Lindsay Marie Musgrove was born in 1990 – I believe she grew up in Wallingford, CT. Her parents are Mike and Paula Musgrove.
Neighbors have since spoken about the Musgrove family. “Her parents are wonderful people. They’re very nice.”
Lindsay attended Lyman Hall High School in Wallingford, Connecticut. In her yearbook she wrote, “No matter how hard you fight it, you fall. And it’s scary. Except there’s an upside to free falling. It’s the chance you give your friends to catch you.”
She then went on to graduate from Quinnipiac University in Hamden in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. She had been working as labor and delivery registered nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She had previously worked as a nursing assistant at South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, Mass.
Lindsay married Patrick Clancy in 2016 in Southington, CT. The couple settled in Duxbury, Mass and had three children together. Cora was 5, Dawson was 3 and the baby Callan was 8 months old. They bought the house they were living in at the time of the incident in 2018.
By all accounts, Lindsay was a doting mother. For Christmas photos, she dressed the kids in matching outfits. She posted a ton of pics of the kids on her social media.
“She was always working out and going everywhere with her kids,” says Michelle Connor, 32, who was on the cheerleading team with Lindsay at Quinnipiac College.
“She was that mom that you always wanted to be,” Connor says.
“I feel like the luckiest mama in the whole wide world,” Lindsay wrote in a social media post. In a later post she said: “So unbelievably thankful for this family and life.”
After Lindsay gave birth to Callan, she struggled with her mental health. Reports say that she did not experience these issues after the births of her first two children.
Six weeks after the birth, Lindsay shared a post on facebook about how she felt “dialed in” again.
Lindsay posted that she was focusing on exercise, nutrition and her mindset — noting “it has made all the difference.”
Lindsay’s condition worsened. At the time of the incident, she had been receiving treatment through an intensive outpatient program.
Her defence attorney Kevin Reddington has spoken about the treatment she was receiving.
“She consulted with a number of doctors who indicated that she would be able to sleep, she would be able to feel, she would be able to emote once these medications kicked in.”
In terms of ‘these medications’, Lindsay had been prescribed a mixture of SSRI antidepressants, or specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors, benzodiazepines and antipsychotic and antiseizure drugs in the months leading up to the killings. These included Prozac, Zoloft, Trazodone, Seroquel, Amitryptiline, Remeron, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan and Lamictal.
Her case notes indicate that she was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. She was then evaluated in December when a psychiatrist said she did not have postpartum depression.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague spoke about journal entries that Lindsay kept regarding her treatment. “She detailed that she had difficulties with each of the medications that were prescribed to her. When she had issues with a medication, her doctor had her stop it or wean off it and then try something else.”
“She was never on more than four to five medications at a time, and at the time of the murders, she was taking three medications. She always took medications as prescribed.”
Lindsay kept regular notes on her phone. In October 2022, she wrote:
“I think I sort of resent my other children, because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby. And I know that’s not fair to them. I know that. I was feeling so depressed last evening when Cora and Dawson came home from school. I know it runs off on them, so we had a pretty rough evening. I want to feel love and connection with all of my kids.”
In December 2022, Lindsay told Patrick that she was having thoughts of suicide and thoughts about hurting her children. She contacted her psychiatrist and then admitted herself to a mental health facility from Jan. 1 to Jan. 5. Later in January, Lindsay told Patrick that she was no longer having suicidal thoughts.
Around this time, Patrick spoke to a friend and said that he wanted to become more involved with his wife’s treatment “due to the fact that Lindsay was going by herself to a psychiatrist for a while and he felt that she was prescribed too many medications.”
On January 23, 2023, Lindsay wrote in her phone that she had “a touch of postpartum anxiety” around returning to work.
The day of the incident was January 24, 2023, a Tuesday. So this was almost 3 weeks after she was released from the mental health facility. Patrick has said that Lindsay was having a great day. He said it had been ‘one of her best days.’ “She was smiling and happy and there was no indication that she was going to harm the kids,” DA Sprague said. “No one described her as acting like a zombie in the days leading up to the murders or on the day of the murders.”
I believe Patrick had been working at home regularly in an effort to support Lindsay, so he was around for most of the day.
We will now run through a timeline for January 24:
Lindsay took Cora to a doctor’s appointment in the morning. When they got home, they played in the snow with Dawson. Lindsay took some pics and sent them to her mother.
At 4.02pm, Lindsay googled ‘kids miralax’ and also ‘takeout 3v”. She then used google maps to determine how long it would take to drive from the family home to the ThreeV restaurant – it’s around 5.5 miles from their home, an 11 minute drive.
At 4.47pm, Lindsay called a CVS in Kingston to ask if they had children’s Miralax. The manager said that they didn’t but advised Lindsay that they did have similar medications
At 4.53pm, Lindsay texted Patrick who was working in the basement and said ““Any chance you want to do takeout from 3V … I didn’t cook anything … it’s been a long day.”
Patrick texted back, “Yes.” Lindsay asked him to check the menu.
At 5.06pm, Patrick texted to ask her what she was going to order for food. She responded that she’d get the “mediterranean power bowl.” Patrick responded that he wanted the “scallop and pork belly risotto.”
At 5.10pm, Lindsay called ThreeV to order takeout. She made the order under Patrick’s name.
At 5.15pm, Lindsay texted the words “Pedialax liquid stool softener” to her husband. Patrick left the home to run the errands.
Patrick was seen on CCTV at CVS on Summer St in Kingston at 5.32pm. He was seen in the children’s medication aisle.
At 5.33pm, Patrick called Lindsay. She didn’t answer but called him back one minute later. She confirmed the medication that he should buy. He later told police that it seemed like he had interrupted Lindsay in the middle of something by calling her.
Patrick arrived at the ThreeV restaurant at 5.54pm. He paid for the food and left.
Patrick arrived home at 6.09pm. The house was silent. He called Lindsay to see what was going on. When she didn’t answer, he went upstairs to their bedroom and the door was locked. He was able to open it and he noticed blood on the floor as well as a window open. He ran outside and saw Lindsay was laying on the ground injured. She had cuts to her neck and wrists. He then called 911.
Patrick can be heard on the 911 call asking Lindsay ‘Where are the kids?’. She replied ‘In the basement.”
He asked her ‘What did you do?” She replied “I tried to kill myself and jumped out of the window.”
Emergency services arrived at 6.11pm and started tending to Lindsay. Patrick went back into the home and started searching for the kids. “Guys?” he called, trying to get them to answer.
When Patrick entered the basement, he began ‘screaming in shock and agony as he found his children.’ He yelled to police ‘She killed the kids.”
Each child had an exercise band around their necks. The bands had been tied to strangle them. Cora and Callan were found on the floor of a den area in the basement. Dawson was alone on the floor in Patrick’s office.
“He frantically removed the bands from around their necks and begged them to breathe,” Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague said.
The scene was said to be the worst that some of the first responders have ever seen. Town Manager Rene Read said “I know a little bit of what they go through, but when they tell me it’s the worst they’ve ever seen, it’s going to have an impact.”
Lindsay was taken to South Shore Hospital in Weymouth with broken bones in her back and ribcage – these injuries have left her paralyzed below the waist.
The children were sent to Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Plymouth. Callan was soon after med-flighted to Boston Children’s Hospital.
At 7.28pm, Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead.
Callan’s condition was listed as critical. He died from his injuries three days later, January 27.
Lindsay spoke on the phone to Patrick on February 6. She told him that she heard voices and had a “moment of psychosis” after he left the house on Jan. 24. He asks her what voices she heard, and she tells him she heard a man’s voice telling her to kill the kids and kill herself, because it was her last chance. Patrick later told police that his wife had never heard voices or used the word “psychosis” with him before.
On February 7 , Lindsay was arraigned from her hospital bed. She was charged with two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation or suffocation and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Not guilty pleas were entered on her behalf and a probable cause hearing was scheduled for May 2. Additional charges, including ones related to Callan’s death are likely to be added, officials said.
Lindsay “is a danger to herself and others,” DA Sprague said. “She planned these murders, gave herself the time and privacy needed to commit the murders, and then strangled each child in the place where they should have been safest — their home. She did so with deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity and cruelty.”
DA Sprague said that Lindsay had been coherent at the time of the murders. She said that Lindsay deliberately searched online for a restaurant that was far enough away that she would have time to kill each child. It would have taken each child between 4-6 minutes to die from ligature strangulation, according to the DA.
“She could have changed her mind at any point during that time and removed those bands from their necks and she did not,” DA Sprague said. “She used Apple Maps to make sure she would have enough time to strangle each child before her husband returned from where she had sent him.”
Linday’s defense attorney Kevin Reddington said that the deaths were a ‘product of mental illness.’
He told the court that the 13 psychiatric medications that Lindsay had taken may have caused her to have suicidal and homicidal thoughts. He told the court she suffered a psychotic break.
Lindsay was prescribed “some pretty heavy medications,” he told PEOPLE. “It was a toxic soup.”
Calling Lindsay “overmedicated,” Kevin said that during the time that she was being prescribed these medications, “They both would go back to the doctor, and then they would tell her to get off the [medicine] and start up on something else,” he says.
“They didn’t even get her to wean off of it before starting her on something else,” he says. “If that didn’t work, they’d change it.
“It went like that into January.”
“Our society fails miserably in treating women with postpartum depression, or even postpartum psychosis,” Kevin said. “It’s medicate, medicate, medicate. Throw the pills at you, and then see how it works. If it doesn’t work, increase the dose or decrease the dose, then end up trying another combination of medications.”
He said that Lindsay was “a beautiful person who was thoroughly destroyed by these medications,” he said.
Lindsay has suffered severe spinal injuries as a result of jumping out of the window.
An email from Linday’s trauma surgeon was included in the court filings. According to that, she suffered several severe spinal fractures, including a spinal cord transection, from the 20-foot fall. The surgeon said she is not expected to recover, “which would make her paraplegic,” or unable to move her legs or feel anything below her belly button, the email stated.
She also has rib fractures on both sides and cervical spine fractures, “which will necessitate wearing a collar around her neck” to prevent further injury,” according to the email.
“She is nearing readiness to leave the hospital, but will have continued, extensive rehabilitation needs, specifically with respect to (the) spinal cord injury. She will require specialized spinal cord rehabilitation so she can be taught to self-care for bodily function and use her upper body strength for wheelchair mobility’, the email stated.
A judge agreed that Lindsay could be released to another facility once she was discharged from hospital. This new facility will provide specialised treatment for her spinal injuries.
“We do very little to concretely help a mother who is suffering with postpartum depression, and when it comes to postpartum psychosis, we fail completely,” a nursing colleague said. “Lindsay and her loving husband Pat, were desperately seeking help and were betrayed by an inadequate medical system that has not devoted enough resources nor time learning how to help our new mothers.”
A GoFundMe was also created. This is the info from the fundraiser:
On behalf of the extended Clancy Family we invite you to offer support for Patrick as he navigates an unimaginable tragedy. We appreciate your thoughts, prayers, and outreach in support.
This GoFundMe is intended to help Pat pay for medical bills, funeral services, and legal help. This assistance is especially needed because Pat will be unable to work for the foreseeable future as he weathers this painful, life-altering tragedy.
We all know Pat to be the most kind and genuine person. As someone who is always willing to support others, we sincerely thank you for offering yours.
Four days after the murder, on January 28, Patrick posted this update on the GFM. It is long but I think it’s important that we run through it in its entirety.
‘Thank you all for your love and support. The warmth I’ve received from the community is palpable and your generosity gives me hope that I can focus on some sort of healing. I’ve seen all of your messages and contributions, including some from people I haven’t seen in over a decade and many I’ve never met. I see and appreciate everyone of you.
A lot of people have said they can’t imagine and they’re right, there’s absolutely nothing that can prepare you. The shock and pain is excruciating and relentless. I’m constantly reminded of them and with the little sleep I get, I dream about them on repeat. Any parent knows, it’s impossible to understand how much you will love your kids until you have them. The same goes for understanding the devastation of losing them. Cora, Dawson, and Callan were the essence of my life and I’m completely lost without them.
My family was the best thing that ever happened to me. I took so much pride in being Lindsay’s husband and a dad to Cora, Dawson, and Callan. I always reminded myself that each day with them was a new gift. Callan usually woke up first and would rest his head on my shoulder for a few minutes as he adjusted to morning. Dawson typically sang or spoke his thoughts out loud for a while before we’d go get him. Cora was a big girl and would simply walk downstairs. I can still vividly picture her coming into the living room each morning with her hair in a mess, smile on her face. We always started our days together, reading books, cuddling up on the couch, and playing with magnet tiles. I loved taking them places, whether it was scooting at Chandler elementary, vacation, skiing, out on the boat, or to Duxbury Beach, one of our favorite places on earth. They gave me purpose and I never took it for granted. There is now a massive void where that purpose once was.
Cora had an infectious laugh and was stunningly beautiful. She was the cautious one, but it was really because she was so caring. She used to say she wanted to be a doctor and a mama when she grew up and she would practice by giving Callan check ups. If she was leaving the house to go somewhere, she would pick someone to take care of Caroline and Charlotte, her baby dolls. She had all the doll accessories available, so her sitters were well-equipped. Before she turned 2, she was already wrapping them in perfect swaddles. We would tell her she’s such a “good little mama.” She loved all babies, both real and pretend. She loved sloths, unicorns, tea parties, going to lunch with Nana and Grandpa, and giving presents to people. She knew everything about princesses, her favorite being Sofia the First. She truly loved her brothers and us and said it often in her sweet voice. We did a lot of father-daughter activities together, like skiing and visiting San Francisco or just talking. I loved her, my first born, so much.
Dawson had beautiful, bold, brown eyes that beamed with friendship. He was naturally humorous and generous beyond the norm of a typical toddler, always willing to share his toys with others. For all the love he received, he always gave back more. His best quality was his pure kindness. He loved trucks, tractors, dinosaurs, Paw Patrol, “worker guys” and being outside. He was adventurous and mischievous and enjoyed causing trouble, which he typically found hilarious. He was also remarkably smart. We always said if we didn’t save enough for retirement, it’ll be ok – we’ll just live in Dawson’s guest house. He would hug me tighter than most adults and every night he told me in consistent words at bedtime, without fail, “goodnight dada, I love you.” We had a special bond from day 1. He was my buddy, my first boy, and truly a gift.
Callan was our easy going child. I always said it was because he was the third child – he had to adapt and he did easily. He was born with hardly any fuss and was by far our best sleeper. He was just an incredibly happy and vibrant baby, constantly smiling. Our nickname for him was “Happy Callan.” He was sitting on his own and you could tell he was enjoying his growing independence as he would grab any object within reach. Sometimes he joined my Microsoft calls in the background, playing in his jumpy. I would keep my camera on, too proud to leave it off. He started saying “Dada” whenever I walked in the room. The last moment we had together was our routine. I would come up from my office at the end of the day and swing him between my legs while he laughed and smiled. If I was ever having a bad day, Callan always knew how to heal me. Perhaps that’s why he held on a little longer – to spare me whatever pain he could. As excruciating as it was, I was fortunate and grateful to feel his warmth until his very last moment. Faith is my only hope of believing he felt mine.
Callan died with enormous courage despite being so little. Maybe it was his way of demonstrating what I need to do to press forward. I’ll always try to draw inspiration from him. He’ll always be my little hero.
I want to share some thoughts about Lindsay. She’s recently been portrayed largely by people who have never met her and never knew who the real Lindsay was. Our marriage was wonderful and diametrically grew stronger as her condition rapidly worsened. I took as much pride in being her husband as I did in being a father and felt persistently lucky to have her in my life. I still remember the very moment I first laid eyes on her and can recall how overcome I was with the kind of love at first sight you only see in movies. It really didn’t take long before I was certain I wanted to marry her. We said “I love you” to each other multiple times daily, as if it were a reflex. We habitually started every morning with a passionate hug, yielding a sigh of relief like we had each received the perfect medicine. If too much time passed with out a hug, she’d look at me and ask, “did you forget?” We mutually understood the reality that people can have bad days, but we stuck to the rule that when one of us got lost, the other was always there to bring them home, always. She loved being a nurse, but nothing matched her intense love for our kids and dedication to being a mother. It was all she ever wanted. Her passion taught me how to be a better father.
I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have. The real Lindsay was generously loving and caring towards everyone – me, our kids, family, friends, and her patients. The very fibers of her soul are loving. All I wish for her now is that she can somehow find peace.
I promise I’ll put all my energy into healing and rediscovering my purpose. I owe that to all of you, Duxbury fire and police, our compassionate healthcare workers, our local faith leaders, the Microsoft community, and especially Cora, Dawson, and Callan. I don’t know how or when I’ll be able to do it, but your love and generosity will help me get started. I know that love always wins.
Cora, Dawson, and Callan, you gave me so much in your short time here. I don’t know if the pain will ever go away, but I’ll do my best to carry on in your honor. Dada loves you so much and will always remember you.
With love and endless gratitude’
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