Extended interview: Patrick Clancy

Patrick Clancy held his eight-month-old son as the boy died. Callan had been airlifted to Boston Children’s Hospital after the killings on January 24, 2023, at the family’s house in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Cora, five, and Dawson, three, were pronounced dead that day. Callan lived four more days. While Patrick held him he typed tributes to the older two children with one hand. He had thought there was still a chance the infant would survive. He remembered wanting just one child left to raise and to tell about a brother and sister. He got to lay down next to Callan. The boy died in his arms.

In the days that followed, Patrick issued a public statement asking people to forgive Lindsay Clancy as he had forgiven her. “I saw headlines that say ‘killer mom’ and ‘baby murderer monster’ and none of them were accurate,” he said. He believed her mental illness had caused what happened. Lindsay never specifically asked for forgiveness. He gave it anyway, later explaining that if he did not reach it he felt he would be eaten up inside forever.

He struggled after the deaths. “There was a time I didn’t think I would live to see my 35th birthday, and I was completely fine with it.” He sold the Duxbury home and moved to New York City. On the date that would have been Callan’s first birthday he went into St. Patrick’s Cathedral, lit a candle, and told his son he loved him. He walked out onto Fifth Avenue and cried. Nobody cared. He decided that was where he needed to be, a place where he could grieve.

he joined a running club. In January 2024 he met Rachel Danis there on a cold Saturday. They married in Central Park in April 2026. They are expecting their first child. Danis, a fertility specialist, has described Patrick as the most selfless and supportive partner. “I don’t understand how the story has been so twisted,” she said. “I was just a girl that met a guy running in Central Park on a really cold Saturday. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.” She learned about his children on their first coffee date and has said that if she can honor them while allowing him to grieve, that is what she can do. Patrick still dreams of Cora, Dawson, and Callan. He has kept some of their toys and mementos in the Manhattan apartment. He has said he cannot wait to tell the new child about the brothers and sister, that they are all his kids.

After the killings he asked Lindsay whether she remembered what she had done. “She remembered it much in the way you would remember a dream after waking up.” In the months before January 24 he had watched her condition worsen after Callan’s birth in May 2022. She went nights without sleep, lost appetite, withdrew, and described intrusive thoughts. She sought care from multiple providers, was prescribed a series of medications, and spent time in emergency rooms and a day program. On New Year’s Eve she checked herself into McLean Hospital. “I could piece together what it was like to be really, really anxious or depressed, but I didn’t know how to manage a postpartum illness,” Patrick said. He has said mental illness has the ability to be tragically deceptive and that he is sure there were things he did not see. “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.”

Lindsay admitted strangling the three children and then cutting herself and jumping from a second-story window. She is paralyzed from the waist down. She has said she heard a voice commanding the acts and could not resist. She remains at Tewksbury State Hospital under one-to-one suicide watch. Neither side at trial disputed that she killed the children. Her lawyers argued she was a loving mother in the grip of postpartum psychosis and other mental illness and therefore lacked criminal responsibility. Prosecutors argued she knew what she was doing and had planned the day, including sending Patrick out on an errand. She did not testify. Patrick did, as the prosecution’s first witness.

During a break in that testimony he went to a back room. “I started having this massive, traumatic panic attack. My heart was pounding, and they put me in an ambulance. They offered me some medication, but I said ‘I don’t want it, because I want to go back, and I want to finish this so I can be done with this.’ And I went back and finished the testimony.” Jurors later heard the 911 call he had made after finding the children in the basement. He described the recording as horrific and was not inside the courtroom while it played.

The trial began July 20, 2026. A jury of nine women and three men deliberated seven days. Eleven were prepared to clear Lindsay of criminal responsibility. One juror sided with the prosecution. Judge William F. Sullivan declared a mistrial on September 4. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington sought to have the holdout questioned or removed; the motion was denied. The Plymouth County district attorney has not said whether there will be a second trial. An attorney for Patrick has called that prospect extraordinarily painful for the family. A hearing is set for September 29.

Online theories have claimed Patrick was involved in the deaths. He has called the claims baseless and destructive. “It’s deeply harmful to the legacy of my children. It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health.” Both he and Lindsay have filed civil suits against healthcare providers who treated her, alleging failures that contributed to the outcome. In the first television interview he has given since the mistrial, he sat with Danis and spoke about the children he still dreams of and the life he is building now.