PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial heard the frantic 911 call Patrick Clancy made after returning home and discovering his wife seriously injured outside their Duxbury home before finding their three children dead in the basement.
The recording was played in Plymouth Superior Court when testimony resumed Wednesday morning. However, the audio was not broadcast publicly or recorded per order of Judge William Sullivan, meaning only those inside the courtroom heard the call.
Boston 25’s Bob Ward described the call as “one of the most gut-wrenching things I have ever heard.” He added, “Truly one of the worst things I’ve heard in my 43 years of reporting.”
Lindsay Clancy was seen openly sobbing as the call played.
Patrick Clancy was called back to the stand for cross-examination when the court returned from afternoon break. Court is now in recess until Thursday at 9 a.m.
Jurors were shown family photographs taken just days before the January 2023 killings. Patrick Clancy testified that on the day of the murders, he believed his wife’s condition was improving when he left the home to pick up takeout.
Lindsay Clancy is charged with strangling the couple’s three children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan, with exercise bands in the basement of their home on Jan. 24, 2023. Prosecutors allege she sent Patrick Clancy out to pick up dinner before carrying out the killings.
Patrick Clancy takes stand, details wife’s mental health before children’s deaths
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Lindsay Clancy cries as she sees images of herself with her children playing at a indoor waterpark a month before they were killed during her trial in the Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Patrick Clancy, the father of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy testifies for the prosecution against his ex wife Lindsay Clancy at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
+ Internal memo note Jury to tour Duxbury home where Lindsay Clancy is accused of killing her children
Lindsay and Patrick Clancy, along with their children
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Patrick Clancy reacts as images of himself and his children on vacation a month before they were killed is shown in the courtroom at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Patrick Clancy takes stand, details former wife’s mental health before children’s deaths
Patrick Clancy takes stand, details former wife’s mental health before children’s deaths
Patrick Clancy takes stand, details former wife’s mental health before children’s deaths
Patrick Clancy takes stand, details former wife’s mental health before children’s deaths
Patrick Clancy takes stand, details former wife’s mental health before children’s deaths
Patrick Clancy takes stand, details former wife’s mental health before children’s deaths
25 Investigates: Researchers studying medications key to Lindsay Clancy’s defense
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Jennifer Sprague, a prosecutor with the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office, enters a bag of prescription pills as evidence in Lindsay Clancy's trial, Monday, July 27, 2026, at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Patrick Clancy glances over at the defense table and his ex wife Lindsay Clancy is seated during her murder trial at the Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Patrick Clancy, the father of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy testifies for the prosecution against his ex wife Lindsay Clancy at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Lindsay Clancy waits for the judge to call a prospective jury member into court in her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Defendant Lindsay Clancy fights back tears as the details of her children's death are read in court at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Defendant Lindsay Clancy watches as her ex husband Patrick Clancy takes the witness stand at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Defense attorney Kevin Reddington stays at the side of his client Lindsay Clancy during her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Lindsay Clancy waits for the judge to call a prospective jury member into court in her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Clancy confers with her lawyer Kevin Reddington during her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Lindsay Clancy waits for the judge to call a prospective jury member into court in her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Lindsay and Patrick Clancy
Lindsay and Patrick Clancy
Lindsay Clancy Day 3 of Jury Selection
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Paula and Mike Musgrove, parents of Lindsay Clancy, sit as jury selection starts in Lindsay's murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Monday, July 20, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Defense attorney Kevin Reddington argues a motion about expert witnesses before the start of jury selection in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Monday, July 20, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Lindsay Clancy sits as jury selection starts in her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Monday, July 20, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Children Killed Postpartum Defense Lindsay Clancy sits as jury selection starts in her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Monday, July 20, 2026, in Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) (Greg Derr/Greg Derr/Pool The Patriot Ledge)
Live court video, updates: Jury selection underway in the trial of Lindsay Clancy
Children Dead Massachusetts FILE - In this image from video, Lindsay Clancy, with a surgical mask over her face, appears from the hospital for her arraignment on charges regarding the death of her three children, at Plymouth District Court in Plymouth, Mass., on Feb. 7, 2023. (David Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool, File) (David L. Ryan/David L. Ryan/Pool The Boston Gl)
Lindsay Clancy may sit out graphic testimony in murder trial
Lindsay Clancy
Lindsay Clancy
Judge denies request from Lindsay Clancy’s legal team to split trial into two parts
“We’re about to hear what happened and what he saw when he came home, so certainly I expect it to be harrowing, I expect it to be upsetting and horrific,” Hershon said. “But he’s a victim in all of this, probably the biggest living victim that there is in this case. He lost his wife, essentially, to the system and a wheelchair; he lost his children, and his entire life got upended, so it will be hard to watch, but it is evidence coming into this trial.”