I ALWAYS THOUGHT SHE WAS A GOOD MOM—DOCTOR’S HAUNTING COURTROOM TESTIMONY PAINTS A TRAGIC PICTURE OF LINDSAY CLANCY AND 5-YEAR-OLD CORA JUST HOURS BEFORE THE CHILDREN’S DE-ATHS
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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 that she “always thought [Lindsay] was a good mom.”
Clancy, 35, with exercise bands in the basement of the family’s Duxbury, Mass. home in January 2023, while .
The labor and delivery nurse is charged with three counts of murder and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.
Clancy’s defense for killing Cora, Dawson, 3, and infant Callan because she was suffering at the time from the rare, severe phenomenon of postpartum psychosis , despite seeking mental health treatment for months.
Court has wrapped for the day, but keep reading for new details and evidence pics revealed Thursday at the Lindsay Clancy trial:
The doctor said nothing seemed out of the ordinary that day.
Cora had had stomachaches, 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, 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 look out for in mothers of infants and newborns.
“I always thought she was a good mom,” Rosshirt said during cross-examination by Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington said prosecutors would call Dr. Jennifer Tufts to the stand tomorrow, as he argued the defense should be able to call three doctors of its own to counter testimony from several medical professionals who have testified so far for the prosecution.
One doctor Reddington wants to call would testify that Clancy’s spinal injuries prove she fell on her head when she threw herself out of a window on the second floor of her Duxbury, Mass., home — a key detail the prosecution has obliquely called into question.
Another doctor Reddington wants on the stand would testify that Clancy didn’t receive proper treatment for her postpartum psychosis — Clancy and her ex-husband and late children’s father, Patrick Clancy, and hospitals where she was treated.
A third doctor, if the judge approves, would testify about toxicology reports in the case, the defense lawyer explained.
Judge William Sullivan said he’d make a ruling soon.
The fact that they are arguing the motion raises the question of whether the prosecution is close to finishing its case and the defense is poised to begin its case.
The lawyers are due back in court around 3 p.m.
“I am truly finding my 19 in month old to be the most difficult human I have ever encountered. I mean that with all of the love in my heart but honestly cannot make it through a day without getting so frustrated with him.”
The message was shown to the jury as Det. Andrew Chiachio testified about evidence he gathered in the case, which included getting a search warrant from Facebook parent company, Meta.
Clancy’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, asked Chiachio if he ever found any evidence that she abused the children. The officer said he did not.
Lindsay was “quieter than normal” that day, he said.
Carney wrapped up after just a few minutes on the stand.
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.
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 why they are supporting the nurse after her unfathomable act.
At the birthday party for Clancy’s daughter Cora in January 2023 — the same month of the murders — a concerned DeCollibus asked Clancy about with insomnia.
“She responded that things hadn’t gotten any better and ,” 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 .
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.
“I believe she might have used the words ‘brain fog,’” Hennigan .
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 but still function during the day.”
” ‘I’ve had a lot of bad or negative side 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.
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.
“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.
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 n 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.
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. .
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.
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.
