TEWKSBURY, Mass. (Court TV) — Newly-unsealed search warrants in the investigation into a woman who killed her three young children are offering new insight into the investigation, and why prosecutors believe she planned the gruesome crime.
Lindsay Clancy, 33, was indicted in September on charges of murder and strangulation for the deaths of her children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 7 months. Clancy is due to be arraigned on Oct. 26 from Tewksbury Hospital, where she remains in treatment.
In this video screen image, Lindsay Clancy with a surgical mask over her face in a hospital appears during her arraignment on charges regarding her three children’s deaths at Plymouth District Court Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023, in Plymouth, Mass. With District Court Judge John Canavan as the presiding judge the defendant participated remotely through videoconference. Not guilty pleas were entered on behalf of 32-year-old Clancy to charges including murder, strangulation and assault and battery at her arraignment. (David Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Clancy has been hospitalized since Jan. 24, 2023, when police said she strangled her children to death using exercise bands before using a knife to cut her own wrists and neck and then jumped out of a second-story window.
Search warrants obtained by Court TV indicate that police were first called to the family’s Duxbury, Massachusetts, home just after 6 p.m. on Jan. 24. Patrick Clancy called 911 after returning home from errands to a quiet home and then said he found his wife on the ground outside after she had jumped from a window.
“After he got into his bedroom, he saw blood and the window open so he then ran downstairs and outside and located Lindsay Clancy on the ground. Patrick Clancy stated that when he located Lindsay Clancy on the ground outside it appeared that she had slit her wrists and possibly her neck.”
When officers arrived, Patrick ran inside to find his children and discovered all three in the basement, and described all three as having had exercise bands tied around their necks. The children were taken to hospitals where they were later pronounced dead. Cora and Dawson’s deaths were ruled a result of asphyxiation, while Callan’s death was caused by complications from asphyxiation.
During their autopsies, Clara and Dawson were found to have bruising on their legs and arm, ligatures around their necks and petechiae in their faces as well as inside of their eyelids and upper and lower lips. Callan was found to have abrasions to his neck and petechiae “all over” his face.
Detectives interviewed Patrick, who said that he had gone to pick up food from a restaurant and then stopped at CVS to pick up an item for his daughter. Surveillance video and phone records confirmed that Lindsay had called the restaurant to place the food order and had called the CVS to verify they had the item she wanted, leading prosecutors to hypothesize that she had planned the murders and wanted to send her husband on errands that would take him long enough to give her time to carry out her plans.
Patrick told officers that his wife, to whom he had been married for six years, had been suffering from anxiety before returning to work as a labor and delivery nurse and had seen multiple doctors who had each prescribed medication. “Patrick Clancy stated that Lindsay Clancy would take as many as four medications a day, however, she would take them as prescribed.”
Patrick said that Lindsay had been having suicidal thoughts and was self-admitted to a hospital from Jan. 1-5, but said they had an “amazing marriage” and reportedly told friends that he believed her to be more anxious than depressed.
Among the items seized from the family’s home were notebooks which police said Lindsay used as journals to “document her mental state and her feelings about her children, in addition to keeping track of her medications.” Police requested search warrants for Lindsay’s iPhone, speculating that she may have researched ways to kill as she planned the murders.
Prosecutors have not revealed what, if anything, they found after serving the search warrants on Lindsay’s iPhone.
Lindsay did not say anything to the paramedics who took her to the hospital. Her medical records indicate she suffered multiple fractures to her spinal cord as well as a fractured rib. She also had cuts to her neck and wrists. Her doctor “stated it was his opinion that Ms. Clancy may have slit her throat with her left hand, in right to left direction across her neck, because the wound appeared to be deeper on the right side of her neck.”
If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling or texting 988.
