Patrick Clancy describes events before children's killings on 60 Minutes

Prosecutors to decide later this month whether to retry Lindsay Clancy

Patrick Clancy, the ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, gave his first televised interview in which he described the months leading up to the 2023 strangulation deaths of their three young children and rejected the online criticism and conspiracy theories that have targeted him since his ex-wife was charged with their murders.

In the 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, Clancy said he first noticed his ex-wife struggling with sleep deprivation and anxiety in the fall of 2022, months after their youngest son, Callan, was born. “I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive,” he said. “So I’m sure there are things that I didn’t see.” Clancy said he “didn’t know how to manage a postpartum illness” before the experience.

Lindsay Clancy’s condition worsened in December 2022, leading to her admission to McLean psychiatric hospital on New Year’s Eve, Clancy said. The children were allegedly strangled 17 days after her release from the hospital, he added. Patrick Clancy said he had hoped Callan, the youngest, might survive after regaining a heartbeat. “I remember just thinking, ‘Just gimme one. Just gimme one kid, and I would raise him as best I could, and I would tell him about his brother and sister,’” he said. Callan later died in the hospital.

Patrick Clancy attributed the killings to his ex-wife’s mental illness and said he has forgiven her, rejecting media depictions of her as a “killer mom” or “baby murderer.” “I think I did the best I could with what I had at the time,” he said. “And I live with the outcome. I live with it every day.”

The interview comes as the Plymouth County district attorney’s office prepares to decide later this month whether to retry Lindsay Clancy for the deaths of Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months, before trying to end her own life. A judge declared a mistrial on September 4 after the jury deadlocked. Eleven jurors favored clearing Lindsay Clancy of criminal responsibility after finding she was suffering from postpartum psychosis; a single holdout agreed with prosecutors, who maintained that she knew what she was doing.

Lindsay Clancy is being held at Tewksbury hospital in Massachusetts.

Patrick Clancy responded in the interview to the online criticism and conspiracy theories from people who have supported his ex-wife and accused him of failing to provide enough care to her at the time. He called the response “painful to see” and said it was “deeply harmful to the legacy of my children.”

“It’s a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health,” he said. “And it’s done real harm to real people, myself included but also others.”

Clancy added: “And it makes it difficult to be in public and it’s possible that some of those people, after seeing lie after lie after lie, they start to believe it and that’s what we’re left with.”

Patrick Clancy said his life came to a “screeching halt” after the killings and that he suffered from suicidal thoughts. He eventually moved to New York City seeking anonymity, where he said he managed to grieve openly, kept items that belonged to his children and eventually met his second wife, Rachel Danis, at a running club. Speaking with experts at Postpartum Support International had also helped him process what occurred, he said.

“I know I can’t fix — I can’t bring his kids back,” Danis said, joining Patrick during the interview. “But if I can honor them and allow Pat to grieve but also just continue to honor them in the present, it — I guess that’s all I can do.”

Both Patrick Clancy and Lindsay Clancy have filed medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors and hospitals involved in her care. Lindsay Clancy alleges negligence and medical malpractice; Patrick Clancy alleges wrongful death.

In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.