Lindsay Clancy case: was it evil, or severe mental illness?

Apologies, you're right

Presumably all killers have a severe mental illness. Otherwise they wouldn’t kill. Still a crime. My heart goes out to the children.

Baby Callan was 8 months old.

It would be very unusual for PPP not to have been evidenced with irrational thoughts/delusions before that he got to that age, wouldn't it?

This white, educated, middle class, woman had much more help with her kids than the average Mum, and much more help with her MH than the average struggling with poor MH Mum.

There's no way there would be the outpouring of support for this woman if she'd been a black or Latino, poorly educated, poverty stricken, woman from a poor neighbourhood, and she certainly wouldn't have had the MH support Clancy had. I find that revolting, although I guess we empathise more with people we consider to be like us, hence the demographic of her vocal cheerleaders.

She'd been a voluntary inpatient at a hospital for 5 days not long prior to murdering her children, and I thought it was stated that it was 'explicitly noted' that she did not seem to have PPP.

She quite clearly planned when she was going to murder her children and made sure their father wouldn't be able to stop her. He was at home and she got him to go out.

That is a striking difference to similar cases such as Andrea Yates, Deirdre Morley, Tania Clarence who were left home alone with their children while their husbands were at work/away.

Depression, anxiety and intrusive thoughts (co morbid OCD) is not a reasonable defence for strangling 3 small children to death.

I would ask anyone defending her to take some time to consider what it takes to strangle someone, let alone a small child a 'loving' mother would have some maternal feelings for.

You would have to have pure rage, hatred and a complete coldness, while a child is struggling and fighting you off, to watch them die, faces turning purple, eyes rolling back, and those few minutes would last a lifetime. She did that 3 times in a row. Probably with at least Cora already in distress from seeing what she'd done to their siblings and understanding what she was going to do to her.

I think she panicked after doing what she did, hence jumping out of the window, it wasn't a suicide attempt and she knew she wouldn't die, probably didn't think she'd be paralysed. She was medically trained.

She is a danger to the public at large because she's a proven murderer, of children.

She needs to be locked up for life, preferably in gen pop of a maximum security prison.

Of course not, it's just so sad and the failings are unbelievable, so many people knew she had deteriorating mental illness and had talked about being scared of harming her children but she was never formally detained and was left in charge of the children. That's what is hard to understand, why weren't the children removed from her.

Given what happened to his dc he’s not going to be feeling too amenable to LC.

What were you expecting him to do? His ex wife put herself in hospital, she paralysed herself after she killed his family. He didn't ask for any of this. He is a victim of Lindsay too. If moving away, moving on with someone else is what he needs to get through this absolutely horrific event then I don't see anything wrong with that.

Lindsay decided to throw herself out a window, she decided to strangle their children one after another. He and their children didn't get a choice in any of this. She took that away, why should he care if she rots away in her wheelchair in hospital?

It seems that the law Massachusetts is indeed more complex than has been suggested in relation criminal responsibility. To be deemed not criminally responsible the person must have a mental disorder and also that disorder must cause them to either

lack the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness (or criminality) of their conduct

or

lack the substantial capacity to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law.

https://www.williambarabino.com/blog/2025/07/30/can-mental-health-affect-criminal-responsibility/

I said that's the prosecution's theory!

Would a nurse have to google to find out where the carotid artery is......?

That's the prosecution's theory based on the blood stains down the wall and on the windowsill

I agree, could family and husband have had her detained, it feels like there were missed opportunities

She sought help and no one seemed to give it to her. I’ve a feeling husband was no help either. I remember with my first who never slept I was so sore all over they tested me for various illness to eventually tell me it was exhaustion. On telling my husband (ex now) he just walk away and nothing changed. Luckily I’m strong mentally.

Clancy civil lawsuit pdf

Absolutely.

There is something deeply unsettling about this case. I can't tell if Patrick had something to do with the deaths or whether he is "just" totally checked out and tone deaf. Ive read he left her alone to go skiing and fired the nanny, all while she was struggling with small kids. He then moved away 3 months after the murders, sold their house and took all the money, plus loads of money raised online, and he's remarried before his first wife even has her verdict.
Meanwhile she's stuck in hospital, her parents paying her legal fees, paralysed forever, admitting to murders that she can't remember.
It just doesn't sit right with me.

She took pills, cut her wrists And jumped, resulting in her bring paralysed from the chest down. I assume the paramedics and er staff evaluated her injuries. She was let down by everyone and is claiming damages. I can't link but this court case can be read online. The children should not have been left in her sole care.

She shouldn't have been left alone with those little children. Either they lock her up for good in a mental institution or a jail. Nothing will bring them back, but looking at her eyes, there's nothing there now. Like the prosecution said, she killed her kids so she could kill herself, but it didn't work.

I’ve only ever seen reports of her jumping. Either way what she did before is not the behaviour of someone sane.

As much as I think the woman is guilty and needs to spend the rest of her life locked away the experts were very clear she went head first out of the window. It was a genuine suicide attempt.

Is that a fact? Genuine question. There were no witnesses and she can’t remember so how is that known?

She didn't jump out of the window.
She dangled out and slid down the wall.