MA - Lindsay Clancy, Strangled 3 Children in Murder/Suicide Attempt, Duxbury, Jan 2023

[caradana]

Just read the new Daniel Silva book, The Collector - there is a poignant scene in it where the protagonist visits his wife in a mental institution, where she is with post-traumatic psychosis, reliving a dead child. It’s as hard on him as it is on her, but the book, and the series it’s in, has done an incredible job painting the picture of what happens in cases not entirely different from this one. Tremendous book and series, btw - if this case has caught your attention, that of Gabriel and Leah Allon may as well.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

"Thankfully I realized the changes and ceased the medication STAT."

A normal person would recognize the feeling of anger, and possible violent tendencies, then would stop the medication. Did Lindsay not understand these abrupt changes in her thinking and ever stop medications that turned her into a zombie?

I took Wellbutrin once for health reasons. I wanted it to be a cure all. After several days on the drug W, I felt like I could pick up my home and toss it into the Atlantic Ocean. The irritation and aggression was not normal for me. It was frightening to have thoughts of how powerfully strong I thought I'd become. Has anyone been successful at lifting their home from the ground and tossing it into the air? I stopped the Wellbutrin and quickly returned to my normal self.

I don't understand why Lindsay didn't stop medications when she felt the urge to murder her babies. She'd felt that way for a year, if I recall correctly, and voiced those desires to kill the children to her husband during that time period.

If a few doses of Wellbutrin made me feel extreme aggression, imagine taking these:

According to her case file, Clancy was prescribed a mixture of SSRI antidepressants, or specific serotonin reuptake inhibators, benzodiazepines and antipsychotic and antiseizure drugs in the months leading up to the killings. These included Prozac, Zoloft, Trazodone, Seroquel, Amitryptiline, Remeron, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan and Lamictal.

Isn't Lamictal prescribed for bipolar? How many of those drugs make one sleepy?
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/lindsay-clancy-ct-children-deaths-medications-17772140.php

Reddington argued that Lindsay’s mental health was so poor that she required a 24/7 guardian in her hospital room. He explained that Lindsay, who worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, suffered from postpartum depression or psychosis. Lindsay, he explained, was overmedicated on a dozen prescription drugs that made her “a zombie.”
https://www.courttv.com/news/massachusetts-mom-accused-of-strangling-her-3-kids-transfers-hospitals/

A paraplegic with serious mental disorders that requires 24/7 care may not live for very long.

JMO

Holy cow. Bolded by me above. Over what period of time were they prescribed and was she on ALL of them at the time of the murders?

If that list of meds is accurate, how on earth could anyone function? And if one SSRI wasn't working, do doctors normally add on a second or third without tapering down and removing the first? With that list above, how could any medical professional keep treating her with all the possible interactions! Even if they didn't prescribe all at once and the list above is the complete list she had to "try" - that's still a lot in a few months as often those meds take months to have an effect.

 

[iluvmua]

Holy cow. Bolded by me above. Over what period of time were they prescribed and was she on ALL of them at the time of the murders?

If that list of meds is accurate, how on earth could anyone function? And if one SSRI wasn't working, do doctors normally add on a second or third without tapering down and removing the first? With that list above, how could any medical professional keep treating her with all the possible interactions! Even if they didn't prescribe all at once and the list above is the complete list she had to "try" - that's still a lot in a few months as often those meds take months to have an effect.

She was only on three at the time of the murders.

 

[JerseyWasHome2]

She was only on three at the time of the murders.

Thanks... All it takes is one, I guess, to badly interact with your own makeup. And how to determine if it's the meds and your genetics and such that can't support what they are meant to do to help you, vs a true mental disorder, sudden.

 

[DeDee]

She was only on three at the time of the murders.

Only? Which three of these was Lindsay taking at the time of the m/s attempt? TIA

I cannot imagine taking any two of these at the same time. They are very powerful medications and Lindsay was lithe.

Prozac, Zoloft, Trazodone, Seroquel, Amitryptiline, Remeron, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan and Lamictal

 

[Doghairrules]

Holy cow. Bolded by me above. Over what period of time were they prescribed and was she on ALL of them at the time of the murders?

If that list of meds is accurate, how on earth could anyone function? And if one SSRI wasn't working, do doctors normally add on a second or third without tapering down and removing the first? With that list above, how could any medical professional keep treating her with all the possible interactions! Even if they didn't prescribe all at once and the list above is the complete list she had to "try" - that's still a lot in a few months as often those meds take months to have an effect.

My experience, with med-resistant depression, is that psychiatrists often LOVE to come up with what they call "cocktails" of psychiatric drugs for patients (I say often for the simple fact that there is specific language describing this), where maybe you take a half dose of one thing and a whole dose of another, and take one 3 times a week, etc. It was a nightmare to keep up with, especially when depressed.

ETA: the doctors I had were convinced that some variation of a bunch of different drugs was the key, when actually the key was stopping all the drugs.

 

[cocomod]

I haven't kept up with this case. Has she been deemed incompetant and that's why she's at a State hospital?

They haven't yet revealed whether she is deemed incompetent. But, she is paralyzed and we don't have an update on her physical state since jumping out of the window.

 

[cocomod]

This article is a good reminder of the case with an "expert's opinon":

Medical Expert Weighs in on Lindsay Clancy Case and Postpartum Psychosis: 'Untethered from Reality'

A medical expert says the defense's claim that Lindsay Clancy may have suffered from postpartum psychosis during the alleged killings of her three children has significant bearing in the Massachusetts mom's murder case.

people.com

She then allegedly attempted suicide by cutting her wrists and neck and jumping out of a second-story window while her husband was away from their Duxbury, Mass., home picking up dinner for the family.

Dr. Lamoureux, who has not formally reviewed Clancy's medical records, says while the diagnosis of postpartum psychosis — a condition where shortly after birth, a mother is effectively "untethered from reality" — appears to be accurate

Lamoureux says Clancy's potential postpartum psychosis diagnosis is "not a moral failure. It's not an issue of character. It's an issue of mental illness.


Though the news of the murder came in as a shock, most of the psychologists are investigating the possibility of postpartum psychosis in the 32-year-old. “I question whether she would ever make it to a trial. She suicidal. She’s extremely emotional. However, she’s unable and has been unable to express any happiness or sadness or cry,” said Kevin Reddington, Clancy's attorney.


I truly wonder how Lindsay's husband is doing. What a nightmare to live in!!

 

[scapa]

Awful case.

Interesting to me that so many of these cases involve multiple children -- three seems to pop up -- and having had several patients who experienced some version of PP depression, a common refrain seems to be that whatever level bonding experienced initially with the first child is overwhelmed with the arrival of the next.

I also wonder if the intensity of what my partner calls "the motherhood industrial complex" makes it more difficult to express these feelings of anger, helplessness and profound alienation that can occur, and which are well beyond and often more disturbing to others than the "my kids are noisy and annoying and I want a martini" variety of humbleplaining.

 

[Muddy K]

Still just following along, and still just feeling so sad about this case. I don't have children, knew from a really early age that I didn't want to have children, and have never regretted that choice, yet somehow I can sense the dimensions of this tragedy and it haunts me.

I see it like a matted picture in a frame. The frame is the wider sense of shock and loss felt by people who are strangers to the family, people with children, people who may have experienced post-partum depression or other catastrophic mental illness in themselves or their families.

The surrounding matting is the horror, devastation and grief experienced by her husband, family, friends and colleagues. All of them may still be going through repeated, involuntary, yet reflexive imaginings of the events as they unfolded. I know I would be.

Then there is the picture itself, and I see that as her. It's just a dark and bottomless abstraction, a kind of swirling pool of magnetic, incredibly dense, ever-grasping quicksand. No matter the outcome of her hospitalization or the trial (when and if) or the eventual healing of her family, she will never be able to recover from her own actions, no matter what caused them. She will never, ever be able to work herself free. She'll always be pulled under, over and over again. That, to me, is the very definition of a living hell. How she can survive it, I don't know. I know I couldn't.

Just some thoughts all this time later, my opinion only.

 

[PommyMommy]

AUG 19, 2023

Greater Boston blockbuster cases and where they go next: From Karen Read to Brian Walshe

It’s been a crazy year, and the Brian Walshe and Karen Read murder trials aren’t the only cases with shocking headlines. Here is a rundown of cases this year that Herald readers, and in…

www.bostonherald.com

[...]

The 33-year-old Duxbury mother accused of the unthinkable, killing her three young children by strangling them and then attempting to take her own life, was arraigned at Plymouth District Court by video feed from her Brigham and Women’s Hospital bed on Feb. 7. The case has been quiet since.

But it will return next month, Sept. 28 at 9 a.m., for a probable cause hearing, the Plymouth District Attorney’s office confirmed but offered no additional comment on the case.

[...]

 

[Knox]

Is Lindsey able to walk now?

 

[iamshadow21]

Is Lindsey able to walk now?

I believe it was said in the past that her spinal injury would most likely be permanent, but that was early days, so I don't know if that prognosis has changed in the last few months.

MOO

 

[steeltowngirl]

By JOHANNA LI
First Published: 1:15 PM PDT, May 9, 2023

Lindsay Clancy will likely never walk again.

The Duxbury, Massachusetts, mom of three is permanently paralyzed from her attempted suicide fall after allegedly strangling her three young kids Cora, Dawson and Callan to death amid the throes of postpartum psychosis, her lawyer tells Inside Edition Digital.

Massachusetts Mom Lindsay Clancy Is Permanently Paralyzed Following Postpartum Suicide Attempt: Attorney

The mother of three who allegedly strangled her children to death is continuing to receive treatment and her next court date has been postponed to July 25.

www.insideedition.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The Duxbury mother accused of strangling her three children with exercise bands in January has been indicted for their murder.

A Plymouth grand jury indicted Lindsay Clancy, 32, with three counts of murder and strangulation. Clancy is being held without bail and is currently a patient at a hospital being treated following what was reported as a suicide attempt following the dark night at 47 Summer St. in Duxbury on Jan. 24

Duxbury mother accused of strangling her 3 children indicted for their murder

A Plymouth grand jury indicted Lindsay Clancy, 32, with three counts of murder. Clancy is being held without bail and is currently a patient at a hospital being treated following what was reported …

www.bostonherald.com

 

[arielilane]

Mom accused of sending husband on errand so she could strangle their 3 kids indicted for murder

A mother accused of strangling her three young children to death in the basement of her home has been indicted by a grand jury.

lawandcrime.com

Sep 15th, 2023, 2:40 pm

A Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three young children to death in the basement of her home and trying to take her own life by jumping out of a window on Jan. 24 was indicted by a grand jury Friday on charges of murder and strangulation, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz revealed.

 

[Knox]

The Duxbury mother accused of strangling her three children with exercise bands in January has been indicted for their murder.

A Plymouth grand jury indicted Lindsay Clancy, 32, with three counts of murder and strangulation. Clancy is being held without bail and is currently a patient at a hospital being treated following what was reported as a suicide attempt following the dark night at 47 Summer St. in Duxbury on Jan. 24

Duxbury mother accused of strangling her 3 children indicted for their murder

A Plymouth grand jury indicted Lindsay Clancy, 32, with three counts of murder. Clancy is being held without bail and is currently a patient at a hospital being treated following what was reported …

www.bostonherald.com

I didn't remember seeing the information on the note she wrote on her phone. I wonder what her husband's feelings are nine months later, does he want to see her prosecuted for murder?

 

[steeltowngirl]

If the below is true, I find this very troubling. How does a doctor know someone does not have postpartum depression? Or any type of depression, for that matter? There is no definitive test. I can understand a diagnosis of having depression, but it would be reckless to state someone does NOT have it.

“On Dec. 20, Lindsay Clancy is told at Women & Infants Hospital Center for Women’s Behavioral Health in Providence that she does not have postpartum depression. She told her husband in the beginning of this year that she was having suicidal thoughts and she admitted herself to McLean Hospital, in Belmont.”

Duxbury mother accused of strangling her 3 children indicted for their murder

A Plymouth grand jury indicted Lindsay Clancy, 32, with three counts of murder. Clancy is being held without bail and is currently a patient at a hospital being treated following what was reported …

www.bostonherald.com

 

[Howl]

It would seem that strangling one's children and jumping out of a 2nd story window after slitting your wrists and throat would be the very definition of post-partum psychosis. I see zero point in trying this woman for murder. She belongs in a mental hospital with psychiatric treatment for the duration of her life. MOO!

 

[mainemom376]

Was there a hearing yesterday?