PERSISTENT AND INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE: JURORS STUNNED AS LINDSAY CLANCY’S STAINED CLOTHES FROM THE DAY HER CHILDREN DI-ED ARE SHOWN IN COURT
Editor’s note: Coverage of this case is disturbing. Scroll with discretion.
A nurse practitioner who treated a “manic” Lindsay Clancy that she suspected the struggling mother had bipolar disorder — but never diagnosed her with it.
On her “worst day,” Clancy told her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, and the NP that she had “persistent and intrusive thoughts of suicide” just one month before strangling their three young children in January 2023.
Clancy, 35, and her ex-husband that treated her, claiming they, and failed to diagnose Clancy with bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis — which the accused murderer says led her to kill Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in the basement of the family’s Duxbury, Mass. home.
The former labor and delivery nurse is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and faces life in prison without parole if convicted.
The defense for their deaths and should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Follow live updates from the Lindsay Clancy trial, where the killer mom’s defense grills a psychiatrist who they claim failed to diagnose postpartum psychosis that led Clancy to strangle her 3 young kids in 2023.
Counselor Latiesha Dukes said she recommended that Lindsay Clancy get a “higher level of care” at an outpatient program for postpartum moms.
Dukes told Clancy about Women and Infants Hospital in Rhode Island during a Dec. 12, 2022 video therapy session — just weeks before Clancy killed her kids.
“I was recommending this higher level of care because of continued passive suicidal ideation,” Dukes said, noting that Clancy told Dukes she’d called a crisis hotline the week prior.
Witness Latiesha Dukes, a mental health clinician, testifies during Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Wednesday, August 12, 2026.Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool
Dukes said she recommended that Lindsay Clancy get a “higher level of care” at an outpatient program for postpartum moms.AP
Lindsay Clancy listens to testimony during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Wednesday, August 12, 2026.Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool
“Women and Infants was more for postpartum women and the infant would be able to come with her,” Dukes told the jury.
Dukes only met with Clancy four times from Dec. 2 through Dec. 19. She said Clancy never expressed any plans to kill herself despite having thoughts about it.
Yesterday, the jury learned that Clancy went to Women and Infants on Dec. 20, 2022, but the facility turned her away, referring her instead to a general mental health facility like McLean Hospital.
Latiesha Dukes, a counselor who met with Lindsay Clancy in the months before she murdered her kids, has begun testifying.
Latiesha Dukes, a counselor who met with Lindsay Clancy in the months before she murdered her kids has begun testifying.Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool
Dukes worked at South Shore Hospital’s Perinatal Behavioral Health Clinic where Clancy was treated from November through December.
Clancy also worked with two nurse practitioners at the Clinic who prescribed her a slew of psychiatric medications.
State Trooper Daniel Lawlor admitted it was just speculation that a psychiatrist told Lindsay Clancy to lie about hearing voices.
“There is no investigative basis for that, that’s [State Trooper Joshua McKelligan’s] speculation, right?” said Kevin Reddington, Clancy’s defense attorney.
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Dan Lawlor speaks from the witness stand during Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.Mark Stockwell / Pool via REUTERS
“Correct,” Lawlor said.
Lawlor had a conversation with lead investigator, McKelligan, in which McKelligan theorized that psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Zeizel, planted with Clancy that she heard voices as a defense strategy.
Zeizel visited Clancy at the hospital and allowed her to use his phone to call her then-husband, Patrick Clancy. Clancy told Patrick during the call that she heard voices telling her to kill her kids.
Lindsay Clancy listens to testimony during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026.Mark Stockwell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool
Lawlor admitted he didn’t hear any of Zeizel’s conversation with Clancy.
Reddington has claimed Clancy shouldn’t be held responsible for the killings because she was in the throes of severe postpartum psychosis and heard a voice telling her to carry out the heinous acts.
Kevin Reddington questioned State Trooper Daniel Lawlor outside the presence of the jury about a conversation he had with the lead investigator about Lindsay Clancy’s case.
Lawlor confirmed that he and lead investigator Trooper Joshua McKelligan discussed the theory that a psychiatrist who visited Clancy had the hospital allowed Clancy to use his cell phone to call her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, and tell him she heard voices telling her to kill her kids.
Reddington obtained a court order for the psychiatrist, Dr. Paul Zeizel, to visit with Clancy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham shows a pair of jeans worn by Lindsay Clancy to witness Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Dan Lawlor during Clancy’s murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts.Mark Stockwell / Pool via REUTERS
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Dan Lawlor speaks from the witness stand during Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial on Wednesday, August 12, 2026.Mark Stockwell / Pool via REUTERS
“The prosecution determined that it was Zeizel that told [Clancy] to say [she heard voices] as some type of defense?” Reddington said.
“I dont know what the prosecution determined,” Lawlor said.
“The conversation also included the fact that it was the psychologist who planted that in her mind. That was the theory,” Reddington asked Lawlor of his discussion with McKelligan.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington and his client, Lindsay Clancy, listen to testimony during Clancy’s murder trial.Mark Stockwell / Pool via REUTERS
“Correct. That’s what was discussed,” Lawlor said.
The judge called a brief break. The jury should be brought back in after for Lawlor to continue to be questioned by Reddington
Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, just asked State Trooper Daniel Lawlor about the psychiatrist that Reddington hired to visit Clancy in the hospital.
Reddington obtained a court order for Dr. Paul Zeizel to visit Clancy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the psychiatrist went into her room while Lawlor stood guard outside.
Massachusetts State Police Det. Sgt. Dan Lawler takes the stand during the trial of Lindsay Clancy.AP
“Isn’t it fair to say that one of the contentions of the district attorney is that Paul Zeizel, my doctor … told her to call Pat and tell him that she heard voices?” Reddington asked Lawlor.
The prosecution objected and the lawyers are now discussing the issue at sidebar.
Reddington has claimed that Clancy should be found not guilty by reason of insanity on the grounds that she was in the throes of severe postpartum psychosis and heard a voice telling her to kill her kids.
Prosecutors have claimed that Clancy was in her right mind and carefully planned the slayings because she was tired of taking care of her three young kids. They claim there is no evidence showing she heard voices or was in a state of psychosis.
Massachusetts State Trooper Daniel Lawlor was asked on cross-examination by Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, about the shock of seeing her hooked up to medical contraptions at the hospital after she tried to kill herself.
Lawlor confirmed Clancy couldn’t speak when he saw her because she was intubated at the South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Mass. the same day she strangled her three kids and made a suicide attempt.
“It was a confusing and shocking sight to walk into that room, right?” Reddington asked, noting she had tubes and wires coming out of her arms and a tube in her mouth.
“Yes,” Lawlor said.
Massachusetts State Police Det. Sgt. Dan Lawler takes the stand during Day 12 of the Lindsay Clancy trial.AP
He also confirmed the stains on the clothes he collected that were taken off of Clancy at the hospital were blood stains.
The next day Lawlor went to Clancy’s home to help execute a search warrant for evidence from her Duxbury home. He also went to Brigham and Women’s Hospital were Clancy was transferred to guard her room.
Massachusetts State Trooper Daniel Lawlor was the first witness called today at the Lindsay Clancy murder trial.
Massachusetts State Police Det. Sgt. Dan Lawlor is seen on the stand during Day 12 of the Lindsay Clancy trial.AP
He collected Clancy’s clothes and her wedding rings from the hospital where she was taken the day of the murders and her suicide attempt.
Prosecutor Shanan Buckingham is taking clothes out of bags and asking Lawlor to identify them as Clancy’s clothing.
The jury was shown her jeans, shirt and bra, which were cut off of her by medical staff and had stains on them.