Inside the Mind of Lindsay Clancy: Shocking Command Hallucination Revealed in Tragic Child Killings
Warning: This article delves into profoundly distressing topics, including the suicide and death of children—definitely not your light bedtime read. But here’s a thought to chew on: how do we navigate the razor-thin line between mental illness and legal responsibility? Lindsay Clancy’s trial in Massachusetts is stirring up these tough questions after a forensic psychiatrist testified she was gripped by command hallucinations and delusions of influence when she tragically took the lives of her three children. Her defense doesn’t deny the act but argues postpartum psychosis—and a cocktail of medications—played puppeteer. As the courtroom drama unfolds, we’re forced to confront the uncomfortable reality of how mental health can blur the boundaries of right and wrong in the most devastating ways. Curious about the full story behind this heart-wrenching case? LEARN MORE
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide and the death of children, which some readers may find distressing.
Lindsay Clancy was experiencing a ‘command hallucination’ and a ‘delusion of influence’ when she killed her three children, a forensic psychiatrist testified at her trial on Friday.
Forensic psychiatrist Phillip Resnick believes Clancy was unable to tell right from wrong when she killed her three children in January 2023.
Clancy, 36, is facing trial in Massachusetts, USA, for three counts of first-degree murder.
Her defence team do not dispute that she killed Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, but argue she should not be held criminally responsible for murder as she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, as well as being ‘overmedicated’ to try and treat it.
Resnick, who had evaluated Clancy after the killings and studied her medical records, was called as the defence’s final witness on Friday, August 21, and gave his view on her mental capacity.
He told the jury: “My opinion is that Ms Clancy was, due to her mental disease, unable to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law on the day that she took the lives of her children.
“It was a matter where she was just following the command rather than being able to make any decision to do it or not.
“In her mind, she believed that she would be doing her children a favour by having them go to heaven with her rather than remain on earth without her doing the mothering.”
Testifying on the effects postpartum psychosis can have, Resnick said that he thinks Clancy was suffering from ‘command hallucination’ and a ‘delusion of influence’ when she killed her children.
The defence rested their case on Friday three weeks into the trial, which is expected to go to the jury early next week.
Lindsay Clancy killed her three children (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Hospital chaplain Sheila Cavanaugh testified on Thursday
On Thursday, August 20, Sheila Cavanaugh, the chaplain at the hospital where Clancy was treated after her failed suicide attempt, testified.
She said that Clancy told her she heard voices on the day she killed her children, saying: “If she did not follow the command, neither she nor her children would be safe.”
During cross-examination, prosecutors noted Cavanaugh hadn’t written that Clancy spoke of hearing voices in her notes.
Cavanaugh first met Clancy while she was intubated and unable to speak, but also remembered the first thing she said to her, once breathing tubes had been removed from her mouth, on January 31, 2023, a week on from the killings.
“Her emotional state was very neutral, a flat effect. I remember vividly the first thing she said to me,” Cavanaugh said in court.
Cavanaugh quoted Clancy as saying: “So glad my children are safe.”
Lindsay Clancy has attended the trial in a wheelchair (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The chaplain, who was a witness for the defence, said that she responded by saying the children were ‘safe in heaven’.
Cavanaugh said she has met and prayed with Clancy 200 times since their first meeting and added: “Lindsay talks frequently about her children; she loves them deeply. She carries immense grief.”
Prosecutors argue that Clancy intentionally strangled her three children with exercise bands on January 24, 2023, then jumped out of a two-storey window.
Though Clancy survived the fall, she is now paralysed from the waist down and has attended the trial in a wheelchair.
The trial continues next week.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
Timeline of Lindsay Clancy case
May 2022
Lindsay gives birth to her third child, Callan.
She’s open about her postpartum struggles with her other two kids on social media. Six weeks after Callan’s birth, she posts that she’s feeling ‘dialed in’ while focusing on exercise, nutrition, and mindset, and ‘it has made all the difference’.
September 2022
As the end of her maternity leave nears, Lindsay, who works as a labour and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, starts to experience anxiety about returning to work.
She visits two different psychiatrists and receives a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder.
Lindsay is prescribed several different psychiatric medications.
October 2022
According to court docs, she writes in a note on her phone: “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. I know that. I was feeling so depressed last evening when Cora and Dawson came home from school, I know it runs off on them, so we had a pretty rough evening, I want to feel love and connection with all my kids.”
December 2022
Lindsay undergoes an evaluation at the Women and Infants Hospital Center for Women’s Behavioral Health. She is not diagnosed with postpartum depression, prosecutors say.
Lindsay’s husband Patrick tells police she is having suicidal thoughts and thoughts of harming their children, according to his testimony in court.
1-5 January, 2023
Lindsay admits herself to McLean Hospital for psychiatric treatment. She is discharged after five days as clinicians do not believe she poses an imminent danger to herself or others, prosecutors say.
22 January, 2023
Lindsay, Patrick, Cora and Dawson have dinner at family friend Kyle Carney’s home. Kyle later tells police that Lindsay ‘seemed fairly normal’.
23 January, 2023
According to prosecutors, Lindsay pens a note on her phone which says she has ‘a touch of postpartum anxiety’ about going back to work.
24 January, 2023
Prosecutors allege the following took place this day:
Morning: Lindsay takes Cora to a scheduled pediatrician appointment. After returning home, they play in the snow with Dawson. She sends photos of the kids to Patrick and her mom.
4:02pm: Lindsay searches for ‘kids Miralax’ (a laxative) on her phone, and 11 minutes later looks up ‘take out 3v’, referring to restaurant ThreeV in Plymouth. She uses Apple Maps to calculate how long it would take to drive from the family’s home to ThreeV.
4:47pm: Lindsay rings a CVS in Kingston to ask if they have any Miralax in stock. A manager tells her they don’t, but they do have similar medications.
The manager later tells authorities that she did not slur her words or sound impaired during the call.
4:35pm: Lindsay texts Patrick, who is working from home: “Any chance you want to do takeout from 3V … I didn’t cook anything … It’s been a long day.”
Patrick says yes, and Lindsay asks him to ‘check the menu when you can’.
5:10pm: Lindsay calls ThreeV to place the order.
5:15pm: Lindsay allegedly texts Patrick: “Pedialax liquid stool softener.” He then leaves to pick up the medication.
5:33pm: When Patrick arrives at CVS, he rings Lindsay, but she doesn’t pick up. She rings back one minute later and confirms the medication.
5:54pm: Patrick gets to ThreeV, pays for the food and leaves.
6:09pm: Patrick returns home. “The first thing he noticed was the silence,” prosecutors say. “He did not see or hear the defendant or the children.”
Patrick calls for his wife but gets no response. He discovers their second-floor bedroom is locked. Patrick eventually manages to get in the room but sees blood on the floor. He runs outside and finds Lindsay lying on the ground, according to prosecutors.
6:11pm: Prosecutors say that Patrick rings 911 and Lindsay is saying: “I tried to kill myself.”
He is then said to ask Lindsay: “Where are the kids?” She responds: “In the basement.”
While on the call, Patrick goes down to the basement and is heard ‘screaming in agony’,
Cora and Callan are discovered on the floor of the den. Dawson is found in his dad’s home office.
When officers arrive at the scene, Patrick alleges: “She killed the kids.”
Lindsay is taken to hospital, where she is treated for injuries that leave her paralysed below the waist. The three children are also rushed to hospital.
7:28pm: Cora and Dawson are pronounced dead. Callan is medically flown to another children’s hospital.
25 January, 2023
Police issue Lindsay an arrest warrant, charging her with two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation or suffocation, and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
27 January, 2023
Callan is pronounced dead at 11.18am.
According to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, Lindsay later wakes up and uses a whiteboard to ask: “Do I need an attorney?”
6 February, 2023
While in the presence of a psychologist hired by her lawyer, Lindsay calls Patrick and tells him she had a ‘moment of psychosis’ and heard ‘a man’s voice telling her to kill the kids and kill herself’ after he left on January 24.
7 February, 2023
On the day of her arraignment, Lindsay’s attorney says that she’s still suicidal. She pleads not guilty to three counts of murder.
October 2024
Patrick asks the public to forgive Lindsay, telling The New Yorker: “I wasn’t married to a monster – I was married to someone who got sick.”
January 2026
Lindsay and Patrick file a civil lawsuit, accusing medical providers of not properly diagnosing, treating and monitoring her for a ‘severe postpartum psychiatric condition’.
9 July, 2026
The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office says the three counts of strangulation would be subsumed into the murder charges.
27 July, 2026
Lindsay’s murder trial begins.
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