Lindsay Clancy murder trial: Ex-husband testifies about Seroquel spiral

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Patrick Clancy, the father of three young children strangled to death in their Massachusetts home, became the first witness in his ex-wife’s murder trial on Monday, giving jurors a harrowing account of the deterioration in mental health he witnessed before her death.

He was the first witness called in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, who faces murder charges in the January 2023 deaths of the couple’s three children. Prosecutors claim he acted deliberately, while defense attorneys argue his actions were driven by serious mental illness.

Patrick said he watched his then-wife fall into a “huge spiral” after she started taking Seroquel, losing weight, becoming severely depressed and beginning to express suicidal thoughts.

“It’s terrible,” he said when asked how Lindsay was doing physically after starting the medication. “That’s really where his big spiral started. He started losing a lot of weight, became very depressed, and was having a really hard time.”

LINDSAY Clancy’s husband may testify on her behalf at trial into deaths of three children

Patrick also testified that Lindsay told him she was experiencing intrusive thoughts about harming her children, but Lindsay denied having a plan and said the thoughts were bothering her.

“I never saw Lindsay harm children,” he told jurors.

Patrick Clancy exits Plymouth Superior Court, Plymouth, Mass., on Monday, July 27, 2026. His ex-wife Lindsay Clancy is on trial for the murder of their three children. (Fox News Digital’s David McGlynn)

Margaret McLean, a former criminal prosecutor and trial attorney who teaches law at Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, said Patrick’s measured delivery does little to hide the pain of a father forced to retrace the months before his children’s deaths.

“I think his demeanor at the podium is very clinical. He tells it like it is,” McLean told Fox News Digital. “You can see the anguish in this man’s eyes, his facial expressions. You can see he’s suffering there, and it’s a terrible thing to have to relive that and talk about it.”

McLean said Patrick appeared to compartmentalize his emotions while listening carefully to questions and giving simple answers.

“He needs to get over it,” he said. “He has to listen to questions and provide answers to the best of his ability, and I think he does that.”

Lindsay Clancy reacted as details about her children’s deaths were read in court Monday. (Greg Derr/Pool/Patriot Notebook)

LINDSAY Clancy COURTROOM HOT CHANGE ON 911 CALL, CRIME SCENE PHOTOS SET THE STAGE FOR MY MOTHER’S MURDER TRIAL

Patrick expressed that he wasn’t concerned for the children’s safety when Lindsay first shared that she was having intrusive thoughts that would harm her and her children. After a few minutes of discussing her thoughts, she said she could see her making lunch for the kids, playing with them, or getting them ready for bed.

Patrick told jurors that she panicked after Lindsay was prescribed 13 psychiatric medications in the months before the murders and pressed for an in-person appointment because she believed there was a “disconnect” between the severity of her condition and the brief telehealth sessions she was receiving.

“A lot of the telehealth appointments seemed to be pretty quick and there wasn’t a lot of interest,” he said.

Patrick also described taking Lindsay to hospital emergency rooms and helping her into McLean Hospital after she continued to express suicidal thoughts.

He stated that he would “pay for everything” if insurance prevented him from keeping him in the hospital.

Lindsay Clancy was accused of three counts of murder in 2023 for the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson and 7-month-old son Callan. He did not accept the accusations. (Greg Derr/Pool via Patriot Ledger)

McLean said the testimony could lead jurors to ask whether the warning prompted an adequate response and cautioned against placing blame on Patrick or family members who may not have understood the seriousness of the risk.

“A lot of people today don’t understand mental health, so I don’t blame him at all,” McLean said. “Anyone could have done what he did, but that’s the part that scares me.”

WATCH: Lindsay Clancy holds tissues as jurors hear her three children’s story

GET BREAKING NEWS BY EMAIL

Patrick’s testimony followed wildly different opening statements from prosecutors and the defense.

Deputy District Attorney Shanan Buckingham told jurors that 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan were “deliberately and meticulously murdered” by their mother on Jan. 24, 2023.

Buckingham claimed that Clancy deliberately sent Patrick to get medication and food from their Duxbury home, giving himself enough time to strangle each child with an exercise band before attempting to kill himself.

FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME SQUAD ON X

McLean said Buckingham gave jurors “a road map of cool-headed, calculated intent,” focusing on the time and physical effort required to carry out three separate strangulations, while humanizing each child’s interests.

“The prosecution did this because [Buckingham] “He wants the jury to remember that the act of strangulation takes time and physical effort,” McLean said. “It takes a conscious choice to proceed three separate times.”

Plymouth County Deputy District Attorney Shanan Buckingham will give opening statements in court Monday. (Greg Derr/Pool/Patriot Notebook)

SIGN UP TO GET THE LATEST TRUE CRIME NEWS

He said the Commonwealth’s strategy was to reject the defense’s suggestion that Clancy suffered a sudden psychotic break and instead portray him as organised, purposeful and controlled.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Kevin Reddington acknowledged that Clancy killed the children, but argued that the only meaningful disagreement was what was going on in his mind.

DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE

“He knows he killed these kids,” Reddington told jurors. “The issue that needs to be evaluated is what was going on in that woman’s mind.”

McLean called the privilege a calculated move by an experienced trial lawyer.

SEND US A TIP

“By doing this, he is trying to take away the shock value of the prosecution and force the jury to look only at Lindsay Clancy’s mental capacity,” he said.

Reddington argued that Clancy had no reason to kill the children he loved and raised. He also displayed graphic hospital photos showing Clancy with injuries to his neck and wrists.

GOT A TIP?

Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial is expected to last six to eight weeks and includes more than 200 names on the witness list. (Greg Derr/Pool via Patriot Ledger)

McLean said the defense framed Clancy’s paralysis “not as the result of a crime but as the tragic final symptom of a full-blown postpartum psychotic collapse.”

LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME AND JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, pleaded not guilty to three counts each of murder and strangulation. Her lawyers do not dispute that she killed the children but argue that she is not criminally responsible due to severe postpartum psychosis.

Judge William Sullivan told jurors that the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Clancy was criminally responsible when the children were killed.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

“It’s going to be black and white for some people, and gray area for others,” McLean said. “This will be one of the most difficult things for the jury, or any jury, to decide.”