Patrick Clancy, ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, opens up on children’s killings in first televised interview

In his first televised interview, Patrick Clancy, the ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, described the moments leading up to the 2023 killings of their children and how he coped in the aftermath.

Patrick Clancy responded to online criticism and conspiracy theories from people who supported Lindsay Clancy and believed he did not provide enough care to his wife at the time.

“It’s deeply harmful to the legacy of my children,” Patrick Clancy said. “It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health. And it’s done real harm to real people, myself included but also others.”

He called the online response “painful to see”.

“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 added.

The interview, which aired on Sunday, comes as Massachusetts prosecutors prepare to decide later this month whether to retry Lindsay Clancy for the strangling of her children – Cora, five; Dawson, three; and Callan, eight months old – in the family’s home before trying to end her own life.

A judge declared a mistrial on 4 September after a jury deadlocked. Eleven jurors favored clearing Lindsay Clancy of criminal responsibility, finding she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. A single holdout agreed with prosecutors, who maintained that she knew what she was doing.

Patrick Clancy said he first noticed his ex-wife struggling with sleep deprivation and anxiety in the fall of 2022, months after their youngest son, Callan, was born. He admitted he “didn’t know how to manage a postpartum illness” before this experience.

“I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive. So I’m sure there are things that I didn’t see,” he added.

Lindsay Clancy’s conditions worsened in December, leading to her stay at McLean psychiatric hospital on New Year’s Eve.

The children were allegedly strangled 17 days after Lindsay Clancy was released from the hospital. Patrick Clancy said he hoped that Callan might survive after regaining a heartbeat.

“I remember just thinking, ‘Just gimme one. Just gimme one kid, and I would raise him as best I could, and I would give him the best life I possibly could. I’d tell him about his brother and sister’,” he said. Callan later died in the hospital.

Patrick Clancy attributed the killings of his children to his ex-wife’s mental illness and has forgiven her, rejecting media depictions of her as a “killer mom” or “baby murderer”.

“I think I did the best I could with what I had at the time,” he said. “And I live with the outcome. I live with it every day.”

Lindsay and Patrick Clancy have each filed medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors and hospitals involved in her care. Lindsay Clancy alleges negligence and medical malpractice, while Patrick Clancy alleges wrongful death.

Patrick Clancy said his life came to a “screeching halt” and he admitted he suffered from suicidal thoughts. He eventually moved to New York City seeking anonymity. There, he managed to grieve openly, kept items that belonged to his children and eventually met his second wife at a running club. Speaking to experts at Postpartum Support International had also helped him process what occurred, he said in the interview.

“I know I can’t fix – I can’t bring his kids back,” said his wife, Rachel Danis, who joined Patrick during the interview. “But if I can honor them and allow Pat to grieve but also just continue to honor them in the present, it – I guess that’s all I can do.”

The Plymouth county district attorney has yet to say whether he’ll seek to put Lindsay Clancy on trial again. She is being held in Tewksbury hospital in Massachusetts.