Patrick Clancy speaks after mistrial in children’s killings

Patrick Clancy, whose three young children were strangled in their Massachusetts home in 2023, said in his first televised interview since his ex-wife’s murder trial that he wants the focus returned to Cora, Dawson and Callan — and to the perinatal mental health issues he believes drove the tragedy.

The interview aired as Massachusetts prosecutors weigh whether to retry Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse accused of killing the couple’s children — Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months — before attempting suicide. A judge declared a mistrial Sept. 4 after jurors deadlocked. Eleven jurors favored finding Lindsay Clancy not criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, while one juror sided with prosecutors, who argued she knew what she was doing, The Guardian reported.

Patrick Clancy described the online response to the case as “painful to see,” saying criticism and conspiracy theories from people who supported Lindsay Clancy had distorted the legacy of his children.

“It’s deeply harmful to the legacy of my children,” he said. “It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health. And it’s done real harm to real people, myself included but also others.”

Patrick and Lindsay Clancy had been married six years and were living in Duxbury, Massachusetts, when he first noticed in the fall of 2022 that she was struggling after Callan’s birth. He said she went several nights without sleeping.

“I didn’t know how to manage a postpartum illness,” he said. “I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive. So I’m sure there are things that I didn’t see.”

Her condition worsened in December, he said, with “a huge lack of sleep, deep, deep depression, intrusive thoughts.” She made repeated emergency room visits, entered a program for patients with postpartum depression and was discharged after a day of treatment, CBS News reported. She also was prescribed an escalating number of medications. On New Year’s Eve, she checked herself into McLean Psychiatric Hospital, where she was treated for depression and released days later.

Seventeen days after the family celebrated Cora’s birthday on Jan. 7, Lindsay Clancy asked Patrick to run an errand and pick up dinner, he said. When he returned, he found her in the backyard with her throat and wrists cut, paralyzed after jumping from an upstairs window. In the basement, he found the children strangled. Cora and Dawson were dead. Callan survived briefly and was airlifted to Boston Children’s Hospital.

“I remember just thinking, ‘Just gimme one. Just gimme one kid, and I would raise him as best I could, and I would give him the best life I possibly could. I’d tell him about his brother and sister,’” he said.

Callan lived four days. Patrick Clancy said he held him and told him, “I’m so sorry.” The baby died in his arms.

Patrick Clancy said he rejects descriptions of Lindsay Clancy as a “killer mom,” “baby murderer” or “monster,” saying, “none of ’em were accurate.” He said he believes “it was her mental illness that caused that” and that he forgave her because otherwise he “would be eaten up inside forever.”

Asked whether she had requested forgiveness, he said, “No. But I gave it to her.”

Both Patrick and Lindsay Clancy have filed medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors and hospitals involved in her care. Lindsay Clancy alleges negligence and medical malpractice, while Patrick Clancy alleges wrongful death.

After the killings, Patrick Clancy said his life came to a “screeching halt” and that he experienced suicidal thoughts. He later moved to New York City seeking anonymity, kept some of his children’s belongings in his Manhattan apartment and found help speaking with experts at Postpartum Support International. A playground in Duxbury has also been built with features honoring each child.

The Plymouth County district attorney has not said whether he will seek a new trial. Lindsay Clancy is being held at Tewksbury Hospital in Massachusetts.