LINDSAY Clancy’s “widely divergent” accounts of the night she killed her three children were called into question on Tuesday as a prosecution witness picked apart differences in her story.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff highlighted conflicting details about when Clancy allegedly began hearing a male voice, what she was doing when it started and what the voice told her to do.
Defendant Lindsay Clancy talks with her lawyer Kevin Reddington during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court, Monday, August 24, 2026
Judge William Sullivan sent jurors home after Dr. Heilbrun’s testimony that referenced Clancy’s Catholic faith and beliefs about sᩚuᩚiᩚcide on August 24, 2026
Prosecutor Jennifer Sprague after making her argument against a mistrial at the Plymouth Superior Court trial of Lindsay Clancy on August 24, 2026
Patrick Clancy with his children, 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month old Callan
The prosecution’s final reʙuттal witness told jurors at Plymouth Superior Court that the inconsistencies raised concerns about the reliability of Clancy’s recollection.
One centered on chicken nuggets.
Clancy told Saathoff she was getting nuggets from the refrigerator for her children when she heard a voice tell her, “This is your last chance, you have to kill your kids and kill yourself.”
But Patrick Clancy told the psychiatrist that their son Dawson was already eating chicken nuggets on the couch before he left the house that night.
Saathoff also said Clancy gave differing accounts of when the alleged voice began, including another version in which it started after Patrick had already left.
“In this case the widely divergent reports … raise questions about what she is telling me and how things are happening,” Saathoff testified.
He also questioned why the alleged voice appeared for the first time that night, remained constant through the killings and then abruptly stopped after Clancy strangled her youngest child, Callan.
Saathoff said Clancy had not previously reported hearing voices to the medical professionals treating her.
The psychiatrist also examined Clancy’s behavior after the killings, including complaints she later made about her treatment while recovering at Spaulding Rehab.
Clancy told him she became upset when hospital staff prevented her from discussing the deaths with a visiting longtime friend, leaving them instead to engage in “gossip” and catch up.
She said the conversation felt “superficial” and worried it could give others a false impression about her mєntal state.
Saathoff’s testimony came as prosecutors moved closer to wrapping up their reʙuттal case after five weeks of evidence over whether Clancy was criminally responsible for the deaths.
Judge William Sullivan told jurors that the evidence is expected to close on Wednesday, with closing arguments now likely Thursday.
Graphic warning: Lindsay Clancy’s trial involves disturbing details in its discussion of sᩚuᩚiᩚcide, postpartum psychosis, and murder. Please scroll with discretion.
This live blog has now ended. Scroll below to catch up on all the updates from the Lindsay Clancy murder trial and read our latest coverage of the case...
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19 hours ago
See more on the Lindsay Clancy trial
Follow The U.S. Sun’s YouTube account for our expert analysis on the trial dividing America including:
Our exclusive interview with Lindsay Clancy’s defense lawyer Kevin Reddington, on the mistrial bid, her state of mind and what comes next in the trial,
The wild conspiracy theories surrounding Patrick Clancy that have exploded online during Lindsay’s murder trial,
Inside the prosecution and defense tactics shaping Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial as both sides battle over whether she was criminally responsible.
Body language analysis on the first time Lindsay saw Patrick at trial,
How Lindsay’s tattooed black-belt lawyer once hurled THROWING STARS in court,
The original ‘Mindhunter’ reveals why she believes Lindsay should never be released,
Our exclusive interview with the woman behind the silent rally supporting Lindsay Clancy.
12 hours ago
Closing arguments likely Thursday as testimony nears end
Arshi Qureshi
Jurors were sent home on Tuesday after prosecution witness Dr Gregory Saathoff stepped down from the stand, with Judge William Sullivan saying the evidence is expected to wrap up the next day.
“It is anticipated that the evidence will close tomorrow,” Sullivan told the jury.
But the judge warned that closing arguments will likely have to wait while the court and lawyers sort out final trial matters.
“It’s probable that we will be doing closing arguments not tomorrow, but the day after,” Sullivan said.
12 hours ago
Prosecution witness points to takeout and sᩚuᩚiᩚcide attempts as ‘sequential’ choices
Arshi Qureshi
Saathoff told jurors that Lindsay Clancy’s actions before and after the killings involved a series of separate decisions.
He said Clancy told him 3V was the only takeout restaurant that came to mind that night, while Patrick said the family had never ordered from there and usually used several places closer to their Duxbury home.
Saathoff also testified that Clancy had researched medicine for one of the children online nearly an hour before Patrick later left to pick it up at CVS.
Turning to her sᩚuᩚiᩚcide attempt, Saathoff said his review suggested it involved “sequential decision making.”
He said Clancy described retrieving a knife, going upstairs, cutting herself and taking an overdose of medication before jumping from the window.
Saathoff noted that Clancy did not describe taking “handfuls” of pills or give him a specific amount.
He also told jurors she had previously contacted a sᩚuᩚiᩚcide H๏τline twice and went to the emergency room in December 2022 amid concerns about self-harm and suicidal thoughts.
12 hours ago
Clancy complained hospital talks felt ‘superficial’
Arshi Qureshi
Dr. Saathoff told jurors Lindsay Clancy said she became upset when staff at Spaulding Rehab restricted what she could discuss with a visiting friend.
Clancy said the conversation was reduced to “gossip” and catching up because she was not allowed to talk about the killings.
Saathoff testified that Clancy worried the exchange could give people a misleading picture of how she was really doing mentally.
He also said Clancy felt Spaulding staff were concentrating more on her spinal injuries than her psychiatric condition, though Saathoff noted records showed she was seen by mєntal health providers there.
12 hours ago
Psychiatrist details earlier medication history
Arshi Qureshi
Saathoff also told jurors that Clancy had taken Prozac, Wellbutrin and Propranolol in 2013 while she was dating Patrick.
He said Patrick told him he had been unaware until late 2022 that Clancy had previously taken anti-anxiety medication.
Saathoff testified that Lamictal, a mood stabilizer, was later discussed as a possible treatment option in December 2022.
He said Clancy decided against taking it because she was worried about the risk of a rash.
Saathoff added that he did not see evidence her provider, Dr Jennifer Tufts, had been told about that decision, which he said could have allowed doctors to consider another treatment option.
12 hours ago
Prosecution witness flags ‘widely divergent’ accounts from Clancy
Arshi Qureshi
Dr. Saathoff told jurors that differences in Lindsay Clancy’s accounts raised concerns about how reliable her recollection was.
He pointed to Clancy saying she was getting chicken nuggets from the refrigerator when the alleged voice began, while Patrick Clancy said Dawson was already eating chicken nuggets before he left the house.
Saathoff also noted that Clancy had given different accounts about exactly when the voice started, including one version in which it began after Patrick left.
“In this case the widely divergent reports … raise questions about what she is telling me and how things are happening,” Saathoff testified.
He also said Clancy’s fear that discussing her mєntal health could lead to her children being taken away was a rational concern rather than an irrational belief.
13 hours ago
Prosecution witness questions timing of Clancy’s alleged voice
Arshi Qureshi
Prosecution psychiatrist Dr. Saathoff told jurors he found the timing of Lindsay Clancy’s reported command hallucination usual.
Saathoff said Clancy told him an external male voice began immediately after a phone call with Patrick, repeatedly saying, “This is your last chance, you have to kill your kids and kill yourself.”
He said Clancy described the voice as constant until she finished strangling her youngest child, Callan, and then said it suddenly stopped.
Saathoff noted that Clancy had not previously reported hearing voices to the professionals treating her before the killings.
He also highlighted differences in how she later described the voice, including accounts that it grew more intense and warned that her children would suffer if she did not obey.
“That was unusual,” Saathoff testified, adding that he also found it striking that the voice allegedly stopped before Clancy went upstairs and attempted to take her own life.
When prosecutor Jennifer Sprague pressed him on why that mattered, defense attorney Kevin Reddington objected and Judge William Sullivan called the lawyers to a sidebar.
13 hours ago
Israel Salas-Rodriguez
Katy Forrester
Who is the reporter Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer branded a ‘weasel?’
Kevin Reddington, Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, confronted a controversial ex-radio host outside the courtroom as he was making his way inside for what is expected to be the final day of testimony.
The U.S. Sun’s reporter Katy Forrester was outside Plymouth Superior Court when the fiery exchange went down.
Surrounded by a sea of reporters, Reddington noticed John DePetro in the crowd and confront him, saying, “You.”
“Let me tell you something, I don’t want to talk to you again,” Reddington told DePetro.
“You are a biased weasel. Okay? You are. Stay away from me. Stay away from me.”
Reddington approached DePetro about comments he made about witness prosecutors called.
DePetro, who dubs himself “The Independent Man,” is the host of The John DePetro Radio Show, which airs weekdays in Mᴀssachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
He frequently provides independent trial reporting, including live courtroom commentary for high-profile cases like the Karen Read trial.
13 hours ago
Clancy described ‘last chance’ voice before killing
Arshi Qureshi
Prosecution psychiatrist Dr. Saathoff told jurors Clancy
described hearing an outside voice while preparing dinner for her children on the night they died.
Saathoff said Clancy told him she was standing by the refrigerator when she took a phone call from her then-husband Patrick.
She said that immediately after the call ended, a voice told her it was her “last chance” and ordered her to kill herself and the children
Saathoff said Clancy gave another provider an additional detail, reporting that the voice warned her the children would suffer if she refused to obey it.
He also said Clancy was “very pleasant” and responsive during the roughly 11 hours he spent interviewing her by Zoom.
13 hours ago
Prosecution witness Dr. Saathoff interviewed Lindsay Clancy
Arshi Qureshi
Dr. Saathoff told jurors he reviewed an extensive collection of material before reaching his conclusions about Lindsay Clancy.
That included medical records, police reports, grand jury material, expert reports from both sides and video footage, including interviews and clips of the Clancy family at a museum.
“The amount of information” available in the case was “truly significant,” Saathoff testified.
He said he also interviewed Clancy twice by Zoom in May and June for a combined total of about 11 hours.
Saathoff said he could not travel to meet her in person at the time “for personal reasons.”
Earlier, he told jurors that psychosis can occur in conditions including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder.
13 hours ago
Prosecution witness explains how psychosis can appear
Arshi Qureshi
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff told jurors psychosis can show itself in several different ways.
He said people may hear voices or sounds, see things that are not there, or experience hallucinations involving touch or smell.
Psychosis can also involve delusions, Saathoff testified, as well as confused communication or speech that becomes disconnected.
13 hours ago
Israel Salas-Rodriguez
Patrick Clancy’s lawyer rips wild conspiracy theories
Since taking the stand at his ex-wife high-profile trial during the first week, Patrick Clancy has not spoken out in public about his testimony or about the wild conspiracies circulating on social media.
Since his testimony, social media users alleged Patrick had some sort of role in the events that unfolded on January 24, 2023.
One TikToker alleged, without providing any evidence, “I do not believe that Lindsay Clancy committed these crimes. I fully believe that Patrick convinced her that she did.”
Attorney Howard Cooper, who represents Patrick, said those kind of statements are false and defamatory when approached by CNN.
“The facts are indisputable: Patrick Clancy has suffered an unspeakable and unimaginable loss.,” Cooper told the outlet.
“Unfortunately, the tᩚraɢedy Patrick has experienced has been compounded by patently false, defamatory, and injurious public statements.
“The individuals making those statements – from minor influencers to major celebrities – should be on notice that their despicable actions and false, defamatory statements have caused real life consequences to the health and safety of Patrick and his family.”
Patrick Clancy, glances over at the defense table where his ex-wife, Lindsay Clancy, who is accused of killing her children, is seated during week-one of her murder trial
13 hours ago
Prosecution witness says he has treated mothers who killed their children
Arshi Qureshi
Prosecution witness Dr. Saathoff told jurors he has treated several women who killed their children during his career.
“I would say five to seven women who had killed their children,” he testified.
Saathoff said part of that work involved helping the women talk through what they had experienced and how they coped beyond the medication they were receiving.
14 hours ago
The prosecution calls its final witness
Arshi Qureshi
The prosecution has now called its final witness, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Gregory Saathoff.
Dr. Saathoff is a senior psychiatrist for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico.
14 hours ago
Court hearing resumes
Arshi Qureshi
The jury is back from lunch break, and the court is now in session.
14 hours ago
Israel Salas-Rodriguez
Dr. Kirk Heilbrun wrapped up his testimony
Dr. Kirk Heilbrun finished his testimony before the court went on its lunch break.
The prosecution is expected to call its final witness when the courtroom reconvenes.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Kevin Reddington challenged Heilbrun’s evaluation of Lindsay Clancy, including his experience treating postpartum psychosis.
Heilbrun admitted he had not treated a woman with postpartum psychosis since 1982.
14 hours ago
What happens if Lindsay Clancy is found guilty or insane?
Arshi Qureshi
Jurors are not deciding whether Lindsay Clancy killed her children; she has admitted strangling Cora, Dawson and Callan, but whether she was legally responsible for what she did.
Clancy faces three counts of first-degree murder. If convicted of first-degree murder, Mᴀssachusetts law carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
But jurors could instead find her not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility, Mᴀssachusetts’ legal version of an insanity verdict.
That would be an acquittal, not a prison sentence, but it would not necessarily mean Clancy walks free.
A court can order her hospitalized for up to 40 days for observation, and prosecutors or other authorities can seek to have her committed to a state mєntal health facility if she is found mentally ill and dangerous.
Her commitment could then be renewed as long as a court continues to find that she remains mentally ill and poses a danger, meaning she could potentially remain hospitalized for the rest of her life.
If those conditions eventually no longer exist, a judge can order her release after a hearing.
15 hours ago
Trial expected to wrap testimony today
Arshi Qureshi
The Lindsay Clancy murder trial is expected to reach another major milestone on Tuesday as prosecutors prepare to call their final witness and bring weeks of testimony to a close.
The defense has already rested, while Dr. Hilbrun is finishing his testimony
as part of the prosecution’s reʙuттal case.
Judge William Sullivan said one more state witness was expected after him.
Once prosecutors rest, the court is expected to move on to final legal arguments and jury instructions.
Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday, when Kevin Reddington will make the defense’s final case before prosecutors get the last word.
The judge will then instruct the jury on murder and criminal responsibility before 12 jurors begin deliberating Lindsay Clancy’s fate. Six of the 18 jurors will serve as alternates.
15 hours ago
Israel Salas-Rodriguez
Lunch break
The court has taken a one-hour lunch recess. The courtroom will reconvene at 2pm EST.
15 hours ago
Reddington snaps ‘obviously’ during tense exchange
Arshi Qureshi
Reddington grew frustrated as he pressed Dr Heilbrun over how long postpartum depression or psychosis can last after childbirth.
Asked about the World Health Organization’s timeframe, Heilbrun said, “Well, I don’t know,” before noting that the DSM takes a more conservative approach.
Reddington later asked whether the DSM should devote more attention to postpartum psychosis, prompting Heilbrun to say he was “not in a position to offer an informed opinion.”
“Obviously,” Reddington sH๏τ back.
Prosecutors immediately objected, and Judge William Sullivan ordered the remark struck from the record.
15 hours ago
Clancy’s symptoms could point to depression or bipolar
Arshi Qureshi
Dr. Heilbrun told jurors that many of the symptoms Lindsay Clancy experienced before the killings were not unique to postpartum psychosis.
He acknowledged that confusion, sleep deprivation, anxiety, feeling unlike oneself and even delusional beliefs can appear with postpartum illness.
But Heilbrun said those same symptoms can also be seen in major depression and Bipolar II, which he ultimately diagnosed Clancy with.
He also said he believed Clancy was being truthful when she reported thoughts that her brain was damaged and that she needed to kill herself.
15 hours ago
Clancy may have had ‘very poor’ reaction to medication
Arshi Qureshi
Dr. Heilbrun acknowledged that Clancy may have been among the small number of patients who react badly to psychiatric medication.
“For a few people, there are side effects and what we call adverse reactions, and they don’t help. In fact, they might make things worse,” Heilbrun told jurors.
He said Clancy’s records suggested her response had been “very, very different, very poor” and not what doctors would have expected from the medication.
Reddington also walked Heilbrun through records showing Clancy felt numb and emotionally empty in the weeks before the killings.
“She said that she felt like a shell,” Heilbrun testified, adding that she felt “emotionally flat as a pancake.”
Records also showed Clancy reported being unable to feel love or fear, struggling to get out of bed and worrying she was “messed up” and “beyond repair.
16 hours ago
911 tape used to challenge claim Clancy spoke after fall
Arshi Qureshi
Reddington pointed to Clancy’s 911 call as he challenged claims that she spoke to Patrick after her sᩚuᩚiᩚcide attempt.
Dr. Heilbrun had relied on Patrick Clancy’s testimony that Lindsay told him she had tried to kill herself and that the children were in the basement when he found her outside the home.
But Reddington noted that Clancy suffered serious injuries to her spine and throat after jumping from a second-story window.
He asked whether Heilbrun would be surprised if the 911 recording showed Clancy could make only grunting noises as Patrick tried to speak with her.
“I would be surprised, yes,” Heilbrun replied.
Reddington then established that Heilbrun had not listened to the 911 recording himself.
17 hours ago
‘You’re a biased weasel:’ Lindsay Clancy’s lawyer erupts outside court
Arshi Qureshi
Kevin Reddington erupted outside court on Tuesday morning, branding an onlooker a “biased weasel” as tension surrounding the blockbuster murder trial boiled over.
The fiery outburst came as Reddington left Plymouth Superior Court, where prosecutors are wrapping up their reʙuттal case before the trial moves toward closing arguments.
“You’re a biased weasel,” Reddington snapped during the exchange outside the courthouse.
The confrontation came after another tense morning inside court, where Reddington grilled prosecution psychologist Dr. Kirk Heilbrun over his conclusions about Clancy’s mєntal state and whether she was criminally responsible for killing her three children.
You can watch the interaction on The U.S. Sun’s YouTube.
17 hours ago
Reddington opens up after mistrial drama
Arshi Qureshi
Lindsay Clancy’s defense lawyer Kevin Reddington has spoken exclusively to The U.S. Sun after his dramatic mistrial bid over testimony referencing her Catholic faith.
Reddington told The U.S. Sun that he remains confident jurors will follow the judge’s instruction to disregard the religious testimony, adding that Clancy is “pretty beat up,” remains medicated and largely “just listens and sits there” during the trial.
He also said the huge show of support outside court means a lot to Clancy as the case enters its final stretch, with closing arguments expected on Wednesday.
Read our full exclusive interview with Kevin Reddington here.
17 hours ago
Reddington pushes back on ‘controlling behavior’
Arshi Qureshi
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington challenged Dr. Heilbrun on whether Lindsay Clancy’s behavior should be viewed as controlling.
Reddington asked about this because prosecutors have pointed to Clancy’s organized, deliberate behavior as part of their case that she was capable of making decisions and remained criminally responsible.
Reddington wants to show that ordinary signs of careful parenting should not be viewed into evidence against her.
He pointed to examples such as Clancy leaving detailed instructions for a babysitter about how to prepare food for her children.
“Is that controlling, in your opinion?” Reddington asked.
Heilbrun said the behavior could instead show that Clancy was “working hard and being disciplined and exerting a certain amount of control.”
Reddington then pressed whether that was something that should be held against her.
He also asked if Heilbrun considered Clancy a “bad wife” or a “bad mother.”
Heilbrun said being anxious about leaving her children was not necessarily a negative sign.
💔 STELLA PARTON BREAKS HER SILENCE — What She Said About Dolly’s Health Has Fans Looking Back
Dolly Parton’s Sister Breaks Silence What Really Happened - GMT - G1
Stella Parton was born May 4, 1949, the sixth of twelve children raised by Robert Lee and Avie Lee Parton in Sevierville, Tennessee — a household defined by noise, limited money, and almost no privacy, the kind of environment that produced strong, determined personalities.
Stella was one of them.
By seven, she was appearing alongside her older sister Dolly on a Knoxville television program; by her teens, she was writing her own songs, though marriage and motherhood pulled music to the margins of her life for a stretch.
The dream never fully disappeared.
In 1967, she recorded a gospel album with her mother and sisters, and later worked clubs in Washington, D.C., before founding her own record label in 1975 and releasing “I Want to Hold You in My Dreams Tonight,” which climbed to number nine on the country charts.
Long before any of that commercial success, Stella had already shown a willingness to take positions others avoided.
At 26, amid backlash against Australian singer Olivia Newton-John for winning recognition in country music, Stella recorded “Ode to Olivia” in her defense — a stand that offered her no career benefit and real risk of criticism, but one she took anyway simply because she believed staying silent was the wrong choice.
That instinct defined the rest of her career: hits like “The Danger of a Stranger” and “Steady as the Rain” (written by Dolly) built a genuine, independent following, including in the U.K., while Stella also worked in New York theater and spoke openly, often controversially, about poverty, domestic violence, and the treatment of women in the music industry.
She was named the Christian Country Music Association’s Female Vocalist of the Year in 2004.
Through all of it, she remained defined publicly, more often than not, as simply “Dolly’s little sister” — a label she spent five decades quietly proving didn’t tell the full story.
That same directness is why her comments in the fall of 2025 carried real weight.
Stella had never positioned herself as the family’s image manager or spokesperson; she was, by reputation, someone who believed difficult truths shouldn’t stay hidden indefinitely.
What she described wasn’t dramatic or accusatory — it was a portrait of a woman who had spent years prioritizing everyone else’s needs over her own.
The context mattered.
Carl Dean, Dolly’s husband of nearly sixty years, died in March 2025 at 82, after a long illness during which Dolly had devoted herself almost entirely to his care.
She later acknowledged that in the process, she’d neglected her own health significantly.
The loss reverberated through the whole extended family — the Partons had lost three brothers in the years surrounding this period, compounding grief that, for a family that had once crowded twelve children into a single small home, meant losing pieces of a shared childhood one after another.
Stella herself went seven years without releasing new music during this stretch, later describing the period simply as one shaped by sorrow, while still speaking about the importance of finding moments of laughter within it.
Looking back, one moment reads very differently in hindsight than it did at the time: in late September 2025, Dolly postponed her planned Las Vegas residency, citing health challenges — a rare cancellation for a performer whose six-decade career had included very few of them.
At the time, most fans treated it as a minor, temporary setback.
Stella’s later reflections suggested the signs had actually been building for some time, visible to family in ways the public smile made easy to miss.
That concern crystallized publicly not long after, when Dolly’s younger sister Frieda posted a simple request on Facebook asking fans to pray for Dolly.
What looked at first like an ordinary, well-meaning gesture spread rapidly, sparking widespread speculation about how serious Dolly’s condition actually was.
Dolly herself responded directly within days, appearing in a video from a Grand Ole Opry commercial shoot, insisting with her familiar humor that she wasn’t finished yet — the now widely remembered “I ain’t dead yet” moment that briefly quieted public concern.
In the months that followed, the pattern repeated: reassuring updates about kidney stones, dehydration, and treatment, paired with continued work on new projects, right up until Dolly Parton’s death on August 25, 2026, at 80.
Looking back across that full timeline — the postponed residency, the family’s public worry, Stella’s own account of a sister who consistently deprioritized her own wellbeing — it becomes easier to see what the people closest to Dolly understood well before the rest of the world did: that the warmth and resilience the public saw every time she appeared on camera came at a real, largely invisible cost.
