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

[Knox]

I doubt she will be in the state hospital for life. She could be, especially if she doesn't feel she's safe to be discharged, but most of the time, once she's able to function outside the hospital safely, she can be discharged.

Do you mean discharged to serve a prison term?

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Do you mean discharged to serve a prison term?

Not if she's found not guilty by reason of insanity. The "not guilty" part is important. In cases where someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, it means that were it not for the mental illness impairing them to the point of actual insanity, they would not have committed the crime. Generally, these people are sent to the state hospital for treatment. Once they are treated and found to be no longer a danger, they are discharged.

18 U.S. Code § 4243 - Hospitalization of a person found not guilty only by reason of insanity

www.law.cornell.edu

 

[Knox]

Not if she's found not guilty by reason of insanity. The "not guilty" part is important. In cases where someone is found not guilty by reason of insanity, it means that were it not for the mental illness impairing them to the point of actual insanity, they would not have committed the crime. Generally, these people are sent to the state hospital for treatment. Once they are treated and found to be no longer a danger, they are discharged.

18 U.S. Code § 4243 - Hospitalization of a person found not guilty only by reason of insanity

www.law.cornell.edu

How often does that actually happen I wonder? I’ll have to research that further.

 

[arielilane]

DUXBURY, Mass. — Lindsay Clancy, the mother accused of killing her three children inside their home in Duxbury before attempting to take her own life, is trying to move her upcoming trial to Boston.

Lindsay Clancy, Duxbury mom accused of killing her 3 kids, seeks to move trial to Boston

The defense in the high-profile Plymouth County case cites the “intensity and ongoing media scrutiny” surrounding the case and argues Clancy will only receive an unbiased jury if the murder trial is moved to Boston.

www.boston25news.com

11/5/2025

 

[Knox]

DUXBURY, Mass. — Lindsay Clancy, the mother accused of killing her three children inside their home in Duxbury before attempting to take her own life, is trying to move her upcoming trial to Boston.

Lindsay Clancy, Duxbury mom accused of killing her 3 kids, seeks to move trial to Boston

The defense in the high-profile Plymouth County case cites the “intensity and ongoing media scrutiny” surrounding the case and argues Clancy will only receive an unbiased jury if the murder trial is moved to Boston.

www.boston25news.com

11/5/2025

JMO, but I don’t think moving the trial to Boston is going to help Lindsay. The death of three young children at the hands of their mom. Will be horrific for any jurors regardless of location.

 

[arielilane]

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (Court TV) — A Massachusetts judge refused to move Lindsay Clancy’supcoming trial, finding that media coverage had not compromised the available jury pool with months to go until opening statements.

Judge refuses to move Lindsay Clancy's murder trial to Boston

Lindsay Clancy is scheduled to go on trial for the murders of her three young children in Plymouth County in July 2026.

www.courttv.com

Judge Sullivan granted a defense motion to continue the trial, which is now scheduled to begin on July 20, 2026. The parties are due to return to court for a status conference on January 27, 2026.

 

[arielilane]

Today's hearing was very short. Lindsay Clancey can attend tomorrow's hearing via ZOOM.

2:17 PM · Jan 6, 2026


Lindsay Clancey appears via WebEx from jail today. It’s a bit confusing: today’s emergency hearing is about how she’ll be transported for tomorrow’s hearing, and tomorrow’s hearing is about how she’ll be transported for her upcoming trial (plus other motions).

https://twitter.com/x/status/2008618153463718182

 

[Muddy K]

Today's hearing was very short. Lindsay Clancey can attend tomorrow's hearing via ZOOM.

2:17 PM · Jan 6, 2026


Lindsay Clancey appears via WebEx from jail today. It’s a bit confusing: today’s emergency hearing is about how she’ll be transported for tomorrow’s hearing, and tomorrow’s hearing is about how she’ll be transported for her upcoming trial (plus other motions).

https://twitter.com/x/status/2008618153463718182

I feel sad every time I see her. To me, she's the picture of a living nightmare, for all those who have to live with her actions and for her, who did them. The abyss is right there in her eyes.

 

[arielilane]

@cathyrusson


Lindsay Clancey hearing update. The hearing lasted about 35 mins. They discussed at length the issues of transporting her to trial. There were recommendations of having 1 or even 2 nurses with her at all times. Her team brought up her suicidal ideations. Clancy is accused of killing her three children and became a paraplegic after jumping out of a second-story window at her home. The judge will draft a transportation order, and the parties will meet again on Jan. 27.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2008944169839108205

 

[arielilane]

I feel sad every time I see her. To me, she's the picture of a living nightmare, for all those who have to live with her actions and for her, who did them. The abyss is right there in her eyes.

I concur. I wish LC would have been able to get the help she so desperately needed.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

This woman belongs in a mental institution, not a prison. It makes me sad that we have to go through all this to (hopefully) come to the conclusion that she's better served in a state hospital.

MOO, based on experience and medical science.

 

[Megnut]

It doesn't even seem safe to transport her for trial which tells  me she's not in any way mentally stable enough to participate in her defense.

JMO

 

[JoeFromLB]

My guess (as a layman) is that her mind was basically destroyed by the incredible amount of powerful psychotropic drugs prescribed by the doctors. Just my unlearned opinion.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

My guess (as a layman) is that her mind was basically destroyed by the incredible amount of powerful psychotropic drugs prescribed by the doctors. Just my unlearned opinion.

Extremely unlikely that the meds did this.

 

[Muddy K]

Extremely unlikely that the meds did this.

Why, if you don't mind my asking, @BeginnerSleuther. I sometimes feel desperate in my efforts to try to understand this woman.

If not a result, even in part, of medications, what are your thoughts about what could have galvanized her to murder her children. I'm assuming - with no direct experience - that postpartum depression was a factor, but beyond that, I'm at a loss.

 

[keek]

Why, if you don't mind my asking, @BeginnerSleuther. I sometimes feel desperate in my efforts to try to understand this woman.

If not a result, even in part, of medications, what are your thoughts about what could have galvanized her to murder her children. I'm assuming - with no direct experience - that postpartum depression was a factor, but beyond that, I'm at a loss.

It also took time in between each little child and baby to strangle them with those 'forget what they were' called. Nothing snapped in?? There are also details that are not public in this. If the jury hears them and her own self medicating long before this, she may not be sent to a pysch. hospital for life. IMO

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Why, if you don't mind my asking, @BeginnerSleuther. I sometimes feel desperate in my efforts to try to understand this woman.

If not a result, even in part, of medications, what are your thoughts about what could have galvanized her to murder her children. I'm assuming - with no direct experience - that postpartum depression was a factor, but beyond that, I'm at a loss.

I haven't examined her, so it would be wrong of me to give a diagnosis. But if this were a Hollywood movie, going by what has been in the media, I would say it's a decent portrayal of postpartum psychosis.

There were a lot of med changes, but it's unlikely the meds (that we know about) would have caused that. Those meds are not going to cause psychosis. The meds that can activate mania tend to be SSRIs, and that tends to happen in people with existing bipolar disorder. Interestingly, women who have bipolar disorder are predisposed to postpartum psychosis. So could we make an argument that an SSRI caused mania? Yes. But she was on antipsychotics/mood stabilizers, if I remember correctly, and those would not cause psychosis; if anything, they'd reduce the risk.