Lindsay Clancy's friend says she was having 'dark thoughts' prior to killing her children
Jurors in the murder trial of Lindsay Clancy heard from her former father-in-law and close friends on Thursday.
Clancy's former father-in-law, Christopher Clancy, testified that his son and former daughter-in-law appeared to be an "all-American family" and said Lindsay Clancy seemed happy in the weeks before she killed her three children.
Lindsay Clancy's close friends, meanwhile, said she told them she was having dark thoughts and felt like a "zombie" in the weeks before the killings.
Lindsay Clancy, 35, has pleaded not guilty to three murder charges in connection with the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson, and infant son Callan at her family's home in the Boston suburb of Duxbury on Jan. 24, 2023.
Her defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, has argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis and extreme mental illness, and that she attempted to take her own life after strangling her children.
Lindsay Clancy's friends took the stand on Thursday following an emotional morning where jurors saw autopsy images of Callan Clancy, prompting Lindsay Clancy to break down to tears in the courtroom.
Amy Bevins, Lindsay Clancy's friend of 29 years, testified that she communicated with her days before the killings in January 2023. According to Bevins, Lindsay Clancy said the medication she was taking at the time was negatively impacting her mental health.
"She had shared that she had been taking a medication that caused her to have some dark thoughts, but that she was going to, or had been weaning, like tapering off that medication," Bevins said.
According to Bevins, Clancy said she was hopeful that she would feel better as she tapered off the medication.
"I remember it being something where there was conveying of hope, and that it was going to be a, you know -- we were moving in a positive direction," she said.
Bethany DeCollibus, a friend from Lindsay Clancy's neighborhood, described speaking with Lindsay Clancy during Callan's birthday in January and saying that she was struggling with sleeping.
"She responded that things haven't gotten any better, and that she feels like a zombie," DeCollibus testified before describing her friend as typically "warm, kind, consistent, and loving."
Later on Thursday, Christopher Clancy, the grandfather of Lindsay Clancy's three children, recounted in court how happy his former daughter-in-law appeared after they attended Christmas Mass in 2022.
"She was very, very good. She fed them great. She did a lot of things with them …like the all-American family," he told jurors.
Christopher Clancy testified that he was aware of his former daughter-in-law's struggles with her mental health at the time but didn't see any clear warning signs ahead of the evening of Jan. 24. 2023.
"It was terrible," Christopher Clancy told jurors about that night he received a call from his son, telling him what had allegedly happened.
Prosecutors did not ask Christopher Clancy to elaborate on that night, and he spoke about the struggles he knew his daughter-in-law was having.
"I knew she just didn't feel well. I know she had gone to the emergency room ... where my wife was working. Those types of struggles," he said.
He described Lindsay Clancy as a "very good" mother and recounted spending Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family. Other than her appearing "nervous" at Thanksgiving, he said, his former daughter-in-law seemed normal.
Jurors also heard Thursday from Andrew Chiachio of the Plymouth County State Police Detective Unit; Andrea Hennigan, a nurse who worked with Lindsay Clancy for seven years; and more.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. Free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You are not on your own.
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