A true crime creator has been charged with felony wiretapping after authorities alleged that she shared a secretly recorded phone call involving Patrick Clancy’s father, who said he had answered the call by mistake.
Shawna Gramkow, who runs multiple true crime social media accounts with more than 50,000 followers, was charged with unlawful wiretapping on Oct. 20. The charge stems from a Sept. 4 incident involving Christopher Clancy, Patrick Clancy’s father, according to a police report obtained by News Media.
Police said Gramkow uploaded an Instagram video on Aug. 30 showing an unidentified person calling a number she said belonged to Patrick Clancy. The number had reportedly been read aloud in court by Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, during the murder trial.
Patrick Clancy on the stand at Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial on July 29, 2026. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“So, you guys voted and Patrick said yes. So, at the trial Kevin Reddington released Patrick’s phone number and one of y’all decided to give him a call. Now on this particular call, Patrick’s dad was still on the line, he was kind of mumbling still on the phone, I guess he didn’t know that the phone was still going,” Gramkow said, according to the detective’s account in the report.
The detective reported that the video contains the voice of an adult man, although the speaker’s words could not be clearly understood. When Christopher Clancy contacted police on Sept. 4, he said he believed the voice was his and connected it to a phone call he received Aug. 6.
Patrick Clancy exits Plymouth Superior Court, Plymouth, Mass., Monday, July 27, 2026. (David McGlynn for News Media)
Clancy told investigators that he had accidentally answered a call from an unfamiliar number rather than rejecting it. Police allege the caller then recorded him without his knowledge or permission as he discussed his oldest son, Brian. The recording was later posted on Gramkow’s Instagram account, the report said.
“Mr. Clancy recalls while driving in the Town of Scituate sometime around August 6th, 2026 he received a phone call from a telephone number he did not recognize. Instead of declining the incoming call; he believes he accidently answered, creating an open line of communication for the unknown calling party who proceeded to record Mr. Clancy’s comments without his knowledge or consent. Mr. Clancy recognized some of his comments as being in regard to his eldest son Brian,” police wrote.
Although Massachusetts authorities have filed the wiretapping charge, Florida officials said Gramkow had not been taken into custody.
News Media sought comment from Gramkow. In a Facebook video that did not directly mention the case, she said the “allegations are false. And easy to prove.”
“And yes I got all the ‘Dirty Deets,’” she added in a written post.
Lindsay Clancy and her attorney, Kevin Reddington, attend a status hearing for the Clancy case at the Plymouth County Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts on Sept. 29, 2026. (Greg Derr / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Gramkow’s case comes as the legal positions of Patrick and Lindsay Clancy appear to diverge in separate civil lawsuits involving Lindsay’s medical providers.
At a Wednesday hearing in Norfolk County Superior Court, attorney Howard Cooper said he expects Lindsay Clancy to testify in a lawsuit Patrick Clancy brought against her healthcare providers.
“We believe that Lindsay Clancy, once her Fifth Amendment issues are resolved one way or the other, will testify that she told these defendants explicitly that she had homicidal ideation, that she was worried about something awful happening to her kids,” Cooper told the court.
In a statement provided to News Media, Reddington disputed that account. He said Lindsay Clancy has never indicated that she would testify and denied that she told healthcare providers she had homicidal thoughts about her children.
“It has come to my attention that counsel for Patrick Clancy represented to the court in his civil case that my client, Lindsay Clancy, will testify about statements she made to her healthcare providers,” Reddington said. “Lindsay Clancy never told any of her healthcare providers that she harbored homicidal ideation toward her children. She never indicated that she intended to testify in Mr. Clancy’s lawsuit, and no one acting for her ever represented that she would.”
Massachusetts criminal defense attorney Kevin Reddington pictured in an SUV on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. (David McGLynn for News Media)
“Mr. Clancy’s counsel does not speak for Lindsay Clancy,” Reddington added.
Lindsay Clancy faced three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, who were found strangled at the family’s home in January 2023.
Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial on Friday, Sept. 4, after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict, ending in an 11-1 divide.