In a new exclusive interview, longtime friends of Lindsay Clancy have shared their memories of the Massachusetts mother charged with killing her three young children, offering a personal perspective amid her ongoing murder trial.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Chelsea DeFina, a mother of three, organized a Zoom fitness accountability group for other moms. Among the participants was Lindsay Clancy, whom DeFina knew from their middle school cheerleading squad more than a decade earlier. DeFina recalled Lindsay as a “sweet girl” and was glad to reconnect.

Lindsay, who was pregnant with her third child at the time, impressed the group with her dedication. She attended nearly every session, continuing to exercise even late into her pregnancy. Her older children sometimes appeared on camera, “working out” alongside the women. “She was an inspiration,” DeFina said.

After Lindsay gave birth to her third child in May 2022, she stopped attending the sessions. DeFina reached out but received no reply, assuming Lindsay was busy with a newborn and toddlers.

On January 24, 2023, Lindsay Clancy, then 32 and a labor and delivery nurse, killed her three children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — in the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts home by strangling them with exercise bands. She then attempted suicide by cutting herself and jumping from a second-story window, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

Clancy has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder. Her defense argues she was suffering from severe postpartum mental illness, including psychosis, and was not criminally responsible. Prosecutors maintain the killings were premeditated.

Friends who spoke to the New York Post described Lindsay as kind, nurturing, and deeply focused on becoming a nurse and mother from a young age. They remembered her as someone who supported others and appeared to have a loving marriage and family life. Several said they believe the tragedy stemmed from untreated or inadequately treated mental illness rather than malice, and that the mental health system failed her.

The trial is currently underway in Plymouth Superior Court, with Clancy’s former husband, Patrick Clancy, among the witnesses. The case continues to draw national attention to issues of postpartum mental health and criminal responsibility.

Sources

• New York Post