Charged with murdering her three young children at the family's Duxbury home in January 2023, Clancy went to trial in the summer of 2026 on a defense that postpartum psychosis left her not criminally responsible. The jury deadlocked, and the judge declared a mistrial on Sept. 4, 2026.
On Oct. 21, 2026, Judge William Sullivan denied a defense request for an evidentiary hearing on the lone holdout juror from the first trial, writing that "any further judicial inquiry is inappropriate."65 He wrote that evidence of "good cause to dismiss a deliberating juror that came to light only after a mistrial was declared simply is not relevant to whether there was a manifest necessity for a mistrial."6 The defense argues that the mistrial was declared without "manifest necessity" and that a second trial would violate double jeopardy; that motion to dismiss is still pending.95
Cora Clancy was 5, Dawson Clancy was 3, and Callan Clancy was 8 months old.3 Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth on Jan. 24, 2023; Callan was flown to Boston Children’s Hospital, where he died after several days of treatment.32 The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death asphyxia for Cora and Dawson and a complication of asphyxia for Callan, according to the district attorney’s office.3
According to the district attorney’s office, Duxbury police received a 911 call at about 6:11 p.m. reporting a suspected suicide attempt by a woman who had jumped from a window of the family’s home. Police and fire personnel found Clancy outside and took her to a hospital, and first responders then found the three children unconscious in the basement.1
Her then-husband testified at trial that he had gone out to pick up takeout and stopped at a CVS pharmacy, and that when he came back the house was unusually quiet and he could not find anyone.18 He testified that he found the bedroom door locked, then found her injured in the backyard, and that she told him she had tried to take her own life.18 Prosecutors have said that on the 911 call, when asked where the children were, she said they were in the basement.21 She was paralyzed from the waist down by the fall.2016
The account in this section is the prosecution’s. These are allegations, and Clancy is presumed innocent.
At her February 2023 arraignment, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague said Clancy “planned these murders” and sent her husband to pick up takeout from a restaurant far enough away to give herself time.22 Prosecutors said that earlier that day she had taken a child to a pediatrician appointment and sent ordinary texts and photos to family.2122 They said that in the late afternoon she searched her phone for a takeout restaurant in Plymouth and used a maps app to check the drive, asked her husband to get takeout there rather than somewhere closer, and then asked him to stop at a pharmacy for a laxative for the children.21 Sprague also told the court that Clancy had been discharged from McLean Hospital’s psychiatric program on Jan. 5, 2023, and that there had never been any indication she was a danger to herself or others.22
Prosecutors allege that Clancy strangled each child with an exercise band and then tried to kill herself.227 The district attorney’s office says she acted “with deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty.”4 In her opening statement at trial, Assistant District Attorney Shanan Buckingham described Clancy as “coldly efficient” and argued that the suicide attempt was an effort to escape responsibility.19
At arraignment, defense lawyer Kevin Reddington said that between October 2022 and January 2023 Clancy had been prescribed 13 psychiatric medications, that “she was thoroughly destroyed by those medications,” and that “this is clearly a product of mental illness.”22
At trial the defense did not dispute that she killed the children. “She knows she killed the children. The issue is what was going on in that woman’s mind?” Reddington told jurors in his opening, adding, “This was no fake suicide.”19 The defense argued that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, that she had repeatedly sought help, and that the health care system overmedicated her, so that she was not criminally responsible.15
Clancy was first charged by criminal complaint, on a warrant from Plymouth District Court, and arraigned on Feb. 7, 2023, on three counts each of murder, strangulation and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; she pleaded not guilty.2 On Sept. 15, 2023, a Plymouth County grand jury indicted her on three counts each of murder and strangulation.3 She was arraigned on the indictments on Oct. 26, 2023, at Tewksbury State Hospital, pleaded not guilty and was held without bail.4
The trial opened in Plymouth Superior Court on July 27, 2026, before Judge William Sullivan.19 Her former husband was the first witness. He testified that he took her to Massachusetts General Hospital on Dec. 31, 2022, saying, “I was exhausted, not sure what to do,” and that she had seemed better at a family outing on Jan. 15, 2023.19 Prosecutors called several clinicians who had treated her; they testified that they never saw signs of psychosis.17 Prosecutors also said she often did not take her psychiatric medications as prescribed.17
Defense witnesses included her mother, who testified that she often stayed at the Duxbury home to help with the children and that Clancy had once admitted having thoughts of harming them, and her former mother-in-law, who described her as a loving mother and said, “She was begging for help.”17 A hospital chaplain who met with her about 200 times testified that Clancy “alluded to hearing a voice” that said her children would not be safe unless she obeyed.17
The mental-health experts disagreed:
Testimony ended after 21 days and more than 70 witnesses.16 In closing on Aug. 27, Reddington told jurors, “This young lady did nothing wrong in her life.” Sprague told them, “This case is not about our mental health system or how it treats women or what’s in the DSM-5 and what’s not.”15 For each child, the judge instructed jurors that they could find her guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter, or not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility if her mental condition left her unable to know right from wrong or to conform her conduct to the law. Under Massachusetts law, the prosecution must prove she was criminally responsible.1516 A first-degree murder conviction carries life without parole; a finding of lack of criminal responsibility would mean commitment to a state mental-health facility with periodic review.15
The jury reported that it was deadlocked 11-1.12 According to Reddington, notes from the foreperson said the lone holdout had some doubt about Clancy’s criminal responsibility but would not follow the judge’s instructions on reasonable doubt; Sprague argued the notes showed no biased juror, only a disagreement over what reasonable doubt means.13 The defense filed an emergency petition with a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, asking that the jury be made to keep deliberating or that the holdout be removed.14 After a hearing on the afternoon of Sept. 4, Associate Justice Dalila Argaez Wendlandt declined to intervene, and Judge Sullivan declared a mistrial.1314
Jurors who spoke to reporters afterward said the majority had favored a verdict of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.1196 One juror said she had at first believed Clancy was criminally responsible but that prosecutors never convinced her beyond a reasonable doubt: “There was too much gray area.”10
The defense moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that the mistrial was declared without “manifest necessity” and that a second trial would violate double jeopardy, and asked the court to examine the holdout juror’s legal record and cellphone use during deliberations.95 It also renewed a motion for a required finding of not guilty, arguing that prosecutors had not proved she killed her children or that she was criminally responsible; a prosecutor called the argument “laughable.”7 On Oct. 1, 2026, Judge Sullivan denied that motion, writing that the evidence “was sufficient to satisfy any rational trier of fact beyond a reasonable doubt.”7
On Oct. 21, he denied the request for an evidentiary hearing on the holdout juror. Citing the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling in the Karen Read double-jeopardy appeal, he wrote that whether a mistrial was necessary depends on what was known at the time, and that “Clancy is not entitled to an evidentiary hearing on that issue.”5 The motion to dismiss remains pending.5
Reddington has said he is open to a plea agreement but would not accept one that involves prison time for his client; both sides have declined to comment on any negotiations.97
Clancy grew up in Wallingford, Connecticut, and graduated from Quinnipiac University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, according to Hearst Connecticut Media.25
She worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital and had earlier been a nursing assistant at South Shore Hospital; she was on leave from Mass General at the time of the deaths, according to Hearst Connecticut Media.25 A Mass General spokesperson confirmed she worked as a nurse there.23 She and her husband had three children.3 They have since divorced.20
Days after the deaths, her then-husband wrote in a public statement: “The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone. She loved being a nurse, but nothing matched her intense love for our kids.” He asked the public to “forgive Lindsay, as I have.”2324
The account of her mental health comes from testimony and from what her lawyers and prosecutors have said in court; no court has made a finding about her mental state.
Her sister testified that Clancy’s mental health declined beginning in the fall of 2022.17 Her former husband testified that she struggled after her maternity leave ended following the births of her first two children, that he was surprised to learn she had been taking two or possibly three medications at once, and that he took her to Massachusetts General Hospital on Dec. 31, 2022.19 Prosecutors said she was discharged from McLean Hospital’s psychiatric program on Jan. 5, 2023.22 Her lawyer says she was prescribed 13 psychiatric medications from October 2022 to January 2023.22
The defense experts testified that she has bipolar disorder that developed into postpartum psychosis; the prosecution’s psychologist testified that she has a form of bipolar disorder but was not psychotic. Their accounts are set out under “The trial” above.1716
She has been held at Tewksbury State Hospital since 2023 and has been on suicide watch since she was admitted, according to WBUR’s trial reporting.16 Dr. Heilbrun testified that she “is still grieving.”16 During the trial, prosecutors read Tewksbury nursing notes on her activities on her children’s birthdays and on the anniversaries of their deaths.17 She and her former husband have each filed separate lawsuits against health care providers.20
No public statement from Clancy herself appears in the sources reviewed.
Prosecutors argue that Clancy planned the killings and was criminally responsible: that she sent her husband on errands to give herself time, and that although her mental health was deteriorating, she could still tell right from wrong and control her actions. At her arraignment, a prosecutor said, "She planned these murders."225 In closing, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague told jurors that Clancy was not psychotic but wanted to kill herself and take her children with her.15
Her lawyers do not dispute that she killed her children. They argue she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, heard a voice commanding her to kill her children and herself, and was not criminally responsible, after months of seeking help and being prescribed many psychiatric medications.19155 Lawyer Kevin Reddington says the mistrial was declared improperly and that a retrial is barred by double jeopardy.9
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz has called the first-degree murder charges "warranted and appropriate" but has not said whether he will retry her. "This was, and has always been, about getting justice for those three little babies," he said after the mistrial.912
Her then-husband, the children's father, said days after the deaths that he had forgiven her and asked the public to do the same.24 After the mistrial, a statement issued through his lawyer said the loss of his children "is something from which he will never recover and from which there will never be closure."14
At about 6:11 p.m., Duxbury police receive a 911 call reporting a suspected suicide attempt; first responders find Clancy outside after a fall from a window and her three children unconscious in the basement.1
Criminal complaints issue against Clancy; Cora and Dawson have died, and Callan is in treatment.1
Arraigned by video from a Boston hospital bed on three counts each of murder, strangulation and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; Callan has since died. She pleads not guilty.2
A Plymouth County grand jury indicts her on three counts each of murder and strangulation.3
Arraigned on the indictments at Tewksbury State Hospital; pleads not guilty and is held without bail.4
Opening statements in Plymouth Superior Court; her former husband is the first witness.19
After 21 days of testimony from more than 70 witnesses, closing arguments; the jury begins deliberating.1615
A single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court declines to intervene on an emergency defense petition; Judge Sullivan declares a mistrial with the jury deadlocked 11-1.1314
Judge Sullivan denies a defense motion for a required finding of not guilty.7
Judge Sullivan denies a defense request for an evidentiary hearing on the holdout juror.65
Clancy is due back in court Nov. 2, 2026, when Judge Sullivan is to hear the defense motion to dismiss and has told the lawyers to come prepared to pick a trial date.85 The district attorney has not said whether he will retry her.5 Reddington told the judge in September that he could not try the case again before June 2027.8 Massachusetts law does not allow a defendant to waive a jury on a first-degree murder charge, so any retrial would be before a new jury.12