PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The key question in Lindsay Clancy’s triple murder trial is not guilt or innocence; it’s Clancy’s mental state at the time of her children’s deaths.
Now, a diary-like note recorded on Lindsay’s cellphone is becoming a focus for the jury.
Boston Attorney Elyse Hershon is paying close attention to evidence pulled from Lindsay Clancy’s cell phone, most importantly, a diary-like note Lindsay wrote less than three months before the murders.
“I think this note is a peek into her state of mind,” Hershon said.
At Clancy’s murder trial, State Police investigator Timony Chiappini read the note aloud.
“I’m sad and depressed because I am not able to parent my third child like my first,” Chiappini read to the court.
Lindsay Clancy is charged with using exercise bands to strangle her three young children before an apparent suicide attempt.
The DA believes Clancy was an overwhelmed mother suffering from anxiety and wanted out of her situation.
Parts of the note speak to Lindsay’s frustration.
“I feel not as connected with (Callan) now. I think I sort of resent my other children because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby, and I know that’s not fair to them,” Clancy wrote.
“Is there any value in this note for the prosecution?” I asked attorney Hershon.
“This note corroborates one piece of the prosecution’s theory, which is that she was an overwhelmed mother, she resented her kids, and she didn’t want to continue like this,” Hershon said.
At the time the note was written in the fall of 2022, Clancy was seeking mental health treatment for anxiety and insomnia.
Clancy is mounting an insanity defense, claiming she was in the grip of untreated postpartum psychosis.
In her note, Lindsay complained that prescription drugs were not helping her.
“I want to feel happy, but it would be nice to feel authentically happy and not fake,” Lindsay Clancy wrote. “But I need to feel happier than I did last evening, because then I was pretty depressed and not enjoying any of my children. It was really sad.”
“What is the value of this very same note for the defense?” I asked Elyse Hershon.
“I think it’s great for the defense it shows that she’s human, she’s aware of how she felt,” Hershon said. “I think the jury could possibly relate to these feelings of being overwhelmed.”
The note also expressed Lindsay Clancy’s desire to one day have a fourth child. “But I really need to get a good therapist before then,” Clancy wrote.
Just days before the deaths of the children, Lindsay Clancy’s phone contained searches for “hallucinations” and methods of suicide.
There was even a search for “Can you treat a sociopath?”
Testimony resumes on Monday.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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