Lindsay Clancy's continues with a second day of witness testimony Wednesday as her ex-husband Patrick returns to the stand to face more direct questioning from prosecutors. Patrick Clancy was the first witness called after opening statements were presented in Plymouth Superior Court.
Clancy is facing the possibility of life in prison for killing her three young children inside her Duxbury, Massachusetts, home in 2023.
Lindsay Clancy murder trial latest
- Clancy, 35, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children - 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. Prosecutors said the children were killed with exercise bands in the family's home on Jan. 24, 2023.
- Clancy attends court in a wheelchair because she was paralyzed after trying to take her own life that night.
- Prosecutors allege the murders were planned, while the defense argues Clancy was overmedicated and suffering from extreme .
- Patrick Clancy on Wednesday described what happened on the night of the murders. He said he found blood everywhere in his bedroom and discovered Lindsay Clancy on the ground outside.
- The jury heard Patrick Clancy's 911 call and his reaction to finding their children dead in the basement. Lindsay Clancy cried as the audio was played in court.
Jury hears 911 call from Patrick Clancy: "She killed the kids!"
The prosecutor showed the jury the clothing that the three children were wearing, and the exercise bands used to strangle them. Lindsay Clancy did not look up during the presentation of evidence.
The jury then heard . The judge told jurors they must not let their emotional reaction interfere with their judgment.
The judge previously approved Patrick Clancy's request to keep the audio of the 911 call private. The media is not allowed to broadcast the audio.
WBZ-TV's Kristina Rex, who is inside the courtroom, said Clancy could be heard telling the dispatcher that his wife tried to commit suicide. As first responders arrive, he says he has to check on his kids.
Clancy can be heard screaming and saying he needs help in the basement now.
"She killed the kids!" Clancy says.
Lindsay Clancy was hunched over the defense table as the call played, crying.
Lindsay Clancy calls Patrick a week later
After Patrick Clancy detailed what happened the night of the murders, prosecutor Jennifer Sprauge asked him if anyone ever told him not to leave the kids alone with Lindsay.
"No," he replied.
"In January of 2023, did Lindsay ever tell you that she wanted to harm your children?" Sprague asked.
"No," he said.
A week later, he says he got a phone call from Lindsay Clancy.
"She didn't talk about our kids. She talked about what she went through," Patrick Clancy said. "She said she heard a man's voice telling her if she didn't do it now she would lose her chance, or something like that."
He said he didn't remember if Lindsay Clancy told him that he had psychosis.
"I didn't know what psychosis was until after this happened," he said.
Patrick Clancy was then excused from the stand, but the judge said he could be called back later today.
Patrick Clancy finds children in basement
When he got the basement, Patrick Clancy said he saw his 5-year-old daughter Cora first.
"She had a band around her neck," he said, referring to an exercise band. "She was face down."
He untied the band, but said she was unresponsive. He then saw 8-month old Callan next to her with a exercise band around his neck as well.
Clancy said he then looked for 3-year-old Dawson and found him in his office, also with a band around his neck.
"I knew he was gone," Clancy said.
He said he went "back and forth" between the children, trying to give CPR before first responders arrived and took over.
Patrick Clancy finds his wife outside on the ground
Patrick Clancy said he ran outside after encountering the bloody scene in the bedroom. He said he found his wife on the ground with "deep cuts on her wrists" and a red line across her neck.
"She said, 'I tried to kill myself,'" Clancy recalled.
He asked where the kids were, and she answered that they were in the basement. She did not indicate that they were in danger or injured, Patrick Clancy said.
He said his wife was going in and out of consciousness. When first responders arrived, he said he ran to the basement.
Patrick Clancy says he saw "blood everywhere" in bedroom
Patrick Clancy described to the jury what he saw when he unlocked his bedroom door.
"I just saw blood everywhere and the window was open," he said. "It looked like it was sprayed, almost like with a hose. There was a huge puddle in the middle of the room ... I remember it was on the doorknob."
Prosecutors have said Lindsay Clancy cut her neck before jumping out the second-floor bedroom window.
Patrick Clancy says "house was really quiet"
Patrick Clancy said that when he returned home around 6 p.m., he noticed that "the house was really quiet," which he said was unusual. He said he called out and no one answered.
"I called down to the basement and no one answered. I called Lindsay to see if she was home," he said.
He said he checked the bathrooms and the kids' bedrooms and didn't find anyone. He went to his bedroom and found that the door was locked.
"And that's when I knew something was wrong," Clancy said.
Patrick Clancy starts detailing the night of the murders
Patrick Clancy returned to the stand Wednesday morning to talk about the night of the murders on Jan. 24, 2023.
He said he left the house to pick up takeout food that his wife ordered, and while he was on the way, Lindsay Clancy texted him around 5:15 p.m. to pick up some medicine for the kids at CVS. He said he called her while he was looking for the medication she told him to get.
"She was pretty quiet. It sounded like she was busy," he said. "I remember hanging up thinking she was probably in the middle of giving baths or something like that."
Clancy jury to visit Duxbury home Friday
The judge said jurors on Friday will visit the Duxbury home where Lindsay Clancy is accused of killing her three children before jumping from a window.
Police will secure the area on Summer Street during the jury visit.
"The parties will be permitted to visually inspect the outside of the property as well as the following interior areas: the basement, all rooms on the first floor, and all rooms on the second floor of the premises," the court order states. "Parties are not permitted to open closet doors, touch any items within the premises, or disturb items."
What won't be shown with Patrick Clancy on the witness stand
Patrick Clancy's motion to suppress media access to his 911 call and pictures of his deceased children was by the judge Friday.
Judge William Sullivan wrote in his ruling that "The media shall not, record, display, reproduce, distribute or otherwise disseminate" the 911 call or the autopsy photos of the children.
The camera will be turned off when those pieces of evidence are shown to the jury in the courtroom.
What happened on Day 1 of the Lindsay Clancy trial?
Opening statements were presented Monday as Lindsay Clancy's murder trial got underway in Plymouth Superior Court.
Patrick Clancy then took the stand as the first witness. He was married to Lindsay Clancy at the time of the murders, but they have since divorced and he remarried.
Patrick Clancy testified about his ex-wife's mental health struggles, which included a stay at McLean Hospital for psychiatric treatment about one month before she killed her three children.
When court ended for the day, the prosecutor had just gotten to questions about the day of the murders. Patrick testified that, despite her recent struggles, Lindsay had in the hours leading up to their deaths.
Who is Patrick Clancy?
Patrick Clancy works in the tech industry. He worked for a startup company and later got a job at Microsoft.
Patrick and Lindsay Clancy first met in 2013 and moved in together in 2015. They were married in 2016 and had their first child, Cora, in 2017.
They were married at the time of their children's deaths, but later divorced. Patrick Clancy has since married another woman.
During the start of his testimony on Monday, he became emotional at times, particularly when photos of his children were shown on a screen in the courtroom. He described their interests and personalities and said Lindsay was a loving mother.
He also went into detail about his ex-wife's mental health struggles. He testified that Lindsay shared suicidal thoughts and also told him she had thought about hurting their children in the past.