Lindsay Clancy’s final texts to her husband emerge as her trial reveals video from a family museum trip just weeks before the tragedy.
Mundane texts Lindsay Clancy sent her husband while he was out running errands on the day she killed her three children were read in court Thursday, alongside video from a family museum trip just weeks before the tragedy. Clancy, 36, has admitted to killing her children but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis. The case continues to draw attention as new details emerge at trial.
Jurors heard Thursday that Lindsay Clancy was casually texting her then-husband, Patrick, just about an hour before their three children were found dead.
The court also viewed video of the family enjoying a day at Boston’s Museum of Science, with Clancy becoming visibly emotional as the footage played.
According to Massachusetts State Police trooper Timothy Chiappini’s testimony, Clancy texted Patrick at 4:53 p.m. asking if he wanted takeout from a local restaurant. Patrick agreed, and Clancy responded, “Okie dokie,” telling him to check the menu when he had a chance.
Patrick then asked what she wanted to order and whether their eight-month-old son, Callan, had woken up. Clancy replied that he had.
“It was just a short nap,” Clancy replied.
Patrick responded, “Oh, OK,” before the two exchanged messages about their food orders. Clancy sent hers moments later, followed by Patrick sending his.
Surveillance footage later showed Patrick stopping at a nearby CVS to pick up medication for his sick daughter before heading to the restaurant for the takeout.
But when he returned home that evening, he encountered a horrifying scene. He found Clancy lying on the lawn, unable to move, while their three children were discovered in the basement with exercise bands around their necks.
Patrick previously gave emotional testimony about rushing into the basement and finding his daughter Cora first. He recalled seeing her “face down” with a band around her neck and immediately trying to remove it.
He then saw baby Callan beside her, also with a band around his neck. Finally, Patrick found three-year-old Dawson, saying he immediately knew his son was gone.
Just weeks before the tragedy, on January 8, the family was captured on video enjoying a day at the science museum.
The footage showed Patrick taking Dawson out of his stroller and bringing him to an exhibit, while Clancy stayed with Cora and baby Callan, who was strapped to her chest in a carrier. Clancy was later seen guiding Cora through another exhibit and explaining how it worked, while Patrick and Dawson watched from nearby before joining them.
Earlier on the morning the children died, Patrick had described Clancy as “a good mama” in text messages after asking how Cora’s doctor’s appointment had gone.
However, investigators later uncovered a series of disturbing Google searches Clancy allegedly made in the days and weeks leading up to the killings. Just four days before the deaths, on January 20, she searched, “can you treat a sociopath?”
Jurors also heard about other searches, including “how to slit your throat to die,” “where is the carotid artery,” and “how to turn airbags off on Kia Sorento.”
A search of Clancy’s phone also uncovered a note she wrote on October 25, 2022, in which she described feeling conflicted about raising her three children. She wrote that she “resents” her two older children because she felt they prevented her from treating baby Cal like her first child.
In the note, Clancy expressed fears about making mistakes that could affect her children’s development and described feeling sad and depressed that she could not parent her third child the way she had with her first.
She also wrote about feeling less connected to Cal after she stopped breastfeeding and acknowledged that her feelings toward her older children were “not fair to them.”
Clancy appeared to reflect on her hopes for a larger family as well, writing that she wanted to feel love and connection with all of her children and still did not want Cal to be their last child, though she felt she had “a lot of figuring out to do” before having another.
Clancy was visibly emotional at the defense table, putting her head in her hands as Massachusetts State Police trooper Timothy Chiappini read the note aloud.
The closely watched murder trial is scheduled to resume Monday morning.
