The Lindsay Clancy trial continues, and with each new day of testimony, the questions surrounding this case seem to become even more complicated. In this episode of Pushing Up Lilies, I’m continuing my coverage as the defense presents its case and the jury hears from family members, mental health professionals, and forensic experts offering very different perspectives on Lindsay’s state of mind. As a forensic nurse death investigator, I’m especially interested in what happens when experts examine the same evidence and reach very different conclusions. What does the testimony tell us? What questions remain unanswered? And how will the jury ultimately determine where severe mental illness ends and criminal responsibility begins? I’ll also take you inside some of the more unexpected moments in the courtroom and share my perspective on what stood out to me as the trial moves closer to its conclusion. There is a lot to unpack in this week’s testimony, and some of it may change the way you look at this case. Through it all, I’ll continue to keep Cora, Dawson, and Callan at the center of this story as we follow the evidence and wait to see what comes next. Content Note: This episode discusses the deaths of children, suicide, self-harm, postpartum mental illness, and other subjects that may be difficult for some listeners. EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: 00:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I’m your host, Julie Mattson. 00:10 Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine-tingling, unusual, and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner. 00:24 Do I have some stories for you? Are you ready? Hey, guys. I’m coming to you today from my med spa, so it’s a little bit different. 00:36 I think I was here last week, and I feel like I’m here all the time. 00:41 So many of you know that I have a med spa in Denton, Texas, and I do a lot of behind-the-scenes work, and then I also work as an injector three days a week. 00:52 So, I’m typically here on Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, and then I… See my new little fella right here. He’s so cute. I need to name him. 01:01 But going to be adding more when I finish my nurse practitioner degree. School starts back in about three weeks, and I have a quick little four-day trip to Mexico planned between now and then. 01:12 So that ought to be fun. I need a trip where I don’t have to do homework. Seem like every time I travel, I’ve got homework to do, and it’s not very relaxing, as many of you who are in school know. 01:24 Anyway, I wanna cover a little bit about what has happened in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial since August seventeenth. 01:32 So, August seventeenth through August twenty-fourth, I’m speaking as a forensic nurse death investigator, and I followed every day of this case. 01:39 I haven’t been able to watch every minute of it, but I follow it the same way I review a scene or a medical chart: evidence first, clinical pattern second, and the human cost, especially the three children, always at the center. 01:56 So, my voice is not here to root for a verdict. 01:59 It’s here to lay out what the record actually shows so that anyone listening can understand where this trial stands and why it matters just beyond one courtroom. 02:11 Now, on August seventeenth, the prosecution rested, so that was after nearly seventy witnesses, and then the defense began. 02:21 What followed was five intense days of family testimony, competing forensic experts, a rejected TikTok witness, early jury dismissals, a mid-trial motion for a mistrial, and the clearest statements about yet what was happening inside Lindsay Clancy’s mind on January twenty-fourth of twenty-twenty-three. 02:44 Lindsay has not taken the stand. Closing arguments are expected as early as tomorrow. Now, the jury has not yet begun to deliberate. 02:55 Let’s walk a little bit through it carefully day by day, and we’re gonna go a little bit through, like, what each witness said and what happened. 03:05 So, on August seventeenth, the prosecution rested, and the defense opened with family members. 03:13 The Commonwealth’s final witness was digital forensics specialist Ian Wiffin of Cellebrite, and he actually detailed data from Lindsay’s iPhone and her Apple Watch. 03:25 Searches in the days before the killings for symptoms of postpartum psychosis, psychosis symptoms, and ketamine for suicidal ideation. 03:36 Apple Maps queries for the restaurant and CVS on the afternoon of January twenty-fourth went over heart rate readings ending at fifty-seven beats per minute at around five twenty-three PM and stair climbing data around five thirty-three PM. 03:53 Now, the defense challenged the gaps in the data after those times and what could reliably be inferred from them. Now, with that, the prosecution rested. 04:05 Now, the defense began immediately as you would assume that it would, and a former coworker got on the stand and described Lindsay as kind, compassionate, very dedicated as a nurse, and a very devoted mother, again, who constantly sought parenting advice from her coworkers. 04:25 And then Lindsay’s sister came on, Allison Ozga, and she is a licensed social worker. 04:30 She testified that by December of twenty-twenty-two, Lindsay was reporting daily suicidal ideations, feeling numb and hopeless. 04:40 And after leaving McLean Hospital in early January, Lindsay told her that she was starting to feel a little better, so she was a little more optimistic. 04:50 Now, Lindsay’s mother, Paula Musgrove, testified through tears that she loved her grandchildren with all of her heart, and she described texts from Lindsay in the fall of twenty-twenty-two. 05:03 One of those texts said, “I’m really sick. Something’s wrong. I’m afraid to be alone.” And she recalled Lindsay saying that the medications were basically destroying her mind. 05:15 In December, she expressed thoughts of harming the children. And now these
The Lindsay Clancy Trial: Psychosis, Premeditation, or Both?
Last week, I took you through the devastating events of January 24, 2023, the night Lindsay Clancy’s three young children, Cora, Dawson, and Callan, were fatally harmed inside their family home in Duxbury, Massachusetts. This week, we move from the home to the courtroom. In The Lindsay Clancy Trial: Psychosis, Premeditation, or Both?, I take a closer look at one of the most complicated questions surrounding this case: What was happening in Lindsay Clancy’s mind when her children died? Lindsay’s mental health before the deaths has become a critical part of understanding the case. Her treatment, medications, reported symptoms, and concerns surrounding postpartum mental illness raise difficult questions about postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis, and about how severe psychiatric illness affects criminal responsibility. But there is another side to this case. The circumstances surrounding that night also raise questions about planning and awareness. Lindsay’s husband, Patrick, left the home to run errands. During the relatively short period he was gone, the lives of all three children were changed forever. So how does the legal system distinguish between an intentional, premeditated act and an act committed by someone experiencing profound psychosis? Can a person appear organized or purposeful while simultaneously experiencing a severe break from reality? And where does mental illness end and legal responsibility begin? As a nurse and former forensic death investigator, I’m particularly interested in the intersection between the medical evidence and the investigative evidence. A case like this cannot be understood through one piece of information alone. We have to look at the timeline, behavior, medical and psychiatric history, physical evidence, statements, expert opinions, and what investigators were able to establish. We also have to remember why this trial is happening. Three young children lost their lives. Whatever conclusions are ultimately reached about Lindsay’s mental state and criminal responsibility, Cora, Dawson, and Callan remain at the center of this case. In this episode, I explore the competing questions surrounding the Lindsay Clancy trial and the challenge of evaluating a case in which mental illness and evidence of apparent planning may exist alongside one another. Was this postpartum psychosis? Was it premeditation? Or is the truth more complicated than either explanation alone? Join me for Part Two of the Lindsay Clancy case on Pushing Up Lilies: The Lindsay Clancy Trial: Psychosis, Premeditation, or Both? EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: 00:06 Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies. I’m your host, Julie Mattson. 00:10 Pushing Up Lilies is a weekly true crime podcast with spine-tingling, unusual, and terrifyingly true stories from my perspective as a forensic death investigator and a sexual assault nurse examiner. 00:24 Do I have some stories for you. Are you ready? Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Pushing Up Lilies. I’m your host, Julie. I’m recording today from my med spa. 00:40 I have to admit I love, love, love this microphone. I hope it sounds as good as it sounds in my headset. 00:48 But wanted to bring to your attention, and I know I may have mentioned it last week, but we are having our second annual Murder Mystery Dinner. 00:58 This year is gonna be on October 10th in Krum, Texas, at Studio 141, and we’re gonna have an amazing, immersive murder mystery dinner catered by Our Blended Table. 01:13 And if you haven’t had their food, let me just tell you, it’s amazing. 01:18 It’s gonna be very interactive, a great chance to meet people who love true crime, and also an opportunity to meet and speak with Ann Byrum. 01:30 Now, many of you may not know who Ann is, but Ann is the mother of Kelly Ann Cox, and Kelly was actually abducted in Denton back in 1997 from a gas station in- very near the Denton Police Department after a tour of the jail with her criminal justice class from UNT. 01:54 And Ann loves to remind us how important it is to kinda watch your back and always use the buddy system. This happened to Kelly Ann during the day. 02:09 I mean, it was daylight right in front of the police department with officers going in and out on a very busy road. 02:17 I’m so thankful and grateful that Ann has offered to come up from Houston and be my speaker, and so I’m very much looking forward to talking to her. 02:29 We’re gonna do an interview with her, and then we’re gonna open up the floor for questions. Now, I’m also going to have a booth at the Day of the Dead Festival. I’m not racing this year. 02:42 They went up a little bit on the cost, and I just decided that I would rather spend that money advocating, so I turned it around a little bit. 02:51 This year I’ll just have a merch booth, but we’re gonna have hoodies, we’ll have T-shirts, we’ll have pins, we’ll have plenty of stickers, and the comic book. 03:02 The comic book will be there, and I’ll be glad to sign those as well. 03:07 And we’ll also be at the Overdose Awareness event on the square in Denton, Texas, on August 31st, so that’s coming up right around the corner. 03:18 It’s so crazy to think that it’s already September or almost September. It makes me wanna go Christmas shopping. 03:24 It’s never too early, I think, to just go look around, see what you can find, and the Hobby Lobby already has their Christmas stuff out. 03:32 That kinda drives me crazy to think that really in July they started doing that. I don’t like it, because I like to just celebrate my seasons. 03:42 I wanna celebrate Thanksgiving without my Christmas tree up. So anyway, I don’t know if y’all feel the same way about it, but there’s my piece. 03:50 Wanna talk a little bit more about the Lindsay Clancy trial, and I know that many of you have been watching it, and I’m so upset that I haven’t been able to watch
