Chaplain's Testimony in Lindsay Clancy Trial Exposes Gap in the Medical Record

A hospital chaplain just handed the Lindsay Clancy trial one of its more complicated moments. Clancy, 34, of Duxbury, Massachusetts, is charged with strangling her three children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 7 months — with exercise resistance bands inside the family's Summer Street home on January 24, 2023. She's pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder and three counts of strangulation, and attorney Kevin Reddington is running an insanity defense centered on severe postpartum psychosis and psychiatric overmedication.

Shelia Cavanaugh, a chaplain at Brigham and Women's Hospital, testified she first met with Clancy on January 25, the morning after, while Clancy was intubated and boxed in by police and security guards. By January 31, Cavanaugh said, Clancy had a flat, neutral affect but told her, hands held, "I'm so glad my children are safe" — and then described a male voice that allegedly kept telling her the children would never be safe unless she killed them and herself. Cavanaugh continued weekly visits after Clancy's transfer to Tewksbury State Hospital, saying the grief over her children has stayed constant. But on cross-examination, prosecutors pressed the gap: Cavanaugh's own notes from Brigham never mention "hearing voices," despite documenting Clancy's outlook on physical recovery and other feelings in detail. On redirect, Cavanaugh pointed out she's not a clinician and that chaplain conversations are confidential — which is its own kind of answer.

Clancy allegedly attempted suicide by jumping from a second-story window afterward and is now paralyzed from the waist down. Husband Patrick Clancy, who was out running errands during the killings, has since relocated to Manhattan. The trial continues in Plymouth Superior Court.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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