By RACHEL BOWMAN, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER and RACHEL SHARP, CRIME CORRESPONDENT
Prosecutors in Lindsay Clancy's trial rested their case today as defense lawyers prepared to argue their side.
The former nurse, 36, is accused of murdering her three children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan, at her home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in 2023.
Clancy strangled her children with exercise bands and then allegedly attempted to kill herself, but her efforts failed and left her paralyzed and in a wheelchair for life.
Missing data from her smartwatch and phone could reveal a timeline of when the children died, as there was no health information recorded on her devices after 5.38pm on January 24, 2023, which suggested the nurse went up two flights of stairs to harm herself.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington argued that the lack of data meant that experts could not know what happened after that time, while prosecutors suggested that Clancy immediately began killing the youngsters almost as soon as her ex-husband Patrick Clancy left the home.
She has admitted to killing her children but pleaded not guilty to murder by reason of insanity, citing postpartum psychosis, and is also suing her former healthcare providers for medical malpractice and negligence.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US on 988. There is also an online chat available at 988lifeline.org
There was no Health data recorded on Clancy’s watch or phone after 5.38pm on January 24, 2023, when the user went up two flights of stairs.
This data shines a light on the timeline of the killings.
If 5.38pm was the moment that Clancy had reached the second-floor bedroom and began harming herself, after climbing up the first flight of stairs from the basement to the first floor, then this would mean she had already strangled the children by that time.
So this would suggest that Clancy immediately began killing the three children almost as soon as he left the home – which could support the state’s argument it was premeditated.
However, her defense attorney Kevin Reddington pointed out that there is no data after 5.38pm so the expert cannot know what happened after that time. Clancy’s phone or watch could have been put down or the battery died, while she could have still been going up and down stairs, the expert acknowledged.
Reddington also argued that on January 25, 2023 – the morning after the killings – Clancy’s devices recorded 47 meters of movement between 7am and 8am.
He pointed out that, at that time, Clancy was bedbound in hospital and the Apple Watch was found days later in a bedside drawer – casting doubts on the accuracy of the data.
