Duxbury mother accused of strangling her children will remain under psychiatric care

TEWKSBURY, Mass. (WLNE) — A Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children was held without bail at her virtual arraignment from Tewksbury Hospital on Thursday.

Lindsay Clancy pleaded not guilty over Zoom to three counts of murder and strangulation in the deaths of her three children at their Duxbury home on Jan. 24.

Clancy was left paralyzed after she jumped from a window on the second floor of her Summer Street home. Authorities believe she tried to commit suicide after she strangled her three children, 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson, and 7-month old son Callan, with exercise bands.

A doctor recommended Clancy should remain in the hospital under psychiatric care.

The judge held Clancy without bail and agreed she remains in imminent risk of self-harm, therefore ruling that she will stay in the hospital for the foreseeable future.

“This woman was a troubled soul,” said one attorney. “So, when the case goes to trial, I believe that she has a very, very, very good defense.”

Clancy was indicted on the charges last month. The case was moved to Tewksbury Hospital earlier this year so she could receive court-ordered mental health care.

Attorneys argued that Clancy planned on killing her children, saying she sent her husband, Patrick, to pick up dinner from a restaurant that evening.

They said Clancy repeatedly checked Apple Maps in order to calculate how much time she would have alone with the children.

They also claimed she looked up “ways to kill.”

Clancy’s defense has maintained that she was suffering from postpartum depression and was severely overmedicated at the time of the tragedy.

Attorneys said Clancy kept a notebook, in which she tracked her medication and wrote of her thoughts of suicide.