The courtroom in Plymouth County Superior Court in Massachusetts was filled with audible sobs and distress as the unreleased 911 call made on the evening of January 24, 2023, was played during the trial of Lindsay Clancy.
The roughly six-minute recording captured the immediate aftermath of the night Clancy strangled her three children: Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, inside their Duxbury home. The unearthly screams described in the call visibly affected everyone present, with two female jurors reportedly breaking into tears.
Lindsay Clancy, who had been found injured in the backyard after an apparent suicide attempt, was present in court and trembled, silently sobbing in her wheelchair as the call was played. Her parents also wept from the public gallery. Following the call, Clancy was wheeled out of the courtroom, overcome with emotion.
Patrick Clancy, the children's father, had been excused from the courtroom before the recording was played to spare him further anguish. He had returned to the stand earlier that day to describe finding his wife and later discovering the children dead. During a recess after the 911 call, emergency responders were seen attending to a juror who reportedly suffered a panic attack, though all jurors returned for subsequent proceedings.
The 911 call began with Patrick Clancy's frantic voice after finding his wife on the lawn. "My wife tried to commit suicide," he told the dispatcher, his panic evident as he urged her to "Stay awake, stay awake." At points, Lindsay Clancy could be heard moaning and wailing in the background. Patrick attempted to keep her conscious, but unaware of the fate of his children, he asked her about their whereabouts. Her response, audible in the recording, was "In the basement."
As first responders began tending to Lindsay, Patrick entered the house and discovered his children in the basement. It was at this point that his bloodcurdling screams began, culminating in the words, "She killed the kids!"
Prosecutors presented the children's pajamas and the three colored exercise bands alleged to have been used in the strangulations as evidence. Patrick Clancy testified that his wife's mental health had deteriorated in the months leading up to the killings, and that she had repeatedly sought psychiatric help. He also recounted a hospital conversation days after the killings where Lindsay allegedly said a voice told her to kill the children.
Lindsay Clancy has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, attributing her actions to severe postpartum mental illness. Prosecutors, however, contend that the murders were planned and that she was of sound mind. The trial has raised complex questions about postpartum mental illness and criminal responsibility. If convicted, Clancy faces life without parole. An acquittal on the grounds of insanity would lead to commitment to a state psychiatric hospital.