Patrick Clancy stated on Sunday night that his ex-wife Lindsay never asked for forgiveness for killing their three children. The grieving father made this shocking admission during an interview on “60 Minutes” just weeks after a mistrial ended her murder case. He appeared on the program following the trial outcome earlier this month in September.
Journalist Ross Douthat asked the father directly if his wife had sought his pardon for the act. Patrick Clancy replied clearly, “No. But I gave it to her,” per the Daily Wire report. This simple exchange cuts through years of public pain and media noise surrounding the tragedy.
A Father’s Choice in the Face of Horror
Lindsay Clancy strangled the couple’s three young children with exercise bands in their Duxbury, Massachusetts home in January 2023. She killed 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan before attempting to take her own life. Patrick Clancy described finding her partially paralyzed in the backyard after she jumped from a second-story window.
Despite the brutality of the act, Patrick chose to forgive her almost immediately after the killings occurred. He explained his reasoning to the public in a GoFundMe message set up for the family’s medical and funeral costs. He wrote that he wanted everyone to find it deep within themselves to forgive Lindsay, as he had.
Patrick told the interviewer that he saw headlines calling her a “Killer Mom,” “Baby Murderer,” and “Monster.” He said none of those labels were accurate because he believes her severe mental illness caused the tragedy. “I saw headlines that said, you know, ‘Killer Mom,’ and ‘Baby Murderer,’ ‘Monster.” He stated that none of them were accurate, attributing the issue to her mental illness.
Why He Needed to Forgive Before She Asked
Patrick Clancy revealed that he felt he would be “eaten up inside forever” if he did not reach a place of forgiveness. He described watching Lindsay’s mental state deteriorate quickly starting in the fall of 2022 while their baby was only five months old. “It was October and — she went a few nights without sleeping,” he told Douthat about the early signs of her decline.
He admitted he did not know how to manage a postpartum illness when her condition began to spiral. Patrick told the journalist he understood the risks, noting mental illness can be tragically deceptive. He noted that despite prescription drugs and hospital visits, she continued to get worse until the attack in January.
Lindsay admitted to the killings but sought to avoid criminal responsibility using the insanity defense during the trial. The case ended in a mistrial on September 4, leaving it unclear if the state will retry her. Since 2023, she has been held in custody at Tewksbury Hospital, a Massachusetts state-run psychiatric facility.
Honoring the Children’s Memory Through Action
Patrick Clancy has focused his life since the tragedy on honoring the memory of Cora, Dawson, and Callan. In 2024, he ran the Boston Marathon to honor their memory and established the Clancy Family Playground in Duxbury. He also founded the Heard Foundation with his sisters to improve perinatal mental-health care for struggling mothers.
When asked if Lindsay ever told him why she killed the children, Patrick recalled her answer. Describing the event as dreamlike, she recalled it much as one remembers a dream upon waking.
