The Lindsay Clancy Case Details Everyone's Talking About

The house is really quiet. Is that unusual? Yeah. And when you realized it was really quiet, what did you do? I called out. And who did you call out to? Everyone. Did anyone answer? No. Harrowing testimony from Patrick Clancy, who found his three young children strangled at the hands of his then wife. When you saw Dawson, what condition was he in? I knew he was gone. Jers were shown the alleged murder weapons. Yellow exercise band found with Dawson. And heard the 911 call so horrific, we were court ordered not to play it. The sounds that were coming from him were not like what your vocal cords are meant to do. It was almost like a primal yellow that just kind of just came from the breaking of his heart. This is scandal presented by Lon Cron. I'm Sierra Gillespie. There's really no other word except heart breaking to describe the testimony this week in the Lindsay Clancy trial. The descriptions, truly bone-chilling, and the physical evidence shown to Jers simply put devastating. And then Helen's pajamas. Those were the clothes that eight months old, Helen Clancy was wearing when he took his last breaths. His mother, then 32-year-old Lindsay Clancy, strangled him and his two siblings using exercise bands. It was their father, Patrick Clancy, who discovered his children's lifeless bodies back in January 2023. The entire ordeal recorded on a 911 call that was played out for Jers this week. You could just feel how the father in him was breaking and how his soul was physically being ripped out of his body at that moment when he was going from one child to the next child discovering that they were gone. The call was so horrifying. The judge ordered it not be played out on the live stream or even recorded at all. Only Jers and those in the courtroom were allowed to hear it. This comes as the first week of testimony wraps up in the case against Lindsay Clancy. The now 35-year-old who faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children. This happened on January 24th, 2023, when Lindsay and her then-husband Patrick lived in Duxbury, Massachusetts, an upscale city on the South Shore. That night, Lindsay sent Patrick out to pick up something for dinner in nearby Plymouth and then had to CVS to grab some stool softener for their daughter, Korra. Prosecutors alleged Lindsay sent Patrick out of the house knowingly, deliberately mapping how long it would take him to make this trip so she could murder their three children, five-year-old Korra, three-year-old Dawson, and eight-month-old Callan. Patrick would eventually return home to find the children strangled with exercise bans. Lindsay also attempted to take her own life by ingesting pills, cutting her wrists and throat and jumping out of a second-story window. She survived this attempt, but remains paralyzed from the waist down. Lindsay's defense doesn't deny that she killed the kids, but they do deny that it was murder. They say she suffered a mental break, specifically postpartum psychosis, and killed the children as a result of a cocktail of mental health medicine prescribed to her. Three and a half years after their children's deaths, the case finally went to trial this week. The Commonwealth began by calling their star witness, Patrick Clancy, and his testimony was heartbreaking. - I just looked around in the backyard below that window and I saw Lindsay said what happened. - And what was her response? - She said I tried to kill myself. - Before he discussed finding his family, prosecutors asked Patrick about his trip to the restaurant and CVS. He explained the drive to the pharmacy was only about three minutes from his home, and he actually spoke to Lindsay on the phone while he was there. - Can you describe that phone call for us? - It was very brief. I just said, I think there was a generic brand and I said, is this one okay? And she said, yeah, that's fine. - And what was her demeanor during the call? - She's pretty quiet. It sounded like she was busy. I remember hanging up thinking she's probably in the middle of giving baths or something like that. - So it sounded to you like she was in the middle of something? - Yeah. - Were you able to understand her when she spoke to you? - Yeah. - And did she seem to understand what you were saying? - Yes. - And she didn't seem to have any trouble recalling why you were at CVS or what you were looking for? - That's correct. - Throughout this episode, we'll be showing you pictures of court exhibits. A lot continues to come out in this trial. And for the full case file, everything that's been released so far, make sure to download the Law and Crime Plus app where you can find all the info about this case and so many more. But back to the testimony from Patrick. This is really important because prosecutors allege during this phone call, Patrick says Lindsey sounded like she was in the middle of something. Prosecutors say she was allegedly in the process of murdering her children. At the time, Patrick didn't realize anything was wrong. So he then went to the restaurant to pick up the takeout and headed home. And that is when you first noticed something was way off. - When you came into the house and you were taking off your boots and putting things down, was there anything you noticed? - Yeah, the house is really quiet. - Is that unusual? - Yeah. - And when you realized it was really quiet, what did you do? - I called out. - Everyone. - Did anyone answer? - No. - After you called out and no one answered, what did you do next? - I think I don't know the order, but I called down in the basement and no one answered. And then I called Lindsey to see if she was home 'cause I looked out and I couldn't see her car, but it's because it was dark and her car's black. - Okay, so when you say you called down to the basement, when you approached the basement door, do you remember if it was open or shut? - It was shut. - So did you open it and yell down? - Yeah. - And there was no response? - Correct. - Patrick knew something was wrong. The house was just too quiet. - I started checking upstairs. - And where did you check upstairs? - First the bathroom. I thought maybe they were taking baths, but there's no one there. - And then where did you go? - The kids' bedrooms. - Was there anyone in the kids' bedrooms? - No. - And then did you go to your bedroom? - Yeah. - And were you able to get into your bedroom right away? - No, the door was locked and that's when I knew something was wrong. - And when you unlocked the door to your bedroom, did you go in? - Yeah. - And what did you see when you opened the door and went in? - I just saw a blood everywhere and the window was open. - Did you walk into the room and over to the window? - No. - How far into the room did you get? - Probably one or two steps and then I immediately turned around and went outside. - And the blood that you saw, where was that located in the room? - It was everywhere. It looked like it was sprayed almost with like a hose. And there was a huge puddle in the middle of the room and it was sprayed all over that pretty much every surface. I remember it was on the door knob. - At this point, Patrick ran outside to find Lindsay. He still didn't know his children were downstairs. - I just looked around in the backyard below that window and I saw Lindsay. - And where did you see her? - She was face up in the backyard. - And where in the backyard was she? - At the bottom of the window. - And when you saw Lindsay on the ground there under the window, which direction was her body facing? - Her head was closer to the house, her feet were away from the house. - And did you go to her? - Yeah. - And did you observe any injuries? - Yes. And what did you see? - She had deep cuts on her wrists and she had a red line across her neck. I wasn't sure what it was at first, but she cut her neck. - And do you recall that these wounds weren't actively bleeding at the time? - I later learned that I said that on the 9-1-1 call. And when you observe these wounds, is it correct that the 9-1-1 operator asked you or instructed you to apply pressure if needed? - I don't recall the whole call, but I believe that's probably true. - And you didn't at the time feel the need to apply pressure to any of those wounds, correct? - Correct. - Did you say anything to Lindsay when you found her in that state? - Yeah, I said what happened? and what was her response? She said, "I tried to kill myself." Did you ask her anything else? I said, "Where are the kids?" And what was her response? She said, "They're in the basement." And at that time, she didn't tell you that they needed help or they were in danger or they were injured, correct? Correct. And so you mentioned talking to someone on 911. And at what point did you call 911? I don't know the exact time, but it took a few minutes because my phone was switching between Wi-Fi and 911. So I almost just started calling out for the neighbors, but eventually it went through. Okay. Patrick testified, Lindsay was going in and out of consciousness during all of this, but finally helped arrive. And you're communicating information to the 911 operators and are they giving you advice on how to deal with the situation as it progresses? Yeah. Okay. Once emergency personnel arrive, what do you do? I immediately got up and ran to the basement. So when you come down those stairs that night, which direction did you go? Immediately went left. And when you went left, what did you see? I saw Cora. And how did she look? She had a band around her neck. And was that an exercise band? Yeah. And do you recall whether she was, what position she was in, whether face up or face down? She's face down. And when you saw her in that condition, what did you do? I immediately ran over and tried to take the band off. Were you able to get the band off? Yeah. And do you recall how you got the band off? I think I untied it. And when you say untied it, was it in a knot that you had to put everything down and unknotted or how was it tied? I'm not sure if I fully remember. Do you recall describing it previously as when you initially tie your shoes, but then don't do the bow? Yeah, that sounds right. And was she responsive? No. And what did you see or do next? I saw Kallen. And where was he? He was next to her. And how did he appear? He had a band around his neck. Sorry. And did you remove that as well? Yeah. And do you recall what position he was in? Same as Cora. After you removed the band from Kallen's neck, what did you do next? I tried to find Dawson. And where did you go? I looked in the bathroom and on the other side of the couch. And then I went to the other side of the basement and used in my office. And when you saw Dawson, what condition was he in? I knew who's gone. And did he also have a band around his neck? Yeah. And did you remove that band? Yeah. Now, after finding Dawson and taking off the band, what happened next? I think I was back and forth. I think I want to try to help Cora. Did you try to give her CPR? Yeah. At some point in time, do the first responders make their way down to the basement? Yeah. And do they take over care of the children? Yeah. Where do you go? They sent me upstairs. Patrick explained there were no warning signs that something like this could happen. In January of 2023, Did Lindsay ever tell you that she wanted to harm your children? No. Did she ever tell you she was going to kill your children? Yeah. She didn't talk about our kids. She talked about what she went through. And what did she say about what she went through? She said she heard a man's voice telling her that if she didn't do it now, she'd lose her chance or something like that. And did she also tell you that she had had a moment of psychosis? I don't recall. Did she mention the children at all during that call? I don't think so. Not directly. Had she ever mentioned psychosis to you before? No. I didn't know what psychosis was until after this happened. Did she ever tell you she was hearing a man's voice before? No. Patrick held it together on the stand this time around. Never breaking down. But according to my photographer in the courtroom, he cried between breaks and on side bars. In an effort to spare him anymore emotional trauma, he was allowed to leave the courtroom when these next pieces of evidence were shown to jurors. You're on at this point. I would move to submit some evidence first. Could be the clothing core of cleansing was wearing the night of January 24th, 2023. First of the pajama pants. [APPLAUSE] Dama shirt. And then the pink robe. One by one, the Commonwealth showed every piece of clothing the children were wearing when they were killed. And then Dawson's clothing. You have a dinosaur underwear for the record. And a gray t-shirt or shirt, a rungsley shirt. And then Helen Spadamas. After that, prosecutors held up the exercise bands used to strangle the kids. Yellow exercise band, found with Dawson. Black exercise bands found with porra. And then the blue exercise band, found with Callan. At this point, the 911 call was played out for the jury and the gallery. Now, this call is reportedly so harrowing that the judge ruled it couldn't be live streamed. We couldn't record it. No media can. Only those in the courtroom at the time were able to hear it. And one such person is law and crime director of photography, Richie Morganster. Well, I would have to say you could definitely feel the anticipation in the room as far as like everybody's like, oh, what's going to be said? It's not going to be allowed out to the public. This must be something. And it-- I don't think anybody could have been really prepared for what they heard, because like his-- the sounds that were coming from him were not like what your vocal cords are meant to do. It was almost like a primal yell that just kind of just came from the breaking of his heart as he was just seeing one of his children after another. I've worked with Richie a handful of times now on a range of cases. And we cover the worst of the worst. It's almost like we've built up coping mechanisms. Never have I seen him react like he is here. As I've been doing this for years, a few-- only like a few things stick to me, but this one's going to stick. There's no visual behind it. So it's locked in a different spot than the visual ones. He wanted out of the courtroom immediately. I was talking to you earlier. I could just tell by his body language, you know him when people's feet are facing towards the door. He was talking this direction, but you could tell his lower torso in the opposite direction to get out of there. So he actually left when they started showing the clothing. I don't know, like he left before they started showing that. So he had his time, or he's like he didn't want to see any of this or hear any of this. He said the call was only about two or three minutes, but it was graphic. So the first-- the call starts off with him talking and kind of having his wife in the background. Obviously, you can't see anything. It's just a 911 call. and he's like talking to his wife, and you can hear his wife. You can tell that she had some liquid in her throat, you know, like as far as like she was kind of like the way her voice was coming out was more of like it was more sounds than actual words. And he's like, what do you mean they're in the basement, you know, and so he heads down to the basement, and this is where you just hear that first sound. I wouldn't even want to even try and like I couldn't even like want to even try making that sounds, you know, I don't. But it's the sound of somebody's heartbreak and that's for sure. And he's going through the room and he's talking to dispatch, but he doesn't have the ability to actually say full words. So you can hear like maybe he says like the first name of his baby, and then it's just more like vowel sounds. And it just kind of gets worse and worse and then you hear like him say something along the lines of she killed the babies. And then the dispatch is like, whoa, whoa, whoa, like what do you mean? Like you hear the dispatch talking to somebody else in the room around him or something, she killed the babies. And then I mean, I'd have to say some of us, including myself might even like blacked out to like what we are hearing because I'm like having trouble, you know, recalling some of it because of I can just hear his. His primal screen that he was making it really kind of shocked you when you hit you. Richie caught this next part on camera Lindsey Clancy herself breaking down as the call was played. I could actually hear her shaking. There was a moment where she actually grabbed Kevin's hand and is hanging on to him. And then when the judge had called for recess, I was keeping one eye on him and then another ion Lindsey and all her nurses kind of surrounded her and my court order is once the judge leaves the bench. I got to get to the seal. So I stayed as long as I could to the judge left. So what we kind of missed was just more crying, more of her hunched over and just her nurses surrounding her trying to comfort her and bring her back together. According to Richie, the attorneys were professional and didn't show much emotion. The court reporter, however, needed a moment to gather herself after this call was played. And the jury, all 18 members of the panel had a stark reaction. The jury, I would have, there wasn't a dry eye. Some were feeling it more than others, but I think we both know when the the lawyers were putting this jury together, they were picking parents and people that had children. So I think a lot of them started having that moment of that feeling of what, what if this happened to me. So they were red faced and they were feeling it also, I've never seen an entire more than half of the jury was in tears. Everybody was upset. There wasn't any, but like everybody when they were getting up, everybody's taken another extra breath, another moment to kind of gather themselves so they can compose and either go out and do their job or go out and support someone else. After a break, when everyone was able to gather their composer and get a breather, Patrick Clancy was called back to the stand this time with questioning from the defense. Can you tell the jurors as a husband living with Lindsay over the years, what kind of a mother was she? She's very dedicated. She did everything. She started reading them books at three months and she made up songs for them. I remember she used to make green eggs and ham for Quora because she liked that book. Is that one of the Dr. Sus books? Yeah. She brought them to music classes. You're quite the musician yourself, isn't it, Ray? I play a few instruments, yeah. You play guitar? Yeah. In your home, one of the things that appears to be striking is that almost every room, other than maybe a bed, well actually a bedroom, but it was dedicated to children. Would you agree with that? Yeah. You didn't have a fancy dining room, right? We did not, no. What did you have in the dining room? We had the table that I grew up with. How about stuff in the wall in the different rooms? Did she put things, wall hangings in the walls for the kids? There was a lot of art projects, stickers, things like that. Defense Attorney Kevin Reddington highlighted her love for the kids and Lindsey's work. Can you describe for the jurors her relationship with Dawson? I know he's a little kid, but I mean, did she, to your observation, did she love Dawson? She loved Dawson very much. Did she resent him? No. Tell us a little bit about, you know, Lindsey obviously the most. How did she like me in the Earth? She loved it. I think it was her dream. Did you say that she enjoyed her work and helped people? Definitely. Yeah. So there's been some commentary here from the government about that she was anxious because she had to go back to work, but she didn't want to work, she was lazy, or whatever the case may be. Objection. This is sustained if you could rephrase it. So I was trying to lazy then. That she didn't want to go back to work. But I believe you said an answer to the DA, there was a reason that you could see that she was anxious about going back to work. Correct. Now, was she anxious about going back to work? You heard knowledge because she just didn't want to work. No. What was the reason? She struggled to be away from our kids at a young age. It was only after Karen's birth in May of 2022 that things started going from bad to worse. And then in that summer of '22, you had one of the best summers that you've had, right? Yeah. What happened in September, October of 2022? Lindsay's mental health started to deteriorate. And when you say that, sir, what is it that you as your husband observed? Just increased stress and anxiety. Patrick walked jurors through Lindsay's multiple doctors appointments and many different prescription medications. Do you recall what medication Lindsay was put on by Dr. Tuffs? She started with Zilloft. And do you recall how to your observation, how dedicated was she to taking her medications as instructed by the numerous doctors that she ultimately saw? She always took them as instructed. And this part is important based on what the Commonwealth asked on Monday. Here's a sound bite from that. And so looking in exhibit two, we have the Zilloft that was prescribed by Dr. Tuffs and filled on September 15th, 2022. And I think I asked you earlier, you weren't aware that only seven pills were taken out of this, correct? That's correct. Okay. And then there's another prescription in here for out of then that was filled on October 26th, 2022, where you were aware that only six pills were taken out of that bottle. Can you say the date again? October 26th, 2022. And how many did it start with? Let's see. 30 pills. Okay. I mean, I don't have those exact numbers on how many she took, but there was, there were adjustments made on the dosage of the out of then. So it aligns with. But the question was, were you aware that only six pills were taken out of this prescription? No, but I think the context is important. The reason I had them in a bag is because sometimes a provider would adjust medications. So for example, I do remember Lindsey had a prescription of out of then. And then a few days later, they wanted to increase the dosage because it wasn't effective. So what they would do is they would say give that old prescription to your husband, he'll discard it, and then continue taking from the new prescription. When the DAS today went through the deal with scripts and they were pills, or the 30 count of them is 27 and three were gone because she wasn't taking her medication. That's not the case is what you were told to do, right? Correct. Yeah, without that context, it paints a different picture. Patrick says Lindsey wasn't shopping for doctors. the reason that if you know that she got reassigned somewhere would be Dr. Nurse Practitioner Jalada, right? - Right. - Same practice, right? - Right. - And the reason was because Paul moved on to another job, right? - Right. - So Lindsay wasn't out of Dr. Hunting, she was referred by the Nurse Practitioner that was referred to you guys by your mom because Paul was leaving, right? - Yeah, she just switched doctors in the same practice. - But in spite of her mental health treatment and her prescriptions, Patrick says the symptoms just kept getting worse. - There was an occasion where she told you in the presence of her mother that she was having horrible thoughts, right? - Right. - And you told us about that yesterday. And that took, it was quite an emotional thing for her to do that, right? - Right. - And still, Patrick said there were no real warning signs on multiple occasions before January 24th, 2023, he left Lindsay alone with the kids. - So for two days, two nights, a month and a week or so before she killed the children, she was home with the kids for two days. Is that right? - Right. - If you had to say that you also had your friends that you would do brunch with on occasion, Sundays or week nights or whenever guys night type thing. - Yeah. - And you'd be out with your friends. If she wanted to kill the kids, she certainly could have done it that time when you're out, right? - In theory. As opposed to sending you on a three minute trip to CVS and a nine minute trip to a restaurant, you were away for two days in November and on a number of occasions for brunch as well as skiing, right? You're a pretty active guy, right? - On redirect, prosecutors zeroed in on this. - And so during your trip to New York and then immediately after your trip to San Francisco with core, were there any issues or any problems or did anything happen while Lindsay was caring for those kids? - Nothing bad happened. She was, I would say her anxiety and depression was starting to tick up, but yeah, obviously nothing bad happened. - Okay, and it's your testimony that things started to get worse in December. Is that correct? - Correct. - But it was also your testimony that after the stay up McLean things got better, wasn't it? - Yeah. - And she steadily progressed throughout January, getting better, right? - Definitely, yeah. - And on January 24th, 2023, you testified that that was one of her best days. - Yeah. - That was the day the prosecution alleges Lindsay Clancy murdered her children. Following Patrick's testimony, numerous first responders were called, some even crying while on the stand. This case is shocking and upsetting and most of all, monumental. It's gonna be back on Monday with even more gripping testimony to come. So make sure to keep checking back in with a long crime. We're gonna be live streaming this trial with Gavville to Gavville coverage. But that is where today's episode of Scandal leaves us for now. If you like what you saw and you want to see more or connect with me on social media, you can find me on places like Instagram at Sierra Gillespie. Thanks for watching today's episode of Scandal. As always, I'm your host Sierra Gillespie, and I'll see you next time. (upbeat music)