Lindsay Clancy has ‘horrible dreams’ and is on suicide watch since she allegedly killed her children, lawyers say

Lindsay Clancy’s lawyers told CBS News in an exclusive interview that she has been under constant suicide watch since she allegedly killed her children three and a half years ago.

“She doesn’t want to be here,” Rosemary Scapicchio, one of Clancy’s lawyers, told CBS News. “She wants to be with her children. … And if given the chance, I have no doubt that she would kill herself.”

Scapicchio said that when Clancy wakes up in the morning, the first thing she thinks “is that her kids aren’t here anymore.”

“She walks around all day with this right in her face, every lonely day,” Scapicchio said. “And then she sleeps and has horrible dreams about it.”

Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse who allegedly killed her three children and then attempted suicide in January 2023, has never spoken publicly. But his civil lawyers, who are among the few people who speak to him regularly, said in their first television interview that they were talking about his state of mind. that she felt scared and nervous about another trial.

Clancy is must return to court Monday morning in Plymouth, Massachusetts, to potentially learn whether prosecutors will try her a second time in the strangulation deaths of 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson and 8-month-old Callan. His first attempt ended in a mistrial in September.

Clancy was paralyzed from the waist down when she jumped or fell from a second-story window the night of the tragedy in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She is being held in a state psychiatric facility.

Scapicchio would not say whether Lindsay Clancy and her now ex-husband Patrick Clancy – who has been the subject of intense public scrutiny and said at 60 minutes he felt no sense after the death of his three children – we’re talking.

“It’s a family issue where we don’t really want to address what’s going on,” she said. “I know Patrick has moved on, he remarried, he’s going to have another child.”

Scapicchio also said that Clancy’s parents lived outside of Massachusetts, but visited him quite frequently.

“She can talk to them on the phone. She talks to us quite frequently,” Scapicchio said. “But she’s locked up in a facility… She can’t do anything for herself and she doesn’t want to be in a position where she’s going to be a burden on anyone once the criminal trial is over. And so part of what we want to do for her, in the civil case, is make sure she has enough money so she can live independently.”

Clancy is suing 11 medical professionals she consulted in the months before the murders. His lawyers say they failed to properly diagnose and treat his psychiatric problem.

Scapicchio said Clancy was “absolutely” suffering from postpartum psychosis the night of the murders, while attorney Andrew Meyer said there was “no doubt.”

“This was a psychiatric emergency and it was never treated as a psychiatric emergency,” Scapicchio said.

The defendants, however, dispute these assertions. Among them is the psychiatrist Jennifer Touffeswho spoke to Clancy during a telehealth appointment the day before the tragedy. She testified at the criminal trial, where she was questioned about the notes she wrote about Clancy.

Meyer said he didn’t think Tufts “presented herself well” during testimony, “because I don’t think she can present herself well.”

“I think there are certain things that she said and certain things that she actually recorded in the records that are going to come back to haunt her terribly in this civil trial,” Meyer said.

Clancy’s lawyers say the civil case gives him hope.

“If we save another child, if we save another woman, if we save another family, then our efforts are worth it and the children did not die in vain,” Scapicchio said. “And that’s what keeps Lindsay going these days.”

If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or in a suicidal crisis, you can contact 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifebuoy by calling or texting 988. You can also chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis lifeline here.

For more information about mental health care resources and supportThe National Alliance on Mental Illness Helpline can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET, at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or by email at info@nami.org.