Midwife charged with strangling her children to death had struggled with post partum anxiety

A midwife has been accused of strangling her two children to death and attempting to kill her seven-month-old baby before attempting to kill herself by jumping from a window of her Massachusetts home.

Lindsay Clancy, 32, allegedly strangled her five-year-old daughter Cora and three-year-old son Dawson to death and tried to suffocate her baby inside the family home before jumping out of a second-story window. .

Her horrified husband, Patrick, 34, discovered Clancy unconscious outside their Duxbury home when he returned from work around 6 p.m. Tuesday and called 911.

Clancy and her seven-month-old son survived the apparent murder-suicide attempt and are both being treated at Boston hospitals. The mother of three, who is in police custody, will stand trial on murder charges after she is released.

Since then, it emerged that Clancy had been suffering from postpartum anxiety, with the midwife writing on Facebook that six weeks after the birth of her third child she felt ‘marked’.

Officers arrived at the family home Tuesday after a frantic Patrick discovered his wife unconscious on the floor below a second-story window.

They discovered the three ‘unconscious’ young children upstairs ‘with obvious signs of trauma’. It appears all had been strangled, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz said.

Five-year-old Cora and three-year-old Dawson were pronounced dead on arrival at hospital, while the seven-month-old baby was airlifted to Children’s Hospital Boston, where he is alive and being treated by doctors. Witnesses said the baby had been given CPR at the scene.

“We are all heartbroken right now,” Lindsay Clancey’s father-in-law, Christopher Clancy, told the outlet. Boston Globe.

Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, will be arraigned upon her discharge from the hospital on charges including two counts of murder and three counts of strangulation and assault and battery with a deadly weapon for the death of her two children.

Clancy’s Facebook profile portrays a proud mother who often shares photos of her smiling young family.

She wrote in a 2020 post: “So incredibly grateful for this family and this life.”

But in July, Clancy wrote about her previous struggles with postpartum anxiety, writing that six weeks after the birth of her third child she felt “scarred.”

sources said WBZ-TV Team I that investigators are considering the possibility that Lindsay Clancy suffered from postpartum psychosis. She was on leave from her job as a midwife.

On Wednesday, two Plymouth women, Donna Jesse, who identified herself as the children’s aunt, and Rita Musgrove, who said she was their great-grandmother, left a bouquet of pink, red and white roses outside the family’s home.

“They were beautiful, beautiful children,” Jesse told the boston globe.

Musgrove added: “It’s pretty shocking.”

John Sullivan, a neighbor whose patio adjoins the backyard at 47 Summer St., said he received a call Tuesday night from his son who told him that a woman “was lying in the backyard.”

She said she ran to her neighbor’s property where she saw first responders performing CPR on a baby outside.

“Everyone is in a state of disbelief, it’s tragic, the whole neighborhood is trying to process all of this,” Sullivan said. CBS Boston.

At a press conference, Cruz said of the family: ‘I can’t begin to comprehend the pain, the depth of pain they must be feeling.

“This is an unimaginable and senseless tragedy, and it is an ongoing investigation.”

He told reporters, “I want to commend even more the professionalism and work of the Duxbury first responders and the massive state police.”

I am sure many of them will not forget what they saw last night and I think we should all be grateful to the men and women who donned a uniform who are willing to do this difficult and challenging job.

‘When something like this happens obviously there are usually more questions there are answers as we go along, we’ll give what answers we can.’

Duxbury Fire Chief Robert Reardon said the firefighters who responded to the scene are also grieving.

“To everyone who responded, we care about you,” Reardon said. ‘If you or a colleague needs support, please reach out.’

Cruz cautioned that “no one is here to speculate,” adding that “we are acutely aware of the fact that anyone charged with a criminal offense is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

He ended the conference by saying, “Certainly our hearts and condolences go out to the Clancy family.”

Cruz said they will now perform autopsies to determine how the children died. The results will be made public when a death certificate is issued.

The hospital where Clancy works said in a statement: “We are shocked and saddened to learn of this unthinkable tragedy. We extend our deepest condolences to all those affected by these devastating events.”

In Duxbury, the Rev. Bill Ferguson of Pilgrim Church told Boston 25 television station that eight churches had opened their doors to offer support to those in need in the community. He said the tragedy was “hitting hard,” especially for those who are parents of young children.