Lindsay Clancy Case: Mother Says 3 Child Victims Forgotten

A mother of six says the three young children killed by Lindsay Clancy have been overshadowed by the public support gathering around the woman accused in their deaths, as Clancy stands trial on murder charges.

Lindsay Clancy, 36, faces three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children — Cora, Dawson and Callan, each under the age of 6 — who were found strangled inside the family’s home in January 2023. Prosecutors rested their case Monday morning, and her defense attorney then began laying out arguments that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis when she killed the children.

Bethany Mandel, a conservative columnist and mother of six, told News Outlet that she believes Cora, Dawson and Callan have too often been pushed to the margins of the public discussion surrounding the Lindsay Clancy case.

“We all know her name,” Mandel said of Lindsay Clancy. “Very few people know the names of her children.”

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Mandel said she was especially troubled by the hundreds of supporters who gathered Thursday outside Plymouth Superior Court in a show of solidarity with Clancy. Many wore pink and said their presence was not meant to excuse the killings, but to draw attention to maternal mental health and the struggles faced by women experiencing postpartum conditions.

LINDSAY CLANCY’S PARENTS RECEIVE GLOBAL DONOR SUPPORT AS FUNDRAISER TOPS $830K

“We don’t see any of them standing out there with a button with the three children’s faces on them. When you listen to interviews with all of the women who are standing out, they almost never mention the three child victims,” Mandel said.

A not-guilty verdict by reason of insanity would not result in Clancy’s release; instead, she would be committed to a state psychiatric hospital and subject to periodic reviews.

Just days after Lindsay Clancy killed her kids in January 2023, Patrick wrote on a GoFundMe page, “I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have…The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone – me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients.”

Jonathan Hatami, deputy district attorney in the complex child abuse section in the office of the Los Angeles County District Attorney also agreed that much of the conversation has been surrounding how Lindsay Clancy has conducted herself during the trial, not on her children who were killed.

“This shouldn’t be about the defendant even though it’s become that, it’s became this entire show about her, really should be about the victims and what the defendant did to those victims. And we try to do that in our trials and in our cases. And it seems like that’s gotten lost. In this specific case, and it’s really disappointing, and people don’t realize these children matter,” Hatami told News Outlet.

“These children died,” he added.

Expert witnesses called by both the defense and prosecution focused their Friday testimony on Lindsay Clancy’s mental state at the time she killed her children, specifically whether she was experiencing psychosis.

Dr. Phillip Resnick, a forensic psychiatrist and authority on filicide, said Lindsay Clancy was functioning for much of the day she killed her kids, even making a snowman with her children, until she suffered the hallucination and what he called a “delusion of influence,” feeling her body was taken over and out of her control and was feeling like a “puppet.”

Dr. Avram Mack, a child and forensic psychiatrist, a prosecution expert, said Lindsay Clancy’s actions on the day her children died were methodical and organized, stating she should be found criminally responsible for their deaths, directly rebutting the defense.

“My opinion is that she retained the capacity required for having criminal responsibility for these actions,” Mack testified.

Closing arguments could begin as soon as Monday or Tuesday before jurors begin deliberating in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial.