Prosecution's final witnesses at Lindsay Clancy's murder trial challenge postpartum psychosis claim

The prosecution's final witnesses in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial Tuesday attempted to cast doubt on claims that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and that a voice ordered her to kill her three young children.

Dr. Gregory Saathoff, a forensic psychiatrist at the University of Virginia and a senior psychiatrist for the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, said Clancy told him during two video interviews earlier this year that she began hearing a voice on Jan. 24, 2023, after getting a call from her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, while he was out running errands. Saathoff said Lindsay Clancy told him the voice did not stop until she had strangled Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy in the basement of their Massachusetts home.

Clancy's mental health is a key issue at her trial. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington does not dispute that Clancy, 36, killed the children but says she shouldn’t be held criminally responsible because she had postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. Clancy then also tried to kill herself.

She has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.