Dr Gregory Saathoff, an FBI psychiatrist, testified in court that Lindsay Clancy knew right from wrong when she killed her three young children. Clancy has claimed that she heard a voice ordering her to kill the children, but Saathoff does not believe this account. He pointed out that Clancy was able to carry out the killings and her own attempted suicide "methodically and alike" without any direction or plan, indicating she had control over her actions. Closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday, after which the jury will deliberate.
Written by the local model on 2026-08-27,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Lindsay Clancy, a 36-year-old mother from Massachusetts, is on trial for the murder of her three young children: 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan. The children died in January 2023 at their family's home in Duxbury. Clancy has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, arguing that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time. Prosecutors claim that Clancy made a calculated decision to kill her children and knew right from wrong.
The trial has lasted for five weeks and included testimony from over 80 witnesses, including psychologists, psychiatrists, and family members. Clancy's defense team presented 10 witnesses, including friends and relatives. The prosecution rested its case after calling three rebuttal witnesses, and the jury is now deliberating.
Clancy's mental health and whether she was capable of distinguishing right from wrong at the time of the killings are key issues in the trial. Her lawyers argue that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare condition that can cause severe hallucinations and disconnection from reality. However, an FBI psychiatrist testified that he does not believe Clancy's account of hearing a voice ordering her to kill the children.
The jury will consider several options: not guilty, not guilty by reason of insanity, first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter. If convicted, Clancy could face up to life in prison without parole. The trial has sparked debate about maternal mental health and the need for better support systems for new mothers.
Clancy's supporters have gathered outside the courtroom, mostly women who identify with her experience of seeking help but feeling dismissed or misunderstood by the medical system. Many argue that systemic failures around maternal health contributed to the tragedy and that Clancy's case highlights the need for more resources and understanding for new mothers struggling with mental health issues.
Written for “Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial” on 2026-08-31,
grounded in this article and the 6 other(s) covering the same event.
Testimony finished in the Lindsay Clancy trial on Wednesday, as a final witness for the prosecution laid out that he believed the Massachusetts mother knew right from wrong when she took the lives of her three young children before attempting to commit suicide in 2023.
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she → finish → 2023
Closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday.
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arguments → expect → Thursday
The jury will then start deliberating.
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jury → start → ?
An FBI psychiatrist, Dr Gregory Saathoff, testified in court in Plymouth that he does not believe Clancy’s account that she heard a voice ordering her to kill the children – five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan – as her defense team maintains that this occurred while she was suffering from the relatively rare condition of postpartum psychosis.
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she → testify → psychosis
The issue is the crux of the case: Clancy’s mental health and whether, as prosecutors contend, she knowingly murdered her children or, as the defense argues, she was at that moment outside the realms of reality and, in legal terms, lacks criminal responsibility for her actions.
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she → contend → actions
She has admitted to killing the children, but not to murdering them.
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She → admit → them
Saathoff was asked by prosecutor Jennifer Sprague whether he believed a voice told Clancy where to kill the children, how to kill them, what to use to do it and in what order to kill them.
“Having no instructions as to how to do it, but being able to execute those decisions … that is surprising that she’s able to accomplish all of this without any other kind of direction or plan,” Saathoff testified.
Saathoff testified that Clancy’s ability to accomplish everything she did without direction indicated she “had control, control of the sequence of what she was doing throughout”.
“In the small amount of time that Miss Clancy had in the home without her husband, it was important, in order to carry this out, as well as her suicide [attempt], to do this quickly, methodically and alike,” he added.
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he → ask → this
Clancy has admitted to strangling her children with exercise bands in the family’s basement while her then husband was out on errands, but pleaded not guilty to a crime, by reason of insanity.
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husband → admit → insanity
The case has brought national attention to the court as jurors heard dueling explanations for Clancy’s actions over almost five weeks of testimony.
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jurors → bring → testimony
Her defense claims that postpartum psychosis, exacerbated by undiagnosed bipolar disorder and a combination of anti-anxiety and sedative medications, led to the killings.
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psychosis → claim → killings
Supporters who claim she was failed by the health system last week rallied outside the courthouse.
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she → claim → courthouse
In recent days, prosecutors have refined their argument that Clancy was a high-functioning mother and a perfectionist who felt she was losing control and planned to take her own and her children’s lives.
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she → refine → lives
Clancy knew right from wrong when she killed her children, Saathoff testified.
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Saathoff → know → children
“The planning involved, prior to the strangling of her children, I thought was significant,” he said.
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he → involve → children
He pointed to Clancy’s visits to a pediatrician’s office on the day of the killings and later making lunch for her children and building a snowman with them.
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He → point → them
“The activities of that day were controlled.
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activities → control → day
Throughout the day she was methodical and quite controlled and organized,” he said.
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he → organize → day
Saathoff said on Tuesday he found it unusual that Clancy said the voice she was hearing stopped once she had killed the children, and that the voice was constant rather than intermittent.
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voice → say → children
“Committing the act is not curative of the voice,” Saathoff said, adding that in his experience he had “not ever seen that” happen.
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that → commit → experience
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Kevin Reddington, Saathoff said he had treated only two women experiencing postpartum psychosis “in the late 1980s and also during the 1990s” when he worked at a state hospital.
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he → say → hospital
He acknowledged that the mental health progression from postpartum depression to psychosis can be “rapid” and the latter can look similar to regular depression, along with sleep problems and suicidal ideation.
Saathoff also acknowledged that changes in a woman’s hormone levels after giving birth can affect neurotransmitters in the brain and lead to “intrusive and hard-to-control thoughts and hard-to-control behavior”.
But in a closing moment of testimony, Reddington read from the prosecution’s opening statement, which said Clancy had “made a calculated decision” and “was a woman who no longer liked the life she thought she wanted”.
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she → acknowledge → life
Prosecutors accused Clancy of having chosen “to manipulate her providers” and “seek out a quick and easy fix when she was feeling depressed and anxious”, adding: “When she didn’t get what she expected, she chose the alternate route.”
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she → accuse → route
Reddington asked Saathof if he supported that summation.
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he → ask → summation
Saathof said he would not “I think that statement that you read really minimizes what [Clancy] was going through,” he said.
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he → say → [
Jurors also heard from Saathoff that Clancy had complained about a lack of sleep and feeling numb when she went to an emergency room about a month before the killings.
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she → hear → killings
But the Women and Infants hospital in Rhode Island turned her away from a postpartum day program.
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hospital → turn → program
Jurors will hear closing arguments, probably on Thursday, before being given jury instructions and sent to deliberate.
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Jurors → hear → instructions
