A Massachusetts mom is planning to admit to killing her three kids, but will argue that she’s not culpable for their deaths due to being over-medicated and suffering a mental health breakdown.
Lindsay Clancy (35) is accused of killing Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (8 months) on Jan. 24, 2023 in Duxbury, Mass. Court papers indicate the day began normally, with Lindsay taking Cora to a pediatrician appointment where the staff saw nothing in her behavior to give them concern.
Later that evening, the family ordered takeout, and her husband, Patrick went out to pick it up. At around 05:30 pm, he called the house and spoke to Lindsay, who he said sounded normal but seemed to be “in the middle of something”.
Patrick returned home at around 06:10 pm to be met by an eerie silence. He found a bedroom window open and then saw his wife lying on the ground below. When asked what had happened, she said she’d attempted to kill herself, then told him the children were “in the basement”.
He immediately called 911 and, while on the line, ventured into the basement. There, he found his three children with exercise bands wrapped around their necks. He screamed in distress and attempted to revive them. Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead at the scene, while Callan was airlifted to Boston Children’s Hospital but died several days later. Lindsay was left paralyzed from the waist down due to spinal damage suffered from leaping from the window.
Prosecutors argued yesterday that Lindsay’s actions were deliberate and premeditated. As reported by The New York Post, they say the way the children were found indicates “extreme atrocity and cruelty”, and that she “manually pulled the bands around each child’s neck until they died.” They also argue that sending her husband out to collect food from a distant restaurant is proof that this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment act.
Her defense
Lindsay has formally pleaded not guilty to murder, but her attorney stated in court filings that she’s willing to stipulate formally in writing to her “involvement in the underlying conduct”, i.e. that she killed her three children.
Her defense will argue that at the time of the incident she was overmedicated, suffering from postpartum psychosis, and that she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. In a separate lawsuit against her doctors, she alleges that she was prescribed Zoloft, Trazodone, Prozac, Ambien, Remeron, Klonopin, Seroquel, Ativan, Valium, and Lamictal (and others) over the span of just two months.
As her lawsuit details, she felt that after taking Seroquel she was taken over by a “force” and began hearing voices. A later diagnosis of bipolar disorder is also said to have contributed.
Clancy is being kept on suicide watch at Tewksbury State Hospital, her full trial is scheduled to commence in July 2026 in Plymouth Superior Court.
Published: Jun 12, 2026 11:32 am