Mother who killed three young children before attempting to end her life is indicted on murder charges
Lindsay Clancy is currently held without bail and being treated in a medical facility
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A mother accused of killing her three children before attempting to take her own life has been formally indicted on murder charges.
A Massachusetts grand jury on Friday handed down indictments charging Lindsay Clancy, 32, with three counts of murder and three counts of strangulation, according to Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz.
She is currently held without bail and being treated in a medical facility.
The alleged murders happened on 24 January, when someone reported a suicide attempt after noticing a woman jumping from the window of her home. After transporting Ms Clancy to a hospital, responders found “three children in the basement under the ages of five, unconscious and with obvious signs of severe trauma.”
The children were five years old, three years old and eight months old.
Ms Clancy, who was left paralysed, was subsequently arraigned from a hospital bed in February, when she pleaded not guilty to counts of murder, strangulation and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the children’s deaths were caused by or related to asphyxia.
The 32-year-old is slated to be arraigned on the charges in Plymouth Superior Court at an unspecified later date, the DA wrote.
Kevin Reddington, Ms Clancy’s attorney, previously said his client is paralysed from the waist down due to her suicide attempt.
He also told the judge, according to NBC News, that at the time of the killings, she had been suffering from postpartum depression “and possibly postpartum psychosis.”
Cleveland Clinic describes postpartum psychosis as a “rare” but “dangerous” mental health condition. It affects one’s “sense of reality, causing hallucinations, delusions, paranoia or other behavior changes. In severe cases, people with PPP may attempt to harm themselves or their newborn.”
On top of her mental state, her defence team said in February that Ms Clancy was under the influence of a cocktail of 13 psychiatric medications.
The Jennifer Sprague claimed to the court that the alleged murders had been planned: “She used Apple Maps to make sure she would have enough time to strangle each child before her husband returned from where she had sent him.”
When Ms Clancy’s husband, Patrick, arrived home from his errands, he was met with a shocking scene. All three children still had exercise bands wrapped around their necks, which prosecutors say Ms Clancy used to strangle them.
“She killed the kids,” Mr Clancy screamed, according to a transcript of a 911 call read out in court.
The Independent has reached out to Mr Reddington for comment.