Lindsay Clancy and her eldest child seemed “very normal” to the family pediatrician who treated Cora, 5, mere hours before the killer mom strangled her daughter and her two young sons in 2023.
The doctor told the 18-person jury Thursday at the Massachusetts murder trial that she “always thought [Lindsay] was a good mom.”
Clancy, 35, doesn’t contest that she killed her three young kids with exercise bands in the basement of the family’s Duxbury, Mass. home in January 2023, while experiencing a slew of postpartum mental illnesses.
The labor and delivery nurse is charged with three counts of murder and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.
Clancy’s defense argues that she is not criminally responsible for killing Cora, Dawson, 3, and infant Callan because she was suffering at the time from the rare, severe phenomenon of postpartum psychosis exacerbated by a dangerous cocktail of 15 psychiatric medications, despite seeking mental health treatment for months.
Lindsay Clancy, 5-year-old daughter Cora both seemed normal during physical just hours before stranglings: pediatrician
Pediatrician Lindsay Rosshirt conducted a physical of Lindsay Clancy’s 5-year-old daughter Cora the day of the murders and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, she testified.
“It was a very normal visit,” Rosshirt said of the Jan. 24, 2023 physical. “Cora seemed to be behaving normally…I didn’t notice anything out of the normal. She seemed perfectly well-behaved and mom seemed appropriate as well.”
The doctor said nothing seemed out of the ordinary that day.
Cora had had stomach aches so Rosshirt recommended Clancy give her a children’s laxative and come back in two weeks if things didn’t improve, she said.
Clancy’s then-husband and the children’s father, Patrick Clancy, was out picking up the medicine at a nearby CVS that evening while Lindsay was home alone with all three kids, and killed them.
Rosshirt also said during the check-ups of Clancy’s youngest child, 8-month-old Callan, she never noted any signs of postpartum depression in Clancy — something she would lookout for in mom’s of newborns.
“I always thought she was a good mom,” Rosshirt said during cross-examination by Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington.
Trial breaks for lunch after testimony from Lindsay Clancy’s friends, family
Jugde William Sullivan dismissed the jury for a lunch break until 2 p.m.
The break comes after the jurors heard testimony from friends, family and acquaintances of Clancy who described her as a good mother.
Lindsay Clancy’s father-in-law describes their ‘very good relationship’ and her ‘all-American family’ of 5
Lindsay Clancy’s father-in-law, Christopher Clancy, testified that he had a “very good relationship” with her and said she was “very mothering” to her three children.
Christopher told the jury that he knew about Lindsay’s “struggles,” but that when he saw her during the holidays in the months before the murders she was normal, if quiet.
Lindsay went to Christmas Mass in 2022 with her kids, husband Patrick, father-in-law Chris, and her mother-in-law Sue, where she was “quiet,” but said “she liked the mass and she was happy she went,” Christopher recalled Thursday.
Christopher heard from Patrick that he was concerned about Lindsay, and knew that she had been hospitalized at one point at South Shore Hospital where Christopher’s wife, Sue, worked as a labor and delivery nurse.
“I knew she was having a hard time sleeping,” Christopher said. “I knew she didn’t feel well … I knew she went to the emergency room where my wife was working.”
As for how she was with the kids: “She was very, very good. She fed them great. She did a lot of things with them. An all-American family,” Christopher said.
Lindsay Clancy, friend played Uno, made ‘small talk’ — but not about strangled kids — during rehab visit a month after their deaths: trial
Lindsay Clancy didn’t say anything about her kids the month after their murders when a friend visited her at Spaulding Rehabilitation Center.
Amy Bevins — a childhood friend of Clancy’s — visited her in March 2023, about a month after the murder.
During the 30-minute visit, the two made “small talk” and played the game Uno, Bevins said.
But Clancy never cried, or mentioned what she’d done. She also never uttered the names of her three kids, Bevins said.
On cross-examination by Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, Bevins said Clancy’s sister told her before the visit to not bring up what happened.
“It’s a pretty awkward, uncomfortable topic, right?” Reddington said.
“I think it would be for anybody,” Bevins replied.
“I remember also being told not to bring that up specifically,” Bevins said.
Just days before the Jan. 24, 2023 murders, Clancy texted Bevins about the fact that she was having “some dark thoughts” Bevins told the jury Thursday.
Clancy said she was weening off of a medication and trying another one in hopes that would help with the dark thoughts, said Bevins, who is a therapist for kids with autism.
Several of Clancy’s other longtime, close friends told The Post exclusively last week why they are supporting the nurse after her unfathomable act.
Lindsay Clancy told good friend about sleep, anxiety problems, but never opened up about suicidal thoughts: testimony
Bethany DeCollibus, a good friend of Lindsay Clancy, told the jury that Clancy told her she had trouble sleeping and had anxiety, but never opened up about having suicidal thoughts.
“She mentioned feeling anxious,” said DeCollibus, a marriage therapist.
At the birthday party for Clancy’s daughter Cora in January 2023 — the same month of the murders — a concerned DeCollibus asked Clancy about her ongoing struggles with insomnia.
“She responded that things hadn’t gotten any better and she felt like a zombie,” DeCollibus recalled.
When asked if Clancy ever confided in her about having suicidal or homicidal thoughts, DeCollibus answered no. Clancy also never told her about hearing voices.
Lindsay Clancy confided in coworkers about mental health struggles: testimony
One of Lindsay Clancy’s co-workers, Andrea Hennigan, testified that the labor and delivery nurse confided in her and two other co-workers about her mental health struggles.
Hennigan — a nurse at Mass General Hospital’s birthing ward where Clancy worked — said she kept in touch with the mom of three during her maternity leave in 2022.
At one lunch that November, Clancy told Hennigan and two other nurses that “she wasn’t in a mental state or ready to go and take care of patients. She talked about insomnia and not feeling herself.
“I believe she might have used the words ‘brain fog,'” Hennigan told the jury.
Then Hennigan and the two other nurses reached out asking to set up another visit with Clancy, who texted them that “I can’t get together right now because I’m involved in an intensive program but hopefully soon.”
Hennigan texted Clancy on Jan. 23, 2023, the day before the murders, telling her she was thinking about her.
“I’m no longer in the program,” Hennigan recounted Clancy’s text response. “I’m continuing to work with my psychiatrists to find the right medication that will allow me to sleep at night but still function during the day.”
” ‘I’ve had a lot of bad or negative side effects from the medications so I’ve had to come off of them and it’s been very difficult or it’s taken a long time,’ or something like that,” Hennigan recalled of Clancy’s text.
“Lindsay was a very loving, caring mother. This was exactly what she wanted. She wanted a big family and she was happy to have her kids close in age,” Hennigan said on cross-examination.
Lindsay Clancy was ‘a loving mother,’ preschool teacher testifies as she recounts tender moment
Another teacher from Learning Sprouts, Stephanie Williams, testified that Lindsay Clancy was a loving mother and recounted a tender moment Clancy had with her daughter day before killings.
Clancy picked up 5-year-old daughter Cora the day before the killings from preschool and the little girl was feeling sick with a stomachache.
Clancy came into the classroom and picked Cora, who’d been napping, off of a cot and said, “Oh, baby. Let’s go get Dawson and go home,” Williams recalled.
Williams said she never noticed anything concerning about Clancy.
“No, she was just a very loving mother who cared about her children,” Williams said.
Cora Clancy’s preschool teacher testifies about girl’s stomachache day before killings
Susan Bertola, a teacher at Learning Sprouts where Lindsay Clancy’s two oldest kids went to preschool, testified that 5-year-old daughter Cora had a stomachache the day before the murders.
Cora had gone to the bathroom several times so Bertola told Clancy during pickup about it.
“She said basically she wasn’t glad that she wasn’t feeling well but she already had a doctor’s appointment the next day so she would let them know,” Bertola recalled Clancy telling her.
Bertola also recounted that Cora once told her that her mom was away at the hospital.
“She missed her mom and she was vocal about that,” Bertola recalled.
When asked about what kind of student Cora was, Bertola’s voice broke, and she said, “Amazing, she was wonderful.”
Two other teachers from the school have also testified.
Pediatrician for Lindsay Clancy’s kids begins testimony
Pediatrician Lindsay Rosshirt has taken the witness stand after a half-hour break.
Rosshirt was the doctor for Lindsay Clancy’s three kids, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3 and 8-month-old Callan.
Trial breaks after Lindsay Clancy audibly weeps through ME testimony about baby’s autopsy
Judge William Sullivan called a break after Lindsay Clancy audibly wept through almost the entire testimony of Dr. Kimberly Springer — the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Clancy’s baby boy.
Springer testified that 8-month-old Callan died of complications from asphyxiation. This is because doctors were able to bring back Callan’s heartbeat and keep him alive on life support for three days after the strangling.
He was eventually ruled braindead and was taken off of life support on Jan. 27, 2023.
Callan’s autopsy photos showed he had cuts on his forehead and around his neck. He also had popped blood vessels in his face from the strangulation, Springer testified.
Separately, the baby had puncture wounds from where medical workers had inserted, and attempted to insert, lines for intravenous fluids, the ME testified.
Sullivan previously ruled the autopsy photos of Clancy’s three children would not be made public, though the jury is able to view them.
Springer’s testimony wrapped after about 30 minutes, and presumably at least one other medical examiner will be called to testify about the autopsies of Clancy’s other two kids, Cora, 5, and Dawson, 3.
Clancy strangled them all with elastic exercise bands, according to testimony and evidence.
Lindsay Clancy has begun sobbing as medical examiner testifies about autopsy of Callan
Lindsay Clancy has begun crying as Dr. Kimberly Springer is testifying about the autopsy she performed on Clancy’s youngest child, 8-month-old Callan.
Clancy grabbed a tissue and she appeared to shake from tears. Her hands wiped at her eyes, as Springer described the autopsy photo of Callan. Audible sobs could be heard during the testimony.
The judge has ruled the public won’t be shown the autopsy photo but the jury will.
Clancy is wearing a light brown long-sleeve blouse and her brown hair is flowing down her back.
Medical examiner takes the stand at the start of trial Thursday
Dr. Kimberly Springer, a medical examiner for Massachusetts, has just taken the stand as the first witness Thursday at Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial.
Thursday marks the eighth day of trial, and Springer is the 46th witness to testify since opening arguments last Monday. At the trial’s outset, the witness list was a reported 200 to 250 names long.
However, a defense move earlier this week — that saw Clancy speak on the court record for the first time, agreeing to “stipulated facts” of the prosecution’s case — may substantially shorten proceedings because testimony from some listed witnesses may no longer be necessary.
Springer has begun testifying about her autopsy of 8-month-old Callan Clancy, Lindsay’s youngest child.
