The mother accused of killing her three children told her own mother that she had thoughts of harming them months before their deaths, a court has heard.
Mother's testimony
Paula Musgrove testified that her daughter, Lindsay Clancy, was losing weight, becoming paranoid and desperate to feel like herself again. Clancy's behaviour became so unsettling that she once asked if she could sleep in her mother's bed with her.
Clancy, 36, is charged with murdering five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan at the family home in Duxbury, Massachusetts on January 24, 2023. She does not deny fatally strangling the children with an exercise band but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, described under Massachusetts law as a lack of criminal responsibility.
Prosecution and defence arguments
Her lawyers argue that the killings were caused by severe postpartum mental illness rather than a deliberate and criminal act. Prosecutors contend that Clancy intentionally killed the children before making an 'insincere' attempt to take her own life which left her paralysed.
Much of the trial has focused on her mental health, treatment and behaviour during the months leading up to their deaths. Musgrove was among the first witnesses called by the defence after prosecutors rested their case on Monday.
Evidence of mental state
She described a conversation in which Clancy approached her and her former husband, Patrick, saying: 'I want to tell you guys something,' The Guardian reports. 'She said she had thoughts of harming the children,' Musgrove told jurors in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Patrick previously testified that his wife had made the statement but that she had said she didn't have any plans to hurt them.
Five days before the killings, Clancy used her phone to search for 'symptoms of postpartum psychosis' and 'psychosis symptoms', jurors heard. She had also looked up 'how quickly does Wellbutrin work for depression' and 'ketamine for suicidal ideation'. The searches were discovered by digital forensic expert Ian Whiffin, the prosecution's final witness.
Decline in condition
Musgrove told the court that her concerns had begun months earlier. On October 20, Clancy sent her a message reading: 'I'm really sick. Something is wrong.' Lindsay Clancy said she didn't know how she would make it through each day and that the medicine she had been prescribed had 'made things worse'. 'It's just really scary and I don't want to be alone,' she added.
Musgrove travelled from Connecticut to her daughter's home and stayed for a week. She and her husband continued making repeated trips during November and December, but said Clancy's condition didn't appear to improve. 'In November and December, it was not getting better,' Musgrove testified. She said her daughter believed 'this wasn't her mind' and feared the medication was 'destroying' it. Clancy also told her: 'This isn't me. I just want to feel better and enjoy my kids again.'
Further testimony and outcome
Her lawyers say she experienced a broad range of depressive symptoms and sought psychiatric help before the killings. Clancy's sister, Allison Ozga, also testified about learning that she had been experiencing suicidal thoughts. 'She's feeling numb, she's feeling hopeless,' Ozga told the court.
Patrick previously told jurors that Clancy later spoke to him from hospital about hearing a man's voice before the children were killed. She said it told her 'that if she didn't do it now, she would lose her chance, or something like that', according to his evidence.
The prosecution has used evidence about that evening to argue that her actions were planned, while the defence maintains that she was severely mentally ill at the time. If convicted of first-degree murder, Clancy faces the possibility of life in prison without the possibility of parole. If jurors find that she lacked criminal responsibility, however, she would instead be committed to a state psychiatric hospital. The trial continues.
