MA - Lindsay Clancy, Strangled 3 Children in Murder/Suicide Attempt, Duxbury, Jan 2023

[SophieRose]

I watched it all live on the local station. I am so torn. For one, why broadcast it live? I've followed so many cases. She is not a Casey Anthony. She apparently knew she had issues and tried to get help. In my opinion, she was misdiagnosed and on too many meds! I heard what the prosecutor said, she was trying to make it like she was in her right mind...

How prosecutor says former CT resident Lindsay Clancy plotted to kill 3 kids

A prosecutor described the hours leading up to the deaths of former Connecticut resident...

www.ctinsider.com

She also kept "meticulous and detailed daily medication logs," according to Sprague. Patrick Clancy told prosecutors she was "never on more than four to five medications at one time," and when the killings occurred, "she was taking only three medications," according to Sprague.

 

[Cloudydiamond]

How prosecutor says former CT resident Lindsay Clancy plotted to kill 3 kids

A prosecutor described the hours leading up to the deaths of former Connecticut resident...

www.ctinsider.com

She also kept "meticulous and detailed daily medication logs," according to Sprague. Patrick Clancy told prosecutors she was "never on more than four to five medications at one time," and when the killings occurred, "she was taking only three medications," according to Sprague.

3 meds is alot. She had left over drugs they took her off. I wanna know what her toxoligy was. Was she feeling so awful and self-medicating with the others?

 

[Alethea]

This is where I’m at as well, though will admit some of the details today were startling. I can still reconcile them within the framework of this though.

I will say I was really surprised hearing the state's case as it does complicate the situation. There are bad facts that are hard to explain. And those poor, poor babies. There's no explanation except that it's a tragedy.

But the ultimate situation remains the same: what was the end goal? It's not like she would "get away" with it. She was home alone with her children. She killed them. No rational person would think her husband would come home and she'd be back to living childless to start again. There's no rational thinking here. It was ending it all.

We know better than to question what people do before a suicide. Some people are openly depressed and struggling for a very long time where their friends and family are heartbroken but would not consider their suicide a surprise. Some people do something fun and exciting as they are happy that they are "set" in their very sad plan to end their life. Other people have a completely normal day where their loved ones mourn that there was no warning and everyone is in shock. So I don't know why we'd treat this any differently.

One thing I do not put much weight behind are the "journals" that the state believes show her state of mind. We're all taught to put our best foot forward. Social media is full of carefully curated content that rarely reflects reality. If someone is really trying to get it together maybe the journals reflect the idealized version of herself and not what she was really feeling.

Either way it's a truly unexplainable tragedy. Neither option presented today makes sense to me. I'm just sad about it for those poor kids.

 

[Erutan]

Humbly, I hope she is convicted of murder. Those poor babies.

There needs to be at least some justice for those little ones.
Hard to believe she is not going to spend time behind bars at least for now ?
Imo.

 

[Erutan]

'She killed the kids': Court hearing reveals what happened to Clancy children in Duxbury

Lindsay Clancy, 32, was arraigned on two charges of murder in Plymouth District Court on Tuesday in the deaths of her children.

www.yahoo.com

When the time comes for her to be released from the hospital, she is to be admitted to a 24/7 rehabilitation facility, Canavan said. After that, she will be released to home confinement with GPS monitoring, subject to further hearings. She was ordered to continue undergoing mental health treatment.
Emphasis mine.

Wondering if Lindsay will ever see the inside of a jail ?

The defense will be compelled to prove that she didn't know what she was doing and had completely lost touch with reality.


This part is worrisome :

The assistant district attorney said Lindsay Clancy then opened the Apple Maps application to check how long it would take to drive to the Plymouth restaurant and back.

If she was in the middle of a blackout/psychosis episode, would she be able to accomplish checking the time it took for her husband to be away ?
M00.

 

[KMouse]

Well, after viewing the entire arraignment, the evidence presented by the Commonwealth is incredibly damning against LC. First-degree murder charges, surprisingly, seem like the only homicide charges that would be appropriate under the circumstances.

Her only possible defense to premeditated murder, from what I heard, was a claim that she had a bout of momentary psychosis which struck after her husband left, had never occurred before or after, where a man’s voice told her to kill her kids, and even though she’d never heard this voice or experienced psychosis before, she was somehow completely powerless to question or resist its command.

I don’t know exactly what happened, and more will be revealed, but what I heard during that arraignment left me nauseous and really detesting LC.

She says she heard a voice and never mentioned it before, says she had a 'moment' of psychosis' but somehow remembers this psychotic moment enough to be able to tell her husband (lawyer, doctor)??

 

[tzianna]

I think the info from this arraignment took the complexity of this case to a whole other level.

However, in my opinion, psychotic patients can still make plans and decisions while experiencing psychotic symptoms. The fact she made a plan and made her husband go away in order for her to kill her children doesn't mean that her thought process and perception of reality was not distorted and that she didn't have chaos inside her mind while doing it.
Masking symptoms and appearing normal while being psychotic is a very real thing.

Also, she was on a hell of a lot of antidepressants and psychotropic meds for someone who 'did not have depression or psychosis'. These would not have been prescribed without an indication, they wouldn't have been given to someone with no mental health issues.

JMO

 

[Erutan]

She says she heard a voice and never mentioned it before, says she had a 'moment' of psychosis' but somehow remembers this psychotic moment enough to be able to tell her husband (lawyer, doctor)??

Makes no sense at all. ^^^

I'm starting to think the victims in this case -- are first and foremost the children, and then the husband ; since it looked like he was getting her medical help and even worked from home ?

 

[KMouse]

Coworkers wrote letters of support to the court. I wonder what they are thinking now after hearing the details of what happened.

 

[spicyrock]

For me the most damning thing as it relates to psychosis and a possible psychotic state of mind, is that apparently the first thing she communicated from the hospital bed was asking if she needed a lawyer.

I’m not saying she was or she wasn’t. I’m just saying that seems to show she was connected enough to reality to be concerned with her future. She registered the consequences of her actions.

How terrible. Just all around terrible and extremely confusing.

 

[rkendmar]

I watched it all live on the local station. I am so torn. For one, why broadcast it live? I've followed so many cases. She is not a Casey Anthony. She apparently knew she had issues and tried to get help. In my opinion, she was misdiagnosed and on too many meds! I heard what the prosecutor said, she was trying to make it like she was in her right mind...

I heard what the prosecutor said, she was trying to make it like she was in her right mind...

Yes, I think you're correct.
IMO she covered up what was going on in her head out of fear that her children would be taken away, if she were forthcoming.
JMO.

 

[arielilane]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1623070145425068032

Didn't want to watch this but did because you can't turn away from real life unfortunately. Had to be one of the most difficult videos I've ever listened to. It did sound calculated and pre-meditated... Obviously, I will never grasp illness at this magnitude but I do know that our society needs to pay attention and assist with mental illness... Those poor sweet innocent children.. and her husband, my heart breaks for this family - that is no more. This is hell... moo.

 

[rkendmar]

Coworkers wrote letters of support to the court. I wonder what they are thinking now after hearing the details of what happened.

Her coworkers know her personally and have medical training and experience.

 

[sleuth_truths]

Coworkers wrote letters of support to the court. I wonder what they are thinking now after hearing the details of what happened.

Since her co-workers are doctors & nurses (obstetricians & labor and delivery nurses at that), I'd feel confident in expecting they think this is a devastating tragedy all-around, and since they are also medically educated, they can also understand the mechanisms that likely caused it.

As a side note, her keeping 'meticulous' notes of med logs is not proof that she was not in a psychotic state. It's proof that she was a NURSE.

ETA: It only takes ONE drug to cause horrific side effects.

 

[Megnut]

I think there's no question she was suicidal. Suicidal people can plan or react. Suicidal people get dressed, brush their teeth, make phone calls, keep journals, make plans for the next day.

Her history of treatment and medications open the door for a drug-related defense IMO. Suicidal/homicidal ideation.

If not for the children, this would be a multi million dollar lawsuit against the medical establishment/pharmaceutical companies IMO. It may be one anyhow. It's possible that she was overwhelmed with suicidal ideation that turned homicidal in the moment. Deeply disordered thinking.

All brought on arguably post partum, possibly made worse by a heavy drug load. So much of her thinking seems so incongruent with her life up to that point, I can't help but wonder if there's another underlying contributor, such as a brain tumor, though likely she's had brain scans due to the severity of her injuries.
Her injuries ARE severe. This was no cry for help IMO. She didn't intend to survive IMO. Brutal injuries. A transected spinal cord doesn't repair itself. Cervical fractures too.

If this were only a failed suicide, she has a long road ahead of her. Self-inflicted paralysis, that's a lot. That's months and months of rehab, in the best of circumstances (speaking as a paraplegic myself). Then add in the distressing mental health issues and the challenges of finding and managing the right combinations of meds.

But this is also a criminal investigation. Murder times three. Those precious, beautiful babies.

I support the judge's ruling. She needs medical intervention to recover from her physical injuries, insofar as she can. She needs treatment for the depression, anxiety, ideation that got her here.

There will be time later to assess penalty.

And a lifetime to mourn the lives taken.

Devastating loss.

JMO

 

[KMouse]

For me the most damning thing as it relates to psychosis and a possible psychotic state of mind, is that apparently the first thing she communicated from the hospital bed was asking if she needed a lawyer.

I’m not saying she was or she wasn’t. I’m just saying that seems to show she was connected enough to reality to be concerned with her future. She registered the consequences of her actions.

How terrible. Just all around terrible and extremely confusing.

Do I need a lawyer vs. are the kids okay or I'm sorry.

 

[iamshadow21]

Wow, looks like this thread blew up while I slept. I'm going to try to catch up. Sounds like we have a whole lot of new information.

 

[Marysmith]

Also, the prosecutor presented to the Court that both LC and her husband were informed by her psychiatrist that she was NOT suffering from postpartum depression.

For the defense attorney to then base his entire argument on PPD/depression and psychosis, and to go off into a generalized critique of how women’s postpartum depression is completely ignored by society, sounded very weak. Like he couldn’t offer a strong defense based entirely on the relevant facts and had to blur his client into the “PPD/PPP mom” image.

It did bother me that he released all that information about her medications which of course didn’t include many pertinent details. I wondered why he was trying to get ahead of this in the public eye and accuse her care team of malpractice.
I am in shock over this arraignment. I can’t imagine what her family and friends think.

 

[iamshadow21]

I think the info from this arraignment took the complexity of this case to a whole other level.

However, in my opinion, psychotic patients can still make plans and decisions while experiencing psychotic symptoms. The fact she made a plan and made her husband go away in order for her to kill her children doesn't mean that her thought process and perception of reality was not distorted and that she didn't have chaos inside her mind while doing it.
Masking symptoms and appearing normal while being psychotic is a very real thing.

Also, she was on a hell of a lot of antidepressants and psychotropic meds for someone who 'did not have depression or psychosis'. These would not have been prescribed without an indication, they wouldn't have been given to someone with no mental health issues.

JMO

On a lot of meds, and receiving intensive treatment. Both inpatient and outpatient. They don't just do that for everybody.

 

[Which_pancake]

It was a little unclear to me if the prosecutor was saying that one of the first things LC communicated in general was to ask about a lawyer, or if it was one of the first things she said to police. While it would be odd if that is the first thing she said to her doctors upon gaining consciousness or something, it would not be unusual if that is the first thing she said to a police officer. MOO