Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband explains why he forgave her over children's killings

Lindsay Clancy's ex-husband explains why he forgave her over children's killings

Patrick Clancy, the former husband of a US mother accused of murdering their three children, said he would have been "eaten up inside forever" if he had not forgiven her for their deaths.

In an interview with CBS, he also said he did the best he could as his then-wife Lindsay Clancy battled mental illness in the months before the day she strangled their children.

Lindsay has not denied killing them, but her lawyers argued she should not be held legally responsible because she was suffering from severe mental illness.

A judge declared a mistrial in the case earlier this month after the jury said it could not reach a unanimous verdict on whether she was guilty of murder.

Prosecutors alleged that on 24 January 2023, Clancy intentionally strangled all of her children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, eight months — in their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts.

Clancy, now 36, was then left paralysed after jumping from a second-floor window. She attended the trial in a wheelchair.

Lindsay Clancy's team said she had postpartum psychosis after birth

Patrick Clancy testified during the trial about his ex-wife's worsening mental health after giving birth.

Clancy's team said she had postpartum psychosis, a rare condition in which postpartum women can experience mania, depression or a combination of both.

"I didn't know how to manage a postpartum illness. I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive," he told CBS, the BBC's US news partner.

It was her mental health that later led Patrick Clancy to forgive her.

"I saw headlines that said, you know, 'Killer Mom', and 'Baby Murderer', 'Monster'. And none of them were accurate," he said in the interview.

"I believe that it was her mental illness that caused that. So I shared those words. And I think when it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn't get there, I would be eaten up inside forever."

When asked whether he felt he had failed in any way in the period leading up to the killings, he said: "I think I did the best I could with what I had at the time. And I live with the outcome. I live with it every day."

Living with his grief in the weeks after the tragedy became a struggle, and he admitted to having suicidal thoughts.

"I didn't think I would live to see my 35th birthday. And I was completely fine with it," he said.

During the seven week trial, Patrick was singled out online for intense vitriol and accusations of a cover-up.

There were claims he was somehow to blame for the murders. Thrust into the spotlight, tabloids photographed him travelling and with his new wife Rachel Danis.

The 36-year-old said the speculation was "deeply harmful to the legacy of my children. It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health".

It was also "painful to see" for him personally.

"And it makes it difficult to be in public and it's possible that some of those people after seeing lie after lie after lie, they start to believe it and that's what we're left with," he said.

The intense scrutiny led him to move from Duxbury to New York City in an effort to find anonymity.

Now he is starting a family with Danis and looking forward to telling his future children about their siblings.

"I think every parent can agree, you have different relationships with your kids, but they're all your kids. And I can't wait to tell them about their brothers and sister."

The mistrial leaves the case unresolved.

Prosecutors have not said whether they will seek a retrial.

The next court hearing is scheduled for 29 September at Plymouth Superior Court in Massachusetts.