Crime20 September, 20262 min read
Patrick Clancy Opens Up on Grief and Forgiveness in 60 Minutes After Lindsay Clancy Mistrial
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Patrick Clancy gave his first TV interview on 60 Minutes after mistrial. He discussed grief, holding his dying son, and forgave Lindsay regardless.
Mistrial, grief, and forgiveness
Patrick Clancy gave his first televised interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” after a jury deadlocked in Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial for the deaths of their three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months, in January 2023.
“‘No. But I gave it to her,’ Patrick Clancy responded.”
Patrick Clancy told Ross Douthat that he “did the best I could with what I had at the time” and said he “live[s] with the outcome” every day.
Patrick Clancy said he forgave Lindsay Clancy after the killings, and he told Douthat, “No. But I gave it to her.”
Patrick Clancy described the night of the killings as he returned to the family’s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts, after running errands and found Lindsay Clancy injured in the backyard after jumping from an upstairs window, then found his children strangled in the basement.
Patrick Clancy said Callan was airlifted to Boston Children’s Hospital, and he said, “I got to hold him. I got to lay down next to him. And he died in my arms.”
Trial details and public scrutiny
Patrick Clancy said he did not know how to manage a postpartum illness before the killings, and he told “60 Minutes” that he could “piece together what it was like to be really, really anxious or depressed” but did not know how to manage postpartum illness. Patrick Clancy said Lindsay Clancy checked herself into McLean Psychiatric Hospital on New Year’s Eve of 2022 and was treated for depression before being released days later. Patrick Clancy said he found Lindsay Clancy lying in the backyard with her throat and wrists cut and paralyzed after jumping from an upstairs window, and he said he found his children strangled in the basement.
Patrick Clancy described a “massive traumatic panic attack” during his testimony when the 911 call he made on the fatal day was played for the jury, and he said, “They put me in an ambulance.” Patrick Clancy said online accusations and speculation have been painful, and he told “60 Minutes,” “It’s painful to see, and it makes it difficult to be in public.”
What comes next for Clancy
Patrick Clancy said he moved to New York City after the deaths, and he said anonymity allowed him to grieve.
Patrick Clancy said he and his wife, Rachel Danis, are planning to start a family, and he told “60 Minutes,” “I can’t wait to tell them about their brothers and sister.”
Patrick Clancy said he had suicidal thoughts during the period after the killings and told “60 Minutes,” “There was a time I didn't think I would live to see my 35th birthday.”
Patrick Clancy said he asked Lindsay Clancy if she remembered what happened, and he said she told him, “it was like a dream.”
Patrick Clancy’s interview came after Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on Sept. 4, and prosecutors had not said whether they would retry the case, according to the reporting in the sources.