A grand jury on Friday indicted Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy in the deaths of her young children, handing down three counts each of murder and strangulation, the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Clancy, 33, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, has been held without bail and is being treated in a medical facility following her attempted suicide on Jan. 24, when officials said her kids were discovered unconscious in the family’s basement. Her older children — 5-year-old Cora Clancy and 3-year-old Dawson Clancy — were pronounced dead that day, while 8-month-old Callan was treated for several days at a children’s hospital before he died.
Clancy was indicted by a Plymouth County grand jury. She is scheduled to be arraigned in Plymouth Superior Court at an unspecified date.
Kevin Reddington, Clancy’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a voicemail or text requesting comment on Friday’s indictment. He previously has said that Clancy had postpartum depression and possibly postpartum psychosis — a rare condition in which hallucinations alter people’s perception of reality after childbirth, sometimes driving them to hurt themselves or their children.
Reddington has also told the judge in Clancy’s case that she had been “thoroughly destroyed” by prescription medications — including Valium, Prozac, Klonopin and Zoloft — which he said masked her symptoms, instead of treating them.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, allege that Clancy was able to think clearly and meticulously planned out her children’s deaths, sending her husband, Patrick, out to do errands she knew would give her enough time to strangle them. They said she used the Apple Maps app on her phone to time a trip to a restaurant in a neighboring town where he picked up takeout while she allegedly attacked the kids.
A medical examiner determined Cora and Dawson died of asphyxia, while Callan died of a complication of asphyxia, according to the local district attorney’s office.
Patrick Clancy did not respond to a request for comment Friday. Prosecutors have said that he told police that his wife had been “smiling” and “happy” earlier on Jan. 24 and that, despite a stay in a psychiatry facility in the weeks leading up to their children’s deaths, Lindsay Clancy had been having “one of her best days” after a long struggle with anxiety.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
