TEWKSBURY, Mass. — Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother accused of killing her kids before attempting to take her own life, pleaded not guilty Thursday to three counts of murder in connection with their deaths.
Clancy, 33, was arraigned during a hearing at Tewksbury Hospital on three counts of murder and strangulation after she was indicted in September in the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter, Cora, her 3-year-old son, Dawson, and her 8-month-old baby, Callan.
Clancy has been committed at Tewksbury Hospital since May after undergoing treatment at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. Her attorney, Kevin Reddington, told Boston 25 at the time that Clancy was in need of extended mental health care.
The judge presiding over Thursday’s hearing ordered Clancy to remain held at the hospital, saying that she is a “serious risk of imminent self-harm.” Prosecutors didn’t object, while Reddington described his client as a “marvelous” mother.
Since the tragedy unfolded inside the family’s Summer Street home on the evening of Jan. 24, 2023, Reddington has maintained that Clancy had been suffering from postpartum depression and that she was overmedicated at the time of her children’s deaths.
On Thursday, Reddington said of Clancy, “This woman was a troubled soul.”
However, prosecutors are trying to paint a different picture. They used journal entries and medical records to paint her as a lucid, clear-thinking mom who was struggling with love and connection issues with her children.
“Her writing was clear and precise,” Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague said of Clancy’s journals, in which she chronicled family life, her mental state, and what medications she was taking.
“She appears to know who she is, where she is, what’s going on,” said Sprague. “With no disoriented thoughts or speech.”
Prosecutors say Clancy used exercise bands to strangle her kids before jumping out of a window in a suicide attempt. First responders located Clancy’s three children in the basement, unconscious, and with obvious signs of severe trauma.
Investigators ultimately obtained an arrest warrant for Clancy and she was taken into custody.
The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause of death to Cora and Dawson was asphyxia, and the cause of death to Callan was complications of asphyxia.
After the alleged murders, Reddington said that his client suffered serious spinal injuries that left her paralyzed.
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Just two days before Clancy’s Tewksbury Hospital hearing, the Plymouth District Court unsealed 299 pages of records that revealed eleven search warrants that were issued back in January and kept confidential.
The warrants were used to collect exercise bands, medications, computers, notebooks, phones, a belt, a bathrobe, and pajamas. Other evidence collected in the search included a silver knife and several swabs taken from red and brown stains found throughout the home.
A Tewksbury Hospital doctor called in to the arraignment and gave her professional opinion that Clancy should remain hospitalized for psychiatric care, as she’s expressed feelings of depression, worthlessness, and has talked of suicide.
Plymouth Superior Court Judge William Sullivan agreed — setting no bail but ordering Clancy held at the hospital.
Clancy is due back in court on Dec. 15.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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