Lindsay Clancy: Third child dies as accused mother suffering postpartum depression remains in hospital
Lindsay Clancy, the mother who is facing at least two counts of murder in the death of her children, continues to recover at a Boston hospital from injuries sustained after jumping out of a window.
Ms Clancy, 32, is accused of strangling her five-year-old daughter Cora and three-year-old son Dawson at the home she shared with her children and husband Patrick in Doxbury, Massachusetts last week. Both Cora and Dawson died at a nearby hospital; Ms Clancy’s youngest child, seven-month-old Callan, was pronounced dead on Friday.
Law enforcement officials said they believed Ms Clancy attacked her children before jumping from a second-story window of her home. She is said to have suffered from severe postpartum psychosis after the birth of her youngest son.
Officers responding to the scene found Ms Clancy and her children unconscious. Shortly thereafter, they issued an arrest warrant for Ms Clancy on two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation, and three counts of assault and assault with a deadly weapon. She could face more charges in the coming days.
Ms. Clancy, who grew up in Wallingford, Connecticut and graduated from Quinnipiac University, worked as an obstetrician and midwife at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Postpartum psychosis occurs in about 1 to 2 in every 1,000 births, according to Postpartum Support International. Risk factors include a prior psychotic episode and a personal or family history of bipolar disorder.
A GoFundMe drive set up to help Mr. Clancy cope with the aftermath of the trauma has already raised over $995,000 of his $1 million goal as of Thursday morning.
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In an update posted to the website on Saturday, Mr Clancy thanked each of his family members for the support he has received from community members and reminders.
“The shock and pain is unbearable and unrelenting,” wrote Mr. Clancy. “I’m constantly reminded of them and with the little sleep I get, I keep dreaming about them. All parents know that it is impossible to understand how much you will love your children until you have them. The same goes for understanding the devastation of losing them. Cora, Dawson and Callan were the essence of my life and I am completely lost without them.”
Mr Clancy wrote that he fell in love with Ms Clancy at first sight and that their marriage was “wonderful” and “grew diametrically stronger as her condition rapidly deteriorated”.
“I would like to ask you all to find it deep within you to forgive Lindsay as I have,” Mr. Clancy wrote. “The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring to everyone – me, our children, family, friends and her patients. The fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she finds some kind of peace.”
