Lindsay Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, fatally strangled her three children in their Duxbury, Massachusetts home on January 24, 2023, then attempted suicide. She does not deny the killings. The central legal question has been whether she was criminally responsible. After a lengthy 2026 trial, the jury deadlocked and a mistrial was declared on September 4, 2026.
The killings
Lindsay Clancy (then 32) sent her husband, Patrick Clancy, out of the house that afternoon to pick up medicine for their daughter and takeout dinner. While he was gone, she took the children—Cora (5), Dawson (3), and Callan (8 months)—to the basement and strangled them one by one with exercise bands.
Patrick returned around 6 p.m., found the house quiet, discovered blood upstairs, and located Lindsay outside after she had cut her wrists and neck and jumped from a second-story window. He then found the children in the basement. He called 911. Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead that night. Callan died days later after life support was withdrawn. Lindsay survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down.
She later described hearing a male voice telling her it was her “last chance” and that she had to kill the children and herself. That day she had otherwise appeared to function normally: she took Cora to a pediatrician for a stomachache, built a snowman with the children, and exchanged routine texts with her husband.
Background and mental health
Lindsay Marie Musgrove was born in 1990, trained as a nurse, and worked at Massachusetts General Hospital. She married Patrick in 2016. They had Cora in 2017, Dawson in 2019, and Callan in May 2022. She had experienced postpartum anxiety after the first two births. After Callan’s birth her condition worsened markedly.
Between September 2022 and January 2023 she saw multiple providers and received more than 30 prescriptions for about 13 psychiatric medications, including antidepressants (Zoloft, Prozac), antipsychotics (Seroquel), mood stabilizers (Lamictal), benzodiazepines, and sleep aids. She reported insomnia, anxiety, depression, brain fog, intrusive thoughts of harming herself or the children, and later auditory hallucinations. She visited emergency rooms, called suicide hotlines, attended a short-term day program, and spent several days as a voluntary inpatient at McLean Hospital in early January 2023 (discharged January 5). She was diagnosed at various points with anxiety, depression, and possible bipolar features; postpartum psychosis was diagnosed after the killings. The defense has argued she was misdiagnosed and overmedicated, with poor coordination among providers. The prosecution has questioned the severity of her illness and whether she followed treatment consistently.
Patrick testified that she seemed to be having one of her better days on January 24. He said no clinician had warned him not to leave her alone with the children. The couple later divorced; Patrick has remarried and publicly said he viewed her as ill rather than a “monster.”
Charges and trial
Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder (strangulation counts were later dropped as redundant). She pleaded not guilty and pursued a lack-of-criminal-responsibility defense under Massachusetts law (the equivalent of an insanity defense). First-degree murder in Massachusetts carries a mandatory life sentence without parole. Possible verdicts also included second-degree murder, manslaughter, not guilty, or not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
The trial began in late July 2026 in Plymouth Superior Court before Judge William Sullivan and lasted about five to six weeks. It featured extensive testimony from Patrick, family members, medical providers, and competing forensic experts. The defense argued she was in a psychotic state, acting like a “puppet” under a hallucinated command, and that her actions were the product of untreated or mistreated postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder. Prosecutors argued she planned the killings by getting her husband out of the house, acted methodically, understood right from wrong, and that her internet searches and other conduct showed awareness.
The mistrial
The jury (nine women, three men) deliberated for seven days, totaling roughly 38–40 hours. They reported being deadlocked multiple times. Notes indicated an 11-1 split, with the majority appearing to favor a finding of lack of criminal responsibility and one holdout juror (reportedly a man) who, according to the defense, acknowledged doubt but refused to apply the court’s reasonable-doubt instructions. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington asked the judge to inquire into or remove that juror and filed an emergency appeal with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The appeal was denied. On September 4, 2026, the jury sent a note saying, “It is with a heavy heart that we report we are unable to come to a unanimous decision and will not be able to.” Judge Sullivan declared a mistrial.
A mistrial from a hung jury is neither a conviction nor an acquittal. The charges remain pending.
What happens next
Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz will decide whether to retry the case on the same first-degree murder charges, pursue lesser charges (second-degree murder or manslaughter), seek a plea agreement, or drop the charges. He has not announced a decision and said his office would address it in court. Analysts and Clancy’s lawyer expect a retrial is likely given the nature of the case. Judge Sullivan has indicated he wants any retrial “sooner rather than later,” possibly this fall. A status hearing is scheduled for September 29, 2026.
Clancy remains held at Tewksbury Hospital, a state psychiatric facility where she has been for years. She will stay there (or in similar custody) while charges are pending. If prosecutors do not retry her, civil commitment proceedings could still keep her confined for treatment. A retrial would require a new jury; high publicity could make jury selection challenging. Double jeopardy does not bar a retrial after a hung-jury mistrial.
The case has drawn intense attention to postpartum mental health, medication management, and how the legal system handles rare but catastrophic cases of postpartum psychosis. Those debates will continue regardless of the next legal step.
SOURCES:
The Lindsay Clancy Triple-Murder Case Has Ended in a Mistrial | Vanity Fair
Lindsay Clancy case: timeline of prescriptions
Lindsay Clancy murder trial: What Patrick Clancy’s testimony revealed | CNN
Where is Lindsay Clancy being held? Where she will likely go after mistrial
Judge declares mistrial in Clancy case after jurors, with ‘heavy heart,’ fail to reach verdict | WBUR News
As it happened: Judge in Lindsay Clancy case declares a mistrial | AP News
