Massachusetts Woman Was 'Having One Of Her Best Days’ Before She Allegedly Killed Her 3 Kids, Husband Says

A Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children to death last month meticulously planned the killings, according to authorities.

Lindsay Clancy, 32, attended a Feb. 7 video arraignment from her hospital bed. She is being treated after she was paralyzed from the waist down following a plunge from a bedroom window at the Duxbury home she shared with her husband, Patrick Clancy, their daughter, Cora, 5, and sons, Dawson, 3, and 7-month old Callan, according to her defense attorney.

During the hearing, prosecutors alleged Lindsay planned the Jan. 24 murders in advance and said she was of sound mind when she allegedly took the children's lives, CBS News reported.

Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague described the day of the slayings as nothing out of the ordinary for the mother and her family. During the arraignment, Sprague stated Lindsay asked her husband, Patrick, to pick up children’s medication from CVS and takeout food from a restaurant.

Lindsay allegedly researched the trip's length to know how long she would be alone with their girl and boys, CBS News reported, and Sprague pointed out the restaurant was farther away from the family’s home than other places where they normally ordered take-out meals.

She also noted Lindsay sounded mentally intact when placing the order, explaining that “the hostess who took the call said there was nothing out of the ordinary” and the mother's voice “was not slurred or impaired in any way,” ABC News reported.

After the accused's husband returned to the house from running the errands, he went upstairs and found their bedroom door locked. When he was able to get inside, he found blood in front of a mirror near an open window.

From the window, he saw his wife in the backyard conscious, but seriously injured, and he called 911.

On the call, he can be heard asking his wife what she’d done. She allegedly replied, “I tried to kill myself.”

When her husband asked where their children were, Lindsay allegedly replied, “In the basement.”

Prosecutors said Patrick could be heard on the call screaming “in agony and shock” when he found the children were strangled with exercise bands in the basement.

"She planned these murders, gave herself the time and privacy to commit these murders, and then she strangled each child in the place where they should have felt the safest – at home with their mom," DA Sprague claimed.

Patrick said there had been no indications that his wife was a danger to the children or herself, explaining she “was having one of her best days,” according to CBS News.

The suspect's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, alleged his client was overmedicated in the months before the tragedy and had been prescribed as many as 12 different medications for postpartum psychosis.

On Feb. 5, prosecutors said Lindsay called her husband using a doctor’s cell phone, leaving him a voicemail stating she loved him.

Never miss a story — sign up for the Front Page Detectives newsletter. Be on the scene the moment news breaks.

He answered when she phoned again the following day. During that phone call, according to prosecutors, Lindsay allegedly told Patrick that she "heard a voice and had ‘a moment’ of psychosis,” CBS News reported.

He reportedly told prosecutors his wife never mentioned hearing voices.

Lindsay's defense attorney, Reddington, told the court during the hearing that his client is “not okay at all” and she is “definitely a danger to herself.”

He added that she previously mentioned experiencing suicidal thoughts and checked herself into a mental health facility for five days in early January.

Prosecutors countered that Lindsay kept notes that resembled journal entries in the months leading up to her children’s deaths and “meticulously detailed her daily activities.” Her writing, prosecutors said, "was clear, precise and articulate.”

In the entries, Lindsay, who was initially diagnosed with a generalized anxiety disorder, mentioned “a touch of postpartum anxiety” about returning to work, according to CBS News.

While in the hospital following her children’s deaths, prosecutors say she wrote on a white board asking if she needed an attorney, which prosecutors argued showed she allegedly knew what she had done.

Prosecutors asked for Lindsay to be held without bail, but the judge ordered her to remain hospitalized until medically cleared to be moved to a rehab facility that could provide around-the-clock care.

A probable cause hearing is currently scheduled for May 2.