Warning: This article contains discussion of child abuse and suicide which some readers may find distressing.
A mother charged with the murder of her three children and an attempted suicide has disclosed her defense strategy in court.
Lindsay Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse, faced indictment for three counts of murder and strangulation in September 2023.
The accusations involve her allegedly using exercise bands to strangle her children—five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan—before attempting suicide by jumping from a window of her Duxbury, Massachusetts home in January 2023.
Following her suicide attempt, Lindsay was paralyzed from the waist down, after her husband’s concerns about her mental state.
According to Fox News, Clancy’s attorney, Kevin J. Reddington, filed a notice with the Plymouth Superior Court on December 13.
The report indicates she is pursuing an insanity defense, as stated: “Statements of the defendant as to her mental condition will be relied upon by defendant’s expert witnesses, and the defendant does intend to present to the court a defense of lack of criminal responsibility.”
Further details about the events preceding the alleged murders are provided in the documents, illustrating the actions of the 32-year-old mother that day.
The Plymouth District Court decided to unseal 299 pages of records.
These records showed that 11 confidential search warrants had been issued in January 2023, leading to the seizure of exercise bands, medications, computers, notebooks, phones, a belt, a bathrobe, pajamas, and a silver knife.
The documents also disclosed that Lindsay had told her husband, Patrick Clancy, of her anxiety about returning to work as a nurse.
She was prescribed multiple medications, such as Zoloft, Valium, Trazodone, Ativan, Klonopin, Prozac, and Seroquel.
Previously, Fox News reported Patrick shared suspicions with a family friend that she might be experiencing withdrawal symptoms from an anxiety medication a month prior.
The documents also detail Lindsay’s actions on the morning of the tragic events, January 24th.
Her day began with taking her daughter to a pediatrician, followed by a call to a local pharmacy regarding a stool-softener prescription.
She then ordered dinner from ThreeV restaurant in Plymouth and searched on her phone to calculate the travel time from her Duxbury home to the restaurant.
Subsequently, it’s alleged that Lindsay texted her husband, requesting him to collect the dinner and prescription orders.
Upon returning home, Patrick encountered an eerie silence, finding blood on the floor and an open window.
Unsealed court records illustrate that he discovered Lindsay in the backyard, still conscious despite cuts on her wrists and neck.
He immediately called 911.
According to Boston 25 News, a trial date is being sought for September 2025.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer L. Sprague requested the trial date, noting in a filing: “While DNA testing results and reports from experts are outstanding, it is reasonably believed that this discovery will be complete[d] well in advance of September of 2025,” she wrote in the filing obtained by the station.”
Patrick, the grieving father, previously disclosed Lindsay’s explanation for the scene he found upon returning home.
“I think one of the first things I asked was, ‘Did you plan this? Is that why you sent me out?’
“She said, ‘No, it just was, like, a snap of the fingers,'” Patrick recounted.