Massachusetts mother’s phone records show mental-health searches before children’s deaths
During the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, prosecutors presented data from her phone indicating searches on hallucinations, bipolar disorder and postpartum depression in the weeks preceding the killing of her three children.
A forensic analysis of Lindsay Clancy’s smartphone revealed that in the weeks before she strangled her three children in January 2023, she searched for information on hallucinations, psychosis, drug side effects, suicide methods, bipolar disorder, insomnia and postpartum depression. The data were introduced as evidence at her murder trial in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
In an October 2022 note, the 36-year-old former labor-and-delivery nurse expressed doubts about her parenting, questioned her decision to stop breastfeeding her eight-month-old, and voiced concerns about caring for a fourth child. The note read, “I’m terrified of something happening to my kids or doing something wrong to mess up their development… Our generation is inundated with information about every aspect of parenting. … It’s insane. For the last five years, I’ve just filled my mind with all things parenting and it’s just unhealthy.”
“I’m terrified of something happening to my kids or doing something wrong to mess up their development,” the note said.
Clancy’s defense argues that she suffered from bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis, conditions diagnosed by a forensic psychiatrist after the killings. Her attorneys contend that she was not criminally responsible because she heard voices urging her to kill the children.
Prosecutors maintain that Clancy deliberately killed the children, noting that she sent her husband to obtain takeout and pharmacy items on Jan. 24, 2023, before strangling the children with exercise bands. Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham warned jurors against treating the case as a broader debate on women’s mental health.
If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life imprisonment without parole; a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity would result in commitment to a state mental-health facility.
Clancy’s attorneys say she repeatedly sought help, including contacting outpatient providers, calling a suicide hotline, visiting an emergency department, attempting to enroll in a hospital-based program for postpartum mental health, and checking into a psychiatric hospital for several days. They claim her condition worsened despite multiple psychiatric medications, some of which can be problematic for bipolar patients.