US mum was 'begging for help' before killing children, family testifies

US mother on trial for killing her children was 'begging for help' before tragedy, her family testifies In October 2022, Lindsay Clancy messaged her mother: "Mom, will you please come up and stay with me for a bit? I'm really sick. Something is wrong." Warning: This story contains details that may be distressing for some readers. Ms Clancy was a former labour and delivery nurse known as a dedicated and loving mother to three children aged five and under. But her mental health had begun to decline after the birth of her third son, Callan. Despite repeatedly seeking help from medical professionals, she continued to report a poor mental state. By December, she had confessed to her mother and then-husband that she had thoughts of harming her children. A few weeks later, Ms Clancy had killed all three children and attempted to end her own life. Clancy was 'begging for help', family says On January 24, 2023, Ms Clancy took her daughter, Cora, to a doctor's appointment and sent her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, photos of their children throughout the day. When Mr Clancy returned home later that day after running errands, he discovered Ms Clancy lying paralysed in their backyard. He found their two eldest children dead from strangulation in the family basement. Callan, who was eight months old at the time, died in hospital a few days later. Whether Ms Clancy killed her children is not in dispute at her triple-murder trial currently underway in the US state of Massachusetts. Her defence lawyer, Kevin Reddington, argues she was a loving mother who was overcome by postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth. He says Ms Clancy repeatedly sought help from medical professionals and was prescribed several psychiatric medications that made her spiral "out of control". When her family testified for the defence this week, they described a woman who was anxious, paranoid and suicidal. Ms Clancy's mother, Paula Musgrove, said on Monday she often stayed with her daughter between October and December 2022. She said Ms Clancy was afraid of sleeping alone and believed the medications she was taking "were destroying her mind". Her former mother-in-law, Susan Clancy, testified on Tuesday that Ms Clancy had been "begging for help" in the months leading up the killings. "Lindsay was struggling; we were all concerned," she said. The jury was shown texts between the two in which Ms Clancy spoke about fears she had developed a dependence on benzodiazepines and could not sleep without taking them. "I'm not okay and I'm terrified of taking meds tonight," Lindsay texted her mother-in-law on November 30, 2022. Disputed picture of mental health Earlier in the trial, the jury heard Ms Clancy had sought treatment for severe mental health problems, including admitting herself to a psychiatric hospital. But witnesses also noted Ms Clancy would not always take the medications prescribed to help with her insomnia, anxiety and depression, and that she expressed fears she was addicted to some of them. The defence has argued that Ms Clancy was over-medicated and that her care was disjointed, with doctors not speaking to one another or sharing notes. The defence also showed she was discharged from one facility after just one day and denied a higher level of care at another when she could not show she had a suicide plan. Prosecutors questioned the seriousness of Ms Clancy's suicide attempt and showed through texts and photos that she performed many normal activities the day of the killings, including taking her children to the doctor and playing with them in the snow. Her doctors have testified they never saw Ms Clancy exhibit signs of mania or psychosis, though she did repeatedly talk of feeling suicidal. Paul Zeizel, a clinical and forensic psychologist who spent more than 35 hours with Ms Clancy over dozens of visits and reviewed her medical records, said he found no evidence she was faking or exaggerating psychiatric symptoms. He testified that psychotic symptoms could come and go, and that a person experiencing psychosis can still perform ordinary activities such as making a phone call or driving a car. On cross-examination, prosecutors pointed out mistakes Dr Zeizel made in his report about Ms Clancy and questioned whether he could be objective about her diagnosis when he was seeing her as a patient and working with the defence, including by appearing at a news conference with Mr Reddington. Clancy faces life without parole Ms Clancy has not testified and is not required to do so, but jurors have seen her break down in sobs at several points, including when prosecutors showed the jury autopsy photos of the children. If convicted of murder, Ms Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty because of a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility. ABC/AP