisis
Clancy began receiving psychiatric treatment in 2022 and was prescribed a succession of medications as providers tried to address anxiety, depression and severe insomnia.
Her defense says she was prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications over roughly four months. That does not mean she was taking all 13 simultaneously; medications were started, stopped, switched or adjusted during different stages of treatment. (WBUR)
The medications discussed during the case have included antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, sleep medications, mood stabilizers, and the antipsychotic quetiapine, commonly known as Seroquel.
Her own writings show that this was not simply a woman quietly going about her life with no signs of distress.
An October 2022 note recovered from her phone showed Clancy obsessively questioning her parenting decisions and worrying that she was not giving Callan the same attention she had given her older children. She wrote about wanting to feel love and connection with all three children, wanting to be happy again and wanting to be able to relax. (AP News)
Her journals became progressively darker.
She described severe “brain fog,” anxiety, insomnia, guilt surrounding breastfeeding, feeling disconnected and being overwhelmed by caring for everyone around her. In November, she wrote that she desperately wanted relief and had told Patrick she wanted to die. (AP News)
Those writings are now being interpreted very differently by the two sides.
The defense sees a documented psychiatric collapse.
Prosecutors say they show depression and anxiety — but not necessarily psychosis or legal insanity.
The Question of Bipolar Disorder
One of the more significant revelations at trial came through psychiatric nurse practitioner Rebecca Jollotta, who treated Clancy in late 2022.
Jollotta testified that by December 2022 she had become concerned about symptoms that could indicate a mixed manic or hypomanic state. Clancy had reportedly gone roughly 48 hours without sleeping while not feeling tired, had racing thoughts and was having trouble concentrating. Jollotta raised the possibility of bipolar disorder during an appointment with Lindsay and Patrick. (CT Insider)
According to Jollotta, Patrick responded:
“My wife is not bipolar.”
But Jollotta also gave prosecutors important testimony: she said she did not observe Clancy displaying psychosis during her own examinations and Clancy did not tell her she planned to kill her children. (CT Insider)
That contradiction has become almost a miniature version of the entire case.
There were serious symptoms.
There were concerns about bipolar disorder.
There were suicidal thoughts.
But several professionals who actually saw Clancy before the killings say they did not see psychosis.
December 2022: “Intrusive Thoughts I Never Had Before”
By early December, Clancy was communicating increasingly alarming symptoms to her providers.
She messaged Jollotta that she was experiencing “intrusive thoughts I never had before,” feeling hopeless and becoming worried about medication dependence. (AP News)
She contacted crisis services and suicide hotlines.
Testimony has also revealed significant gaps in communication between the various professionals treating her. Some providers were unaware of information known by others, including previous hotline calls, medication concerns and worsening symptoms. One therapist testified that she had no major safety concerns during her sessions but acknowledged that she had not reviewed another provider's notes detailing more troubling symptoms. (People.com)
That lack of coordination is now central not only to the criminal trial but also to separate civil lawsuits accusing Clancy's healthcare providers of negligent treatment.
The Newly Revealed Hallucination Allegations
This is one of the most important new developments as of August 16, 2026.
A civil malpractice lawsuit filed by Clancy alleges that she began experiencing what she now describes as auditory hallucinations weeks before the children were killed.
According to the lawsuit, after she was prescribed Seroquel in late November 2022, she began hearing or experiencing thoughts she initially did not recognize as hallucinations. The filing alleges that by December 15 they had become loud and persistent and included messages telling her she was damaged, would never recover and should die. (CT Insider)
That is potentially significant because the criminal defense says Clancy eventually heard a male voice commanding her to kill the children and herself.
But there is a major evidentiary problem.
The claim that she was hearing voices for weeks before January 24 comes from her civil lawsuit. It has not, at this point, been established as fact in the criminal trial.
The clinicians treating Clancy before the killings have testified that she did not report auditory hallucinations to them, and several said they saw no evidence of psychosis. Patrick similarly did not testify that she had disclosed weeks of voices before the killings. (CT Insider)
So the jury will eventually have to consider not only whether the hallucination claim is credible but also when those hallucinations actually began and whether there is independent evidence corroborating them.
January 2023: Lindsay Checks Herself Into McLean Hospital
By New Year's Day 2023, Clancy's condition had reached the point where she voluntarily entered McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts.
She remained there from approximately January 1 through January 5.
Doctors at McLean recognized significant depression but did not diagnose her with psychosis. One psychiatrist diagnosed severe major depressive disorder without psychotic features. (AP News)
She was discharged.
Nineteen days later, her children were dead. (WBUR)
The defense views that short hospitalization and discharge as evidence of a woman repeatedly reaching out for help and being sent home without the underlying problem being identified.
Prosecutors counter that trained psychiatric professionals evaluated her and did not observe the psychotic state her lawyers now say existed.
January 23, 2023: The Appointment One Day Before the Killings
Perhaps no medical appointment has received more scrutiny than Lindsay's final psychiatric appointment.
On January 23, 2023 — one day before the children died — psychiatrist Dr. Jennifer Tufts met with her virtually.
Tufts testified that Lindsay was depressed, lacked motivation, and continued experiencing anxiety, but did not appear psychotic. She did not report hallucinations. She did not say she intended to kill herself. And she did not report a plan to harm her children. (AP News)
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington aggressively challenged Tufts' treatment.
Among other things, he questioned the short telehealth appointments, medication management, how much information Tufts had received from Clancy's other providers, and whether Tufts knew the full extent of her suicidal thoughts and crisis-line calls. Tufts testified that she had not known Clancy called a suicide hotline twice. (People.com)
The defense's argument is essentially that each clinician saw only pieces of the puzzle while nobody assembled the entire picture.
January 24, 2023: A Seemingly Ordinary Day
One of the most unsettling elements of this case is just how ordinary January 24 initially appeared.
That morning, Lindsay took Cora to a pediatric appointment.
Later, she and the children went outside and played in the snow. They built a snowman. Photos were taken and sent to family members. Patrick has testified that Lindsay seemed to be having a relatively good day. (CT Insider)
Text messages presented to jurors show an apparently normal exchange between Lindsay and Patrick.
Shortly before 5 p.m., Lindsay asked whether Patrick wanted takeout from ThreeV, a restaurant in Plymouth.
He agreed.
Around 5:15 p.m., she also asked him to stop at CVS to get medication for one of the children. (CT Insider)
This errand is one of the most important pieces of evidence in the case.
The Prosecution's Interpretation
Prosecutors say Lindsay deliberately engineered Patrick's absence.
They contend that she needed him out of the house long enough to kill the children and that sending him to both a restaurant and pharmacy provided that opportunity. They have introduced location, mapping and digital evidence they say helps establish planning. (The Guardian)
The Defense's Interpretation
The defense disputes that the errands prove a calculated murder plan.
They point to the family's ordinary conversations that day, Lindsay's deteriorating psychiatric history and what they say was the absence of a rational motive to kill three children she loved.
While Patrick Was Gone
While Patrick was away, Lindsay took Cora, Dawson, and Callan into the basement.
She strangled the children using exercise resistance bands.
The defense does not dispute that Lindsay physically committed the killings. (WBUR)
What happened inside her mind during those minutes is the disputed issue.
According to the defense, Clancy later described hearing a male voice instructing her to kill the children so she could then kill herself.
Her recently amended civil allegations go even further, claiming that immediately before the killings a voice told her this was her final opportunity to kill the children so she could take her own life. Again, that specific account remains an allegation, not an established fact. (CT Insider)
Patrick Calls Lindsay From CVS
While searching for the medication Lindsay requested, Patrick called her.
He testified that she sounded quiet but not obviously alarming.
He assumed she was probably busy with the children's evening routine.
Nothing in that conversation caused him to turn around or believe the children were in danger. (The Guardian)
Then he returned home.
Patrick Comes Home to Silence
Patrick has testified that the house was unusually quiet.
He searched upstairs and found the bedroom door locked.
After getting inside, he discovered blood and an open second-story window.
Lindsay was outside on the ground below the window, seriously injured. (The Guardian)
She had inflicted cuts to her neck and wrists and then jumped from the second-story window.
When Patrick asked where the children were, Lindsay directed him toward the basement.
The 911 Call
Patrick's approximately seven-minute 911 call became some of the most difficult evidence presented during the 2026 trial.
As emergency responders began arriving to help Lindsay, Patrick went into the basement looking for the children.
There he found Cora, Dawson, and Callan with resistance bands around their necks.
A responding officer recalled hearing Patrick scream that she had killed the children. (WBUR)
Jurors heard Patrick's 911 call during the trial.
Lindsay cried as the recording played, while several jurors also appeared visibly emotional. Judge William Sullivan has restricted public dissemination of the complete 911 recording and some autopsy photographs because of their graphic nature and Patrick's concerns regarding their circulation. (WBUR)
The Children
Cora, 5, and Dawson, 3, died that night.
Their infant brother Callan initially survived and was transported for emergency treatment but died several days later. (AP News)
Medical examiners have testified that the children died from asphyxia associated with strangulation. (CT Insider)
The trial has included autopsy evidence and photographs, some of which have caused extraordinarily emotional scenes inside the courtroom.
Why Lindsay Clancy Is Now in a Wheelchair
After killing the children, Clancy injured herself and jumped from the second-story window of the family's home.
The fall caused catastrophic spinal injuries.
She survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down and now uses a wheelchair. (AP News)
So when viewers see her being wheeled into Plymouth Superior Court, her disability is a direct result of the injuries she sustained on January 24, 2023.
Prosecutors have recently revisited another controversial theory: whether the self-inflicted knife wounds represented a genuine effort to die.
Their argument does not dispute the devastating injury caused by the window fall. Instead, prosecutors have questioned whether some of the cutting injuries were sufficiently serious to indicate an actual suicide attempt and have used her prior internet searches regarding suicide methods to support their position. The defense points to months of documented suicidal thinking and the fact that she ultimately jumped from the window. (The Guardian)
The jury will have to determine what, if anything, that evidence reveals about her state of mind.
February 2023: Lindsay Is Arraigned From the Hospital
Because of her injuries, Clancy's first major court appearance occurred remotely from the hospital.
On February 7, 2023, not-guilty pleas were entered on her behalf.
At the time, prosecutors described the killings as carefully planned, while defense attorney Kevin Reddington was already raising postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis and medication issues as possible explanations for what happened. (AP News)
Initially, charges reflected the deaths of Cora and Dawson because Callan had still been alive immediately after the attack. After Callan's death, the case expanded accordingly.
September 2023: Grand Jury Indictment
In September 2023, a Plymouth County grand jury indicted Clancy in connection with the deaths of all three children.
The case eventually moved toward a Superior Court trial on three counts of first-degree murder. (AP News)
By the time the case reached trial in 2026, prosecutors dropped additional strangulation counts that were essentially duplicative of the murder allegations.
Patrick Clancy Forgives Lindsay
Patrick's response has always made this case especially unusual.
Shortly after losing all three of his children, Patrick publicly asked people to forgive Lindsay as he had.
He has consistently maintained that the woman he knew was a loving mother and that severe mental illness was responsible for what happened.
That does not mean he denies that she killed their children.
It means he does not believe the killings represent who Lindsay had been before her psychiatric deterioration.
Patrick and Lindsay have since divorced. Yet he remains supportive of the mental-health component of her defense and has testified extensively about the deterioration he witnessed in the months before the killings. (People.com)
The Lawsuits Against Lindsay's Mental-Health Providers
In January 2026, Patrick filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against several of Lindsay's healthcare providers and organizations.
The lawsuit alleges that fragmented care, poor communication, inadequate diagnosis, and medication management contributed to Lindsay's deterioration and ultimately the deaths of Cora, Dawson, and Callan.
Lindsay has separately pursued medical-malpractice claims involving her psychiatric treatment. (NBC Boston)
These are civil allegations and should not be confused with findings from the murder case. The healthcare defendants are entitled to contest the accusations, and negligence has not been established merely because lawsuits were filed.
Still, the overlap is remarkable.
Some clinicians whose treatment is being challenged in civil court have now been called to testify in the criminal trial about Lindsay's mental state.
July 2026: The Murder Trial Finally Begins
Jury selection began July 20, 2026, at Plymouth Superior Court.
Opening statements began July 27.
The trial is being presided over by Judge William Sullivan, with defense attorney Kevin Reddington representing Clancy. (AP News)
From the beginning, both sides agreed on one fundamental fact:
Lindsay killed the children.
They disagree almost completely about why.
What Prosecutors Say
The Commonwealth argues that Lindsay Clancy was depressed, anxious and struggling — but not psychotic to the point of lacking criminal responsibility.
Prosecutors have emphasized several points.
She Got Patrick Out of the House
They say Lindsay arranged both the food pickup and pharmacy stop because she needed time alone with the children. (AP News)
She Appeared Organized
She took Cora to an appointment, played outside with the children, texted Patrick about dinner and communicated normally with other people hours before the killings.
Prosecutors argue that those actions show purposeful thinking.
Her Doctors Did Not See Psychosis
Multiple professionals who treated Clancy shortly before January 24 have testified that she did not appear psychotic, manic or homicidal during their encounters. (WBUR)
She Did Not Report Command Hallucinations
Before the killings, her clinicians say she did not tell them a voice was commanding her to kill her children.
That is especially important because the alleged command hallucination is central to the defense.
Toxicology Did Not Show an Overdose
A forensic toxicologist found four psychiatric medications in Clancy's blood after the killings:
mirtazapine
lamotrigine
trazodone
quetiapine
Quetiapine was somewhat elevated but not at a toxic or overdose level. The toxicologist also cautioned that blood concentrations alone do not tell the entire psychiatric story. (The Guardian)
This matters because the phrase “overmedicated” can be misleading if interpreted as saying she simply swallowed a massive amount of medication that night.
That is not what toxicology showed.
The defense's broader argument concerns the effect of repeated prescribing and medication changes over several months.
The Newly Revealed Internet Searches
On August 13, jurors got their most detailed look yet at Lindsay's digital history.
Police analysis showed searches involving:
hallucinations
psychosis
bipolar disorder
schizophrenia
insomnia
psychiatric medication side effects
postpartum depression
suicide methods
Four days before the killings, her phone also contained a search asking whether a sociopath could be treated. (AP News)
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are effectively using some of the same evidence to tell opposite stories.
To prosecutors, the searches can demonstrate awareness, planning and a mind capable of researching and understanding what was happening.
To the defense, the searches show a frightened woman desperately trying to identify what was wrong with her because the healthcare system had failed to give her an explanation.
Her phone also contained ordinary parenting searches and family messages alongside the disturbing mental-health material — another reminder that severe psychiatric symptoms do not always make a person's outward behavior continuously abnormal. (AP News)
What the Defense Says
The defense's theory is that Lindsay was experiencing a catastrophic psychiatric illness — specifically bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis — that had not been properly recognized.
A forensic psychiatrist diagnosed those conditions after the killings. (AP News)
Reddington's argument is built around a months-long pattern:
- Severe insomnia.
- Racing thoughts.
- Depression.
- Anxiety.
- Suicidal thinking.
- Intrusive thoughts.
- Multiple medications.
- Crisis-line calls.
- Emergency care.
- A psychiatric hospitalization.
- Repeated requests for help.
- Possible bipolar symptoms.
And eventually, according to Lindsay, auditory hallucinations.
The defense says that by January 24 she had lost touch with reality and believed a voice was commanding her to kill her children before killing herself. (AP News)
But What Exactly Is Postpartum Psychosis?
Postpartum psychosis is not simply another term for postpartum depression.
It is a rare psychiatric emergency characterized by symptoms that can include hallucinations, delusions, severe confusion, disorganized thinking, paranoia and loss of contact with reality. It has a particularly strong relationship with bipolar-spectrum illness. (PubMed)
It occurs in roughly one to two women per 1,000 births. (NCBI)
There is an important nuance in the Clancy case.
Classic postpartum psychosis most commonly appears very soon after delivery — often within days or the first several weeks. Callan was approximately eight months old when the killings occurred. (NCBI)
That does not resolve Lindsay's diagnosis by itself. Her defense expert has diagnosed bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis, and the jury will hear expert testimony addressing her individual psychiatric history.
But it is one reason this case cannot simply be reduced to:
“She had a baby, therefore this was postpartum psychosis.”
Whether her symptoms actually meet the relevant medical and legal standards must be proven through evidence.
And another distinction is essential: the overwhelming majority of women with postpartum depression or other postpartum mental-health conditions do not harm their children. The rare diagnosis being argued in this case should not be treated as synonymous with violence.
The Journals
Perhaps some of the most revealing evidence came directly from Lindsay.
Jurors have heard portions of journals and electronic notes in which she described profound exhaustion, parenting anxiety, difficulty bonding, inability to sleep, desperation and suicidal thoughts.
One entry described feeling as though medication had taken motherhood and her life away from her. (The Guardian)
Again, both sides see different things.
The prosecution can argue these writings show a woman aware of her problems and able to analyze them.
The defense can argue they document a psychiatric collapse occurring almost in real time.
The Jury Visits the Clancy Home
On July 31, jurors were taken to the family's former Duxbury home.
They saw the basement where the children were killed, the interior of the house, and the area outside where Lindsay landed after jumping from the second-story window.
They were also driven past locations associated with Patrick's errands that evening.
Lindsay herself did not return to the house. (The Guardian)
The visit allowed jurors to physically understand distances and the layout that prosecutors say are important to their premeditation theory.
August 12: Lindsay Breaks Down in Court
On August 12, medical examiners again presented evidence concerning the children's injuries.
The testimony became so difficult for Lindsay that proceedings were paused multiple times.
She sobbed loudly and at one point could be heard saying:
“I can't do it.”
Judge Sullivan sent the jury out for breaks while she regained control. Several jurors also appeared emotional during portions of the autopsy evidence. (CBS News)
A courtroom reaction, however powerful, is not evidence of what her mental condition was on January 24, 2023. It is simply one of the notable moments that has occurred during this highly emotional trial.
August 13: The Digital Evidence Changes the Conversation
The August 13 evidence may prove far more important.
State Police investigators walked jurors through Lindsay's phone, computer activity, notes, internet searches, and communications.
Jurors saw both ordinary family life and increasingly disturbing mental-health searches existing alongside one another.
They saw searches concerning psychosis and hallucinations.
They saw suicide-related searches.
They saw medication research.
And they saw the “sociopath” question four days before the killings. (AP News)
This digital record could ultimately become some of the most heavily debated evidence during closing arguments.
August 16: A Major New Hallucination Claim Emerges
The latest major development did not actually come from testimony inside the criminal courtroom.
It came from Lindsay's civil lawsuit.
As of August 16, reporting on an amended filing revealed that Lindsay claims auditory hallucinations were happening for at least six weeks before the deaths — considerably earlier than the criminal trial had previously established.
The lawsuit alleges the voices escalated from messages about Lindsay herself to the eventual command to kill the children and then die. (CT Insider)
If independently corroborated, that could be important evidence for the defense.
But right now there is a glaring question:
Why do the professionals who were treating her during those weeks say she did not report hearing voices?
That discrepancy remains unresolved.
The Massachusetts Legal Standard
This case is not decided simply by whether Lindsay had a mental-health diagnosis.
Under Massachusetts law, once lack of criminal responsibility is properly at issue, the Commonwealth carries the burden of proving criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt.
Broadly stated, a defendant may lack criminal responsibility if, because of mental disease or defect, she lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of her conduct or conform her conduct to the requirements of law. (Massachusetts Government)
That means someone can be mentally ill and still be legally responsible.
The jury must determine whether Lindsay's illness crossed the much higher legal threshold.
What Happens If Lindsay Is Convicted?
If convicted of first-degree murder, Lindsay faces life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. (AP News)
If the jury instead finds her not guilty because of lack of criminal responsibility, she does not simply walk out of the courthouse.
She could be committed to a secure state psychiatric facility and subjected to continuing psychiatric and judicial review. (AP News)
The practical difference is therefore not necessarily freedom versus confinement.
It is criminal punishment versus psychiatric commitment, based on what the jury concludes about her mental state when she killed the children.
Where the Trial Stands —
As of Sunday, August 16:
There is no verdict.
The prosecution has called more than 70 witnesses during approximately three weeks of testimony. (CBS News)
Court did not sit on Friday, August 14.
Proceedings resume Monday, August 17, as the trial enters its fourth week.
The prosecution is expected to be approaching the end of its case, and legal observers believe the Commonwealth could rest during the coming week. After that, Lindsay's defense will begin presenting its own witnesses, including the psychiatric evidence it believes will establish that she was not criminally responsible. (CBS News)
And that stage may answer some of the biggest questions still hanging over this case.
Who diagnosed Lindsay with postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder?
What did that expert rely upon?
Can the alleged hallucinations be corroborated?
Can someone in psychosis still plan errands, send coherent messages and appear outwardly normal?
And most importantly:
What was happening in Lindsay Clancy's mind during the minutes when Cora, Dawson and Callan died?
The Question the Jury Ultimately Has to Answer
- There is no dispute that three innocent children were killed.
- There is no dispute that their mother killed them.
- There is no dispute that Lindsay Clancy was experiencing serious mental-health problems before January 24, 2023.
- The dispute is over how sick she actually was.
The prosecution asks the jury to see an intentional killer who created an opportunity, waited until her husband was gone, killed three children one after another and then attempted to take her own life.
The defense asks the jury to see a previously loving mother whose mental health deteriorated over months while she repeatedly sought help, cycled through psychiatric medications, suffered severe insomnia and suicidal thinking and eventually descended into a psychotic state she could no longer control.
Both sides can point to real evidence.
Her doctors did not document psychosis.
But they did document serious psychiatric symptoms.
She could communicate coherently.
But she was also searching for information about hallucinations, psychosis, and suicide.
Her toxicology did not show an overdose.
But medication management and its possible effects remain part of the defense case.
She allegedly heard a command voice.
But when that voice began — and who knew about it — remains sharply disputed.
That is why the Lindsay Clancy trial is not really about whether she did it.
The jury is deciding whether, in the eyes of Massachusetts law, she was responsible for what she did.
And as of August 16, 2026, that question remains unanswered.
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