PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Lindsay Clancy sobbed in a wheelchair as her murder trial opened Monday, facing her former husband while jurors watched video of the family on a blissful vacation just weeks before she killed their three young children.

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, is charged with murder in the January 24, 2023, deaths of Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and 8-month-old Callan at the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Prosecutors say she strangled the children with exercise bands after sending her husband out on errands, then attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down.

In opening statements and testimony at Plymouth Superior Court on July 27, 2026, defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis — a rare and severe mental illness linked to hormonal changes, sleep deprivation, and stress after childbirth — and was not criminally responsible. He told jurors she had been prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications through more than 30 prescriptions in the four months leading up to the killings, issued by multiple providers including psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and emergency department doctors.

Prosecutors countered that Clancy acted intentionally. They argued she did not consistently take the prescribed medications, was controlling, and made a deliberate choice after months of struggling. Photos and videos were shown depicting her functioning normally in the period before the deaths.

Patrick Clancy, the children’s father, took the stand as a key prosecution witness. He became emotional while describing his growing concerns about his wife’s mental health in the weeks before the killings, including her intrusive thoughts about harming herself or the children. He said she had recently been hospitalized and was struggling with anxiety about returning to work, though he never witnessed her physically harm the kids and believed she was improving at times.

Images and video of a family vacation taken roughly a month earlier were displayed in court. Patrick Clancy reacted emotionally as photos of Cora (who loved princesses), Dawson (who enjoyed trucks and “Paw Patrol”), and the “happy baby” Callan were shown. Lindsay Clancy, seated in her wheelchair, wiped her eyes with a tissue at points during the testimony.

The couple has since divorced. Patrick Clancy has remarried and moved to New York. The trial is expected to last several weeks and centers on competing views of Clancy’s mental state at the time of the killings. If convicted, she faces life in prison. If found not criminally responsible, she would remain in custody for treatment and evaluation.

The case has drawn national attention to issues of maternal mental health, postpartum psychosis, and how the legal system addresses mothers who kill their children while suffering severe psychiatric illness.

Sources

• WBUR