Patrick Clancy has described the devastating final days he spent with his eight-month-old son after his former wife attacked their children.
The grieving father spoke publicly for the first time Sunday night in an interview with CBS reporter Ross Douthat on 60 Minutes, just weeks after the murder trial of his former wife, Lindsay Clancy, ended in a mistrial.
He recalled discovering the children in the basement of their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home on January 24, 2023. His youngest son, Callan, was still alive when Patrick found him.
Cora, five, and Dawson, three, died after prosecutors said their mother strangled them.
Patrick rushed to the hospital, where he held on to a fragile hope that Callan might survive. The infant lived for four days after the attack.
‘I really thought there was a chance that Callan would live,’ he said through tears.
‘And 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.’
‘And I was holding out hope for that. And then when I got to the hospital, I saw the doctor. I saw the look on her face, and I knew that it wasn’t going to be a good prognosis,’ Patrick said. His baby son later died in his arms.
The grieving father told CBS that Callan was still alive when he found the children in the basement of their Duxbury, Massachusetts, home on January 24
Patrick rushed Callan to the hospital and held on to hope that the baby might survive after remaining alive for four days following the attack.
‘I’m so grateful for those four days that I had with him. And I’m so grateful he hung on,’ Patrick said.
He also spoke about the profound emptiness that followed the deaths of his three children.
‘There was no family routine, no bedtime stories, no purpose. Everything just came to a screeching halt,’ he said as he fought back tears.
‘And then there was a day where I, really without thinking, I drove by their school, and it was at the exact time that all of their friends were getting dropped off, and I just couldn’t be there anymore.’
Patrick said he also experienced suicidal thoughts after losing his children and reached a point where he was comfortable with the possibility of not living to his next birthday.
‘There was a time where I didn’t think I would live to see my 35th birthday, and I was completely fine with it,’ he said.
Clancy was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Cora, Dawson, and Callan inside the family’s home in the affluent Massachusetts suburb.
The 36-year-old labor and delivery nurse was accused of strangling the children with exercise bands in the basement after sending Patrick out to CVS for medicine and to collect a takeout order from a nearby restaurant.
READ MORE: LINDSAY CLANCY COVERAGE
The 36-year-old labor and delivery nurse was accused of strangling the children with exercise bands after sending Patrick to CVS for medicine and to pick up a takeout order
Clancy then attempted suicide by cutting her neck and wrists with a knife before jumping from a second-story window. She survived but was left paralyzed from the waist down.
Clancy has never denied killing her children, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity because she says that she was suffering from sever postpartum depression and psychosis at the time.
Her six-week trial in Plymouth gripped the nation, sparking a bigger conversation of postpartum mental illness and criminal responsibility.
After a week of deliberations, 12 jurors – nine women and three men – failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
It soon emerged that a lone male juror -since identified as Michael P Desronvil – was refusing to join the other 11 in finding her not guilty by reason of insanity.
Speaking to 60 Minutes, Patrick recalled seeing Clancy’s mental health deteriorate in the lead-up to the killings.
When asked if he was angry with himself or felt like he had failed in some way, Patrick told correspondent Ross Douthat: ‘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, but I think I did the best I could.’
Patrick testified at Clancy’s trial how she had asked him to go to collect a takeout order and medicine for Cora on the evenings of the killings.
Clancy has never denied killing her children, but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity because she says that she was suffering from sever postpartum depression and psychosis at the time
Patrick has his late children’s handprints on display in his home
Toward the end of the interview, Patrick was joined by his new wife Dr Rachel Danis, who he married in April in New York City
During his interview, he admitted that getting on the stand was ‘very difficult’ and that he suffered a severe anxiety attack just before the court heard the 911 call he made that fateful night.
The public were not allowed to hear the call, but everyone inside the courtroom, including Patrick, did.
‘We did take a break right before they played the 911 call, which I knew was gonna be just horrific,’ he recalled.
‘And I went to a back room, and 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– 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 I finished the testimony.’
Toward the end of the interview, Patrick was joined by his new wife Dr Rachel Danis.
They got married in April in New York City, and said that that are ‘starting a family’ without confirming if they are currently expecting.
‘I think every parent can agree, you have different relationships with your kids, but they’re all your kids. And I can’t wait to tell them about their brothers and sister,’ Patrick said.
