Just two days before she allegedly strangled her three young children with exercise bands, Lindsay Clancy was at a friend’s barbecue, acting “quiet but fairly normal,” according to court testimony that sent chills through the courtroom Friday.
The former labor and delivery nurse, now paralyzed from the waist down after a suicide attempt, sat in a wheelchair as prosecutors painted a haunting picture of the days leading up to the January 2023 tragedy.
A friend, Sarah Carney, testified that she had seen Clancy’s kids playing with the very exercise cords that would later be used in their deaths. When asked about it, Carney replied, “Sure, if that’s what I said. I don’t recall,” referring to a social media exchange.
In a tense moment, Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, told the judge that a prosecutor was caught on a hot mic saying “Shut her up” as the mom wailed during the display of autopsy photos. The judge agreed to a sidebar, though it wasn’t clear who the comment was aimed at.
The new revelations come as the trial focuses on Clancy’s mental state before the killings. Doctors testified that she had been prescribed 30 prescriptions for 13 different drugs by five providers in the four months leading up to the murders.
Dr. Jennifer Tufts, a psychiatrist who treated Clancy starting in September 2022, said Clancy reported drinking one to two drinks five times a week and felt guilty about it. She denied suicidal or homicidal thoughts at the time.
Clancy was admitted to McLean Hospital on Jan. 1, 2023, for suicidal thoughts, and released just four days later—two and a half weeks before the deaths. Dr.
Alia Goodheart testified she weaned Clancy off the antipsychotic Seroquel and prescribed Ativan and Trazodone for anxiety and sleep.
Goodheart said Clancy insisted on leaving McLean to be home for her oldest daughter Cora’s birthday that weekend. The doctor admitted she would have liked more time to observe Clancy’s sleep patterns.
Clancy’s defense argues she was in the throes of severe postpartum psychosis, partly caused by the medications, and should be found not guilty by reason of insanity. Toxicologists found two antidepressants, two anti-anxiety meds, and two antipsychotics in her blood after the killings.
As the trial continues, one question lingers: Could more time in the hospital have changed everything?
