Crime

Lindsay Clancy timeline: What court records, attorney statements reveal about the Duxbury mother’s mental health

Details from police, prosecutors, and Clancy's attorney help tell the story of the Duxbury mother's mental health leading up to Jan. 24.

By Abby Patkin

updated on February 21, 2023

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As Lindsay Clancy’s case proceeds through the courts, the 32-year-old’s defense is expected to focus largely on her mental state, with attorneys and experts poring over the minute details of her care and demeanor in the days and months before she allegedly killed her three children. 

The Duxbury mother was arraigned in Plymouth District Court earlier this month, with attorneys on both sides laying the groundwork for their respective cases. 

Here is an abridged timeline of Clancy’s reported mental health struggles and treatment, based on accounts from law enforcement, prosecutors, and her attorney.

End of September, 2022 Lindsay Clancy says she’s beginning to get anxious ahead of her return to work at Massachusetts General Hospital, her husband, Patrick, later tells police. She visits two different psychiatrists.

Clancy is initially diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, according to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague.

Kevin J. Reddington, Clancy’s attorney, later tells The Boston Globe that his client was prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications between last October and January, including some used to treat anxiety, depression, and insomnia:

Patrick Clancy tells police that his wife would take as many as four medications a day, though she would take them as prescribed.

Oct. 25, 2022 According to prosecutors, Lindsay Clancy — who kept detailed notes about her daily activities, mental state, and medication use — writes a note on her phone reading, “I think I sort of resent my other children, because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby. And I know that’s not fair to them. I know that. I was feeling so depressed last evening when Cora and Dawson came home from school. I know it runs off on them, so we had a pretty rough evening. I want to feel love and connection with all of my kids.”

Dec. 20, 2022 Clancy is evaluated at the Women & Infants Hospital Center for Women’s Behavioral Health in Providence. Psychiatrists there tell her she does not have postpartum depression, as she has no symptoms of postpartum depression, according to Sprague.

End of December, 2022 Clancy says she’s having suicidal thoughts and thoughts of hurting her children, her husband later tells police.

Jan. 1, 2023 Clancy self-admits to McLean Hospital in Belmont. The psychiatric hospital discharges her on Jan. 5 without any indication that she is a danger to herself or others, according to Sprague.

Mid-January, 2023 Patrick Clancy asks his wife if she’s still having suicidal thoughts; she tells him she isn’t, according to Sprague.

Jan. 22, 2023 The Clancys and their two older children have dinner at the home of Kyle Carney, Patrick Clancy’s college friend. Carney later tells police that Lindsay seemed fairly normal that evening.

He says Patrick told him that Lindsay was having anxiety about returning to work and had been prescribed medications, which were — in Patrick’s opinion — not working. According to Carney, Patrick said that Lindsay was suffering from benzodiazepine withdrawals approximately a month-and-a-half prior and had “the worst side effects possible.”

Jan. 23, 2023 Lindsay Clancy writes a note on her phone stating she has “a touch of postpartum anxiety” around returning to work, according to Sprague.

Jan. 24, 2023 While her husband is out running an errand and picking up dinner, Clancy allegedly strangles their three children and attempts to kill herself, sustaining injuries that put her in the hospital and paralyze her from the waist down. She is later charged in her children’s deaths.

Feb. 6, 2023 Clancy calls her husband while sitting with Dr. Paul Zeizel, a psychologist hired by her attorney. She tells Patrick Clancy she heard voices and had a “moment of psychosis” after he left the house on Jan. 24. He asks her what voices she heard, and she tells him she heard a man’s voice telling her to kill the kids and kill herself, because it was her last chance. Patrick Clancy later tells police that his wife had never heard voices or used the word “psychosis” with him before.

Feb. 7, 2023 During Clancy’s arraignment, Reddington tells the court that his client remains suicidal, adding, “She’s extremely emotional, however she’s unable and has been unable to express any happiness or sadness or cry.”