Police describe discovering three dead children in Duxbury home as trial hears 911 call

First responders testify that only the infant had a faint pulse when they reached the basement

Duxbury police officers Stephen Hall and Brian Josephine each testified that they were dispatched separately to the Clancy home in January 2023. They arrived to find Patrick Clancy, Lindsay Clancy’s husband, calling for help from behind the house. Lindsay Clancy was drifting in and out of consciousness in the snow after jumping from a second-floor window, according to the officers’ testimony.

Within minutes, the officers’ attention shifted to the basement. Patrick Clancy had discovered the bodies of the couple’s three children — Dawson, 3, Cora, 5, and Callan, 8 months — and screamed for help. “I can’t wake them up — I can’t get them up!” he told the officers, according to testimony.

Josephine testified that when he reached the basement, only the baby, Callan, had a faint pulse. “Based on my training experience from previous incidents, I knew it wasn’t going to be good,” Josephine said. First responders, including firefighters and paramedics, began rendering aid and called for additional ambulances.

PJ Hussey, a Duxbury fire department supervisor, testified that he arrived in time to see Patrick Clancy unwrapping an exercise band from one child’s neck through a basement window. Jennifer Stratton, a Duxbury firefighter and paramedic, told the jury that Callan never regained a pulse. Hussey described the scene as chaotic as more emergency personnel rushed to the house.

The trial has previously heard from Patrick Clancy, who testified about his wife’s deteriorating mental health in the months leading up to the killings. He said she told him about intrusive thoughts of harming the children and thoughts of suicide. Clancy sought care from specialists in postpartum mood disorders and was put on multiple psychiatric medications. When those did not alleviate her condition, she checked into a psychiatric hospital. She killed the children 19 days after she was discharged, according to trial testimony.

Lindsay Clancy’s attorney said in opening arguments that she had bipolar disorder and that antidepressants prescribed after Callan’s birth worsened her condition. The defense argues Clancy was in the grip of postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness tied to the stress, sleep deprivation, and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Her attorney said Clancy heard a voice telling her: “This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself.”

Prosecutors contend Clancy acted intentionally and is criminally responsible for the deaths. She remains paralyzed from the waist down after attempting to end her life that night using multiple methods.

If convicted of murder, Clancy faces life in prison without parole. A verdict of not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility would result in commitment to a state mental health facility. Lindsay Clancy and Patrick Clancy, who are now divorced, have both filed lawsuits accusing her medical providers of failing to properly diagnose, treat, and monitor her condition.