Patrick Clancy, the, took the stand as the prosecution’s first witness, offering crucial testimony about her mєntal state and treatment in the months before their
As the trial ended its third week, his testimony provided a key timeline of what happened before their deaths and what Patrick Clancy knew about his ex-wife and her deteriorating mєntal health in the months before the killings.
Lindsay Clancy is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. Prosecutors allege she strangled the children with exercise bands before attempting sᩚuᩚiᩚcide by jumping from a second-story window.
Her attorneys say the fall left her paralyzed from the waist down and argue she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Patrick Clancy reacts as images of himself and his children on vacation a month before they were killed is shown in the courtroom at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mᴀss., Monday, July 27, 2026.
Here is what Patrick Clancy knew about his wife’s condition, his involvement in her treatment and what he told jurors about the months leading up to the killings:
Lindsay Clancy got ‘worse and worse’ in months before the children’s deaths
Sep. to Nov. 2022:Patrick Clancy spent much of his testimony describing Lindsay Clancy as a devoted mother who began struggling significantly with her mєntal health in the fall of 2022.
After each maternity leave with their first two kids, Lindsay Clancy became anxious about returning to work, but those struggles intensified after Callan was born, he told jurors.
Patrick Clancy said he worked from home in the basement and would come upstairs a few times a day to eat and say hello.
He said Lindsay Clancy began taking Zoloft in September 2022, telling him, “I think it’s really going to help with my anxiety and with going back to work.”
Instead, he testified, she “just kept getting worse and worse,” battling severe insomnia, including nearly 48 hours without sleep.
“I just wanted her to get sleep and feel better,” he told jurors.
Patrick Clancy took a two-day work trip to New York in November, leaving Lindsay Clancy at home with all three children. The morning after he returned, he testified that he traveled to San Francisco with Cora while Lindsay stayed home with Dawson and Callan.
He told jurors he had no concerns about leaving the children in her care at the time.
“Nothing bad happened,” he said, but he also said he could see a change.“I would say her anxiety and depression was starting to pick up.”
Lindsay Clancy’s ‘big spiral’ started in December 2022
Dec. 2022:Patrick Clancy testified Lindsay Clancy’s “big spiral” started around the time she began taking Seroquel in early December 2022. Seroquel is an antipsycH๏τic prescription medication used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.
Patrick Clancy said they canceled going out for their anniversary on Dec.3 and got takeout instead.
During this time, he said she lost significant weight, became deeply depressed and, for the first time in their relationship, told him she was having suicidal thoughts.
Patrick and Lindsay Clancy
He testified Lindsay also disclosed “intrusive thoughts,” including “thoughts of hurting the kids.”
Patrick Clancy said he asked her, “Do you feel like you need to be kept away from them?” but Lindsay replied “no.”
He told jurors the responseswere “very confusing because the next minute she was making them lunch or putting them to bed.”
Patrick Clancy testified that Lindsay Clancy never described a plan or method to harm the children or said she was hearing voices telling her to do so. He said he did not believe she showed an intention of acting on the thoughts.
Dec. 6-15:Patrick Clancy attended an in-person appointment with Lindsay Clancy and psychiatric nurse pracтιтioner Rebecca Jollotta at South Shore Health, according to Jollotta’s testimony.
Jollotta raised the possibility that Lindsay could have bipolar disorder. She testified that Patrick Clancy responded, “My wife is not bipolar.”
Jollotta testified she had a phone call with Lindsay Clancy and Patrick Clancy about Lindsay Clancy’s sleep, panic symptoms, suicidal thoughts and medication plan.
Dec. 15:Patrick Clancy and Lindsay Clancy contacted Jollotta and reported that it was Lindsay’s “worst day,” with “persistent and intrusive thoughts of sᩚuᩚiᩚcide.” Jollotta told them to get an emergency room evaluation.
Patrick Clancy drove her to Mᴀssachusetts General Hospital for an evaluation before she entered a postpartum program at Women & Infants Hospital in Rhode Island.
He testified that he drove Lindsay Clancy to the program, dropped her off and then left with their son Dawson.
Lindsay later called and told him he needed to return to speak with the treatment team. Patrick returned and was told the program was not the “right fit.” He then took her home.
Dec. 30:Jollotta testified that Patrick Clancy contacted South Shore about Lindsay Clancy wanting to go to McLean Hospital for inpatient treatment.
Dec. 31:When her suicidal thoughts persisted, Patrick Clancy said he returned with her to Mᴀssachusetts General hoping she could be transferred to McLean Hospital because “we didn’t have a diagnosis” and “didn’t really know what was wrong.”
Lindsay Clancy seemed better shortly before the deaths
Jan. 1, 2023:Lindsay Clancy was admitted to McLean Hospital.
“She was scared, she didn’t want to go. I said, ‘You have to go,’” Patrick Clancy testified.
She spent five days at the facility, and Patrick Clancy visited her during her treatment there.
Patrick Clancy testified Lindsay Clancy later told him she was not receiving much treatment at McLean and had not seen a doctor for several days. He said he had the same observations, saying, “It didn’t really seem like she was getting any treatment,” he testified. “It looked like mainly nurses.”
On cross-examination, he acknowledged that he did not know Lindsay Clancy was being seen by medical providers daily and was unaware that she had declined additional group therapy.
He also said he “would have paid anything” if insurance had refused to cover her hospitalization.
Despite his concerns about the hospitalization, Patrick testified that Lindsay appeared significantly better after leaving McLean:
“I was hopeful. She seemed much better.”
Jan. 7-23:Patrick Clancy described several family outings in the weeks before the killings that he said gave him no reason for concern.
He and Lindsay Clancy threw a birthday party for their daughter on January 7.
They went to a museum on January 8. On January 15, the family took a trip to Cape Cod where they played at a waterpark.
“Her mood seemed better. She was more active, and she was able to partake in more things,” he said.
He testified that during this time, he checked in with Lindsay Clancy daily, saying, “I would ask her in the morning how she’s feeling, how she slept.”
Patrick Clancy, the father of Cora, Dawson and Callan Clancy testifies for the prosecution against his ex wife Lindsay Clancy at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mᴀss., Monday, July 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
She was “maybe a little bit better, but she was still struggling,” Patrick said, adding when asked that Lindsay said she didn’t have suicidal thoughts and never said she had thoughts of harming their kids.
Jan. 16:Patrick Clancy took Cora skiing, and said there were no issues with their other kids staying home with Lindsay Clancy.
“She seemed to be doing a lot better,” Patrick said, explaining, “her mood seemed better, she was more active and was able to partake in more things.”
Jan. 24, Day of the killings:Patrick Clancy testified that that morning began like a normal day for the family. Lindsay Clancy took their daughter to a scheduled pediatrician appointment while Patrick stayed home with younger kids.
“She was having one of her best days,” he told jurors.
Patrick Clancy testified that around 4:50 p.m., Lindsay texted asking if he wanted takeout because she “didn’t cook anything” and it had “been a long day.”
She suggested getting takeout from a restaurant called ThreeV. He told jurors that after placing the takeout order, he came upstairs, briefly held and rocked Callan, kissed Cora on the head and told the children, “I’ll be right back.”
He said his ex-wife was standing in the doorway near the basement stairs holding Callan when he left. Asked to describe her demeanor, he responded that she appeared “normal.”
Evidence presented in the case indicates Patrick Clancy left around 5:15 p.m. to pick up medication at CVS and takeout from ThreeV restaurant and returned around 6:09 p.m., less than an hour later.
Finding Lindsay Clancy and the kids
Patrick Clancy testified that he called out for Lindsay Clancy and their three children after picking up food but got no response
He went upstairs and found the bedroom door locked.
“That’s when I knew something was wrong,” he told jurors.
After getting inside, Patrick Clancy testified that he saw blood and an open window.
“I just saw blood everywhere, and the window was open,” he said. “It looked like it was sprayed, almost like with a hose. There was a huge puddle in the middle of the room … I remember it was on the doorknob.”
He went to his ex-wife and testified that Lindsay Clancy told him, “I tried to 𝘬iᩚll myself.” When he asked where the children were, she replied, “They’re in the basement.”
Patrick Clancy said she did not tell him what condition the children were in and described her as “in and out of consciousness.”
Patrick Clancy remained with Lindsay Clancy until first responders arrived. While still connected to 911, he then went inside to check on the children.
He found them in the basement. A responding officer separately testified that Patrick screamed: “She killed the f—ing kids.”
Jan. 28:Four days after the killings, Patrick Clancy said he had forgiven his ex-wife in a public statement on.
“I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have,” he said. “Our marriage was wonderful and diametrically grew stronger as her condition rapidly worsened. I took as much pride in being her husband as I did in being a father and felt persistently lucky to have her in my life. I promise I’ll put all my energy into healing and rediscovering my purpose.”
About one week after the killings:Patrick Clancy testified that Lindsay Clancy called him from the hospital.
“She didn’t talk about our kids. She talked about what she went through,” he testified. “She said she heard a man’s voice telling her if she didn’t do it now, she would lose her chance, or something like that.”
Patrick Clancy said it was the first time he had heard his ex-wife describe hearing voices. He also testified that before the killings, he had never heard the term “psychosis” and that his then-wife never used the term.
💔 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.
