Isa Abbott, Opinion Editor
Disclaimer: This article includes discussion of suicude and murder. In addition, this article does not aim to claim that one person was responsible for a murder, but rather adds to dialogue on the holes of this case.
On Jan. 24, 2023, Lindsay Clancy allegedly strangled and killed her children, and attempted to take her own life. Lindsay was then charged on Feb. 7, 2023, pleading not guilty, and now, three years later, she faced a long, and exhausting criminal trial, which only led to a mistrial.
I don’t like to think of myself as a true crime enthusiast, but when I first heard about this case, I thought it was very intriguing. It seems to ask: was the result of Lindsay’s children’s deaths due to mental illness or voluntary murder? However, it doesn’t seem to take into account the fact that her husband seemingly ignored most of her medical needs, after being very transparent about her mental health. In order to analyze this further, we have to start from the beginning.
On May 26, 2022, Lindsay’s third child with Patrick, Callan, was born. A few months later, in October, Lindsay journals something disturbing after having struggled with her mental health. She writes that she feels her brain has been consumed by all things parenting for years, and that she is “terrified of something happening to [her] kids.”
Then, on Nov. 30 of that year, Lindsay texts her mother-in-law, saying she is “not okay” and that she is, “terrified of taking [her] meds tonight.” Her mother-in-law later testified that her family was really worried about her, and that she was begging for help. Her mother also testified that Lindsay had thoughts of harming her children, and within that month or so, she had even called the suicide hotline twice due to postpartum depression. Then, on Jan. 1, 2023, Lindsay was admitted into an inpatient program at McLean Hospital, and was discharged only five days later. Her doctor suggested she was more of a low-risk patient, and didn’t see any way she could be a risk to herself or anyone else.
19 days after being discharged, Lindsay supposedly killed her children, and attempted to kill herself.
The problem with postpartum psychosis is that you don’t always have symptoms for a long period of time like you do with standard depression. It can come and go, and appear even very suddenly, as though it were random and you couldn’t see it coming. There is also a major difference between postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis that a lot of people seem to forget, or maybe just don’t know.
Postpartum depression is more of a common depression over a longer period of time, whereas postpartum psychosis is a severe and rare emergency where a person can have an entire separation from their reality and have little-to-no control over themselves. Just because Lindsay was experiencing postpartum depression doesn’t mean anyone could predict the rare possibility of her having actual postpartum psychosis, leading to the death of her children.
I think what makes this case so difficult, but also intriguing to the media, is that nothing actually adds up. In recent news, Patrick Clancy, the former husband of Lindsay Clancy, decided to get a lawyer, who publicly announced in response to the conspiracies online about Patrick, that “there will be consequences” if they continue. While I understand that Patrick’s loss was great, and that it must have been difficult to relive what happened to his family, I think we all have a right to be skeptical.
When appearing as a witness in the trial, Patrick suggested that Lindsay had never mentioned her fears about wanting to harm the children, and never mentioned psychosis. However, you cannot just mention psychosis if it hasn’t happened yet. As I stated before, postpartum psychosis can happen very suddenly, and almost feel like an out-of-body experience, separated from reality. I’m not fully confident that she had a full psychosis until Jan. 24, if at all.
In addition, there are several testimonies that say Lindsay had reached out to get help because she feared something bad would happen to her kids and that she was struggling with her medicine. Patrick was completely aware of his wife’s state of mind, and I don’t see how it could’ve been a secret. If anything, it just seems like neglectfulness on his end to not care she was discharged so soon after calling a suicide hot line twice, and also asking for help multiple times.
I also don’t think it is completely wrong for someone to feel suspicious about Patrick, when he was not even brought in as a suspect for the murder of his children, nor was he asked to leave the crime scene. There was no blood, medicine or anything in addition to the exercise bands that were used to strangle the kids tested. In that DNA test, it was found that only Dawson, one of the children, was a match for finger prints on the bands. Neither Lindsay, nor Patrick’s DNA showed up. I’m not fully sure if a woman who is having a postpartum psychosis episode would actually care enough to hide the evidence of killing her three children, especially if she had the intention of ending her life afterward. This raises reasonable suspicion that the only person who could have intentions to hide their DNA on the bands, would in fact be Patrick.
Finally, I think it would be completely reasonable to believe Patrick had something to do with the death of his children because it was shown that under his email address, someone looked up “how to slit your throat to die,” followed by, “where is the carotid artery located?” For a little bit of context, Lindsay was a nurse, and no nurse needs a reminder on where the carotid artery is located.
Once Lindsay’s throat was slit and she was outside on the ground after seemingly throwing herself out of the window, Patrick claims that when he got home and asked her where the kids were, she said in the basement. However, once people arrived at the scene, she had a crushed thyroid and everyone said she was completely unable to speak. In addition to that, her body temperature was at about 82 degrees.
This point is extremely important and places a heavy amount of reasonable doubt that Lindsay did this just because her youngest son was able to be saved, although he did eventually die. In almost every case, you would have to have a body temperature that low because you were outside overnight. However, this case claims that she received this body temperature in 30 minutes. It is, in my eyes, physically impossible for Lindsay to have killed her kids, for one to be still somewhat alive by the time someone gets to the scene, and also to be at a body temperature that low in such a short time. These are just a few points within a pool of many more, for why I’m very uncertain of whether or not Lindsay actually did this.
However, I’m also not very sure about whether or not Patrick did this either. As it’s been mentioned by even Lindsay’s lawyer, that when they listened to the 911 call, his screams and sobs were something not even an actor could replicate.
Though this is fair, I still think the holes in the case make it really hard to determine who is actually responsible for what happened that night.
Regardless, the case became a mistrial, where they will hear the case again with a new set of jurors. Lindsay’s lawyer is also aiming for a retrial. However, going through this case again means Lindsay has to relive what happened to her family all over again, and I’m not sure she can handle more of that. If we have a case about postpartum depression and psychosis, we need to actually recognize it for how serious it is, not brush it off and continue to do a whole new trial just because one juror was a domestic abuser who wanted to vote “guilty” to blame a woman for the heck of it.
Finally, I think what happened on 60 minutes a few weeks ago still continues to put Patrick and his new wife in an even more riskier position.
A few weeks ago, Patrick and his new wife, who he had gotten with not very long after the death of his children and his divorce with Lindsay, went on 60 minutes to talk about the case, and what happened from their view. I felt like this was set up to give them a new look and clear their names before the new trial begins, but quite frankly, I think it makes them look even more suspicious. I do, however, think it was refreshing to see that Patrick actually talked to people about postpartum depression to understand what went on with Lindsay, and I also appreciate the fact he and Lindsay are both suing multiple doctors for malpractice and negligence.
Isa Abbott ‘28 is a politics and public affairs major from Indianapolis, Indiana.