A Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three children with exercise bands while suffering from postpartum psychosis has been charged with murder.
Lindsay Clancy, 32, was indicted Friday by a Plymouth Grand Jury on three counts of murder and strangulation.
Clancy allegedly attacked and killed her three children Cora Clancy, 5, Dawson Clancy, 3, and 8-month-old Callan Clancy at the family home in Duxbury on January 24.
The mother, a labor and delivery nurse, subsequently attempted suicide and remains in the hospital as a result.
Suffering from severe postpartum depression, Clancy had been prescribed an “excessive” cocktail of pills that her forgiving husband Patrick Clancy believes are responsible for the tragedy.
Clancy allegedly attacked and killed her three children Cora Clancy, 5, Dawson Clancy, 3, and 8-month-old Callan Clancy
Lindsay Clancy, 32, was indicted Friday by a Plymouth Grand Jury on three counts of murder and strangulation
The mother, a labor and delivery nurse, subsequently attempted suicide and remains in the hospital as a result
Postpartum psychosis is defined by the National Institutes of Health as the most severe form of mental illness in that category, and is characterized by extreme confusion, loss of contact with reality, paranoia, delusions, disorganized thought process and hallucinations.”
It usually occurs within the first six weeks after delivery and “ensures immediate medical and psychiatric attention and hospitalization if there is a risk of suicide or filicide.”
Clancy’s attorney, Kevin J. Reddington, previously told a judge that the drugs Lindsay was prescribed made her feel like a “zombie.”
Chilling audio of the 911 call Patrick made that night reveals the extent of the horror.
Clancy suffered lacerations to her wrists and lacerations, which she allegedly inflicted on herself before jumping from a window of her home.
Patrick found his wife lying outside their home after returning from getting takeaway food for the family.
As first responders arrived on the scene and tended to his wife, Patrick was heard screaming in the basement of the home.
There he found the children unconscious and blue with exercise bands around their necks.
The state’s chief medical examiner would declare that the two older children had died of asphyxiation, while little Callan had died of complications from asphyxiation.
Clancy was arraigned from her bed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on February 7.
Suffering from severe postpartum depression, Clancy had been prescribed an ‘excessive’ cocktail of pills that her forgiving husband Patrick Clancy (second from left) believes is responsible for the tragedy
The tragedy occurred on January 24 at the family home at 47 Summer Street in Duxbury
A well-wisher visits the makeshift memorial that grew in front of the family’s home in Duxbury
“The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring to everyone: me, our children, family, friends and her patients,” Patrick said of his wife
The state’s chief medical examiner would declare that the two older children had died of asphyxiation, while little Callan had died of complications from asphyxiation.
“One of the major issues here is the horrific overmedication of medications that caused homicidal thoughts and suicidal thoughts,” Reddington said in February.
‘They (Lindsay and her husband Patrick) repeatedly went to the doctors and said, ‘Please help us.’
‘This turned her into a zombie… the drugs prescribed were excessive, absolutely excessive.
‘She received regular medical care and treatment. And her husband was very proactive in trying to protect her and help her with the medications the doctors prescribed her.
“They went through hell and never came back,” he said.
He plans to use this as a defense against assassination attempts. Patrick, her husband, says he has forgiven her.
In a GoFundMe message to friends and strangers who have raised $1 million for him, he said: “I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourself to forgive Lindsay as I have.
“The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring to everyone: me, our children, family, friends and her patients.
‘The fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she can somehow find peace.”