In an unprecedented move during Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial, jurors gained access to her private digital footprint on Monday. The court presented a wealth of information pulled from her phone, including confidential text messages, Google searches, and health data, shedding light on the weeks preceding the tragic deaths of her three children.
“I’m really sick. Something is wrong,” Lindsay texted her mother, Paula Musgrove, in October 2022. This message was notably shared in court on August 17, marking the trial’s second week.
Recounting her daughter’s plea, Paula read from Lindsay’s message, “Mom, will you please come up and stay with me for a bit? I’m really sick. Something is wrong. I had horrible insomnia all night, and I just don’t know how I’m going to get through the day. I started taking the medicine my doctor prescribed for anxiety, and I think it’s made things worse. It’s just really scary, and I don’t want to be alone.”
Lindsay is facing charges for allegedly strangling her children—Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and 8-month-old Callan—with exercise bands, followed by a suicide attempt by jumping from a second-story window of her home in Duxbury, Massachusetts.
Her husband, Patrick Clancy, testified that when he returned home, he found Lindsay lying on the ground outside and their children in the basement, a discovery that underscores the gravity and tragedy of the events.
Lindsay has pleaded not guilty to the January 2023 murders, with her attorneys arguing she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time. The prosecution, however, argued that she killed her children in a premeditated, cold-blooded attack.
Her sister, Allison Ozga, also testified on Aug. 17 that Thanksgiving 2022 was the first time she had seen Lindsay in quite some time, although they talked on the phone and exchanged text messages.
“I had known she had not been doing well via text message communication that we had,” Allison told the courtroom, adding that Lindsay’s mood “did not look good.” By December, she added, Lindsay had “very much decompensated.”
Allison said her intuition told her “something was off” about Lindsay.
“I do remember saying at one point at the beginning of December something along the lines of, ‘I’m in a really tough spot,’” Allison told the courtroom. “And knowing what she had shared with me previously about how her mental health had been struggling, I had this gut feeling that something was off and…I asked her if she was safe.”
According to Allison, her sister replied, “Yes.”
In her communication with Lindsay and Patrick, Allison said she learned that her sister was experiencing depression, suicidal thoughts and insomnia. And between October and December, Allison said, Lindsay shared that she was being prescribed different prescriptions by her doctors.
By the end of December, Allison said, Lindsay told her that she felt “numb” and “hopeless” and had experienced suicidal ideation every day for a month, before checking herself into McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility.
Lindsay’s phone data also reflected her family’s concerns.
Cellebrite digital forensics expert Ian Whiffin analyzed data from Lindsay’s phone, along with Apple Health data on her heart rate and movement between floors of their home.
Online searches for “psychosis symptoms” and “symptoms of postpartum psychosis,” along with “how quickly does Wellbutrin work for depression” and “ketamine for suicidal ideation” were found on Lindsay’s phone days before the killings, Whiffen testified, according to Reuters.
Defense attorney Kevin Reddington also showed photos and text messages Lindsay had sent on the morning of the murders.
One photo depicted a snowman Lindsay and the children had made, then later she put a heart emoji on a photo of Dawson that Patrick sent, according to The Patriot Ledger. Later, Lindsay texted Patrick an image of Cora at the pediatrician’s office.
According to Whiffen, in response to the photo of the children and the snowman, Patrick had replied, “You’re a good mom.”