Friends and coworkers of Massachusetts mom Lindsay Clancy, accused of killing her three young children, said she was a devoted mother who “lived and breathed” for her kids.
People who knew Clancy and people who didn’t think her sent dozens of letters to her defense team and filed them in court recently.
“I do not know a better mother than Lindsay Clancy,” coworker Erika Sevieri wrote, according to Boston.com.
“She lived and breathed for her children,” the Massachusetts General Hospital colleague added.
Prosecutors say that Clancy, who lives in the small coastal town of Plymouth, planned to strangle her three young children in their home while her husband ran errands for about 20 minutes.
After cutting herself, she may have tried to kill herself by jumping out of her home window.
After the attack, daughter Cora, 5, and son Dawson, 3, died at the hospital. Seven-month-old son Callan died a few days later. The kids were still wearing the exercise bands around their necks when their father found them.
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Prosecutors say, Clancy, who is still in the hospital getting better after being hurt, planned and carried out the murders in their home, where the kids should have felt safest.
But Clancy’s lawyer said that his client had a mental illness and was given about a dozen drugs to help control it. Last week, Kevin Reddington, a lawyer for the defense, said in court, “This was a situation that was the product of mental illness.”
The prosecution said that Clancy had been seen by mental health professionals who told her she didn’t have postpartum depression or any of its symptoms.
Stacey Kabat, a mother and child health nurse, wrote that she was shocked by how many medicines Clancy took before the attack on her children on January 24.
“We do very little to help a mother suffering from postpartum depression concretely, and when it comes to postpartum psychosis, we fail.”
“Kabot, who met Clancy in nursing school, additionally wrote she believes if Clancy “had proper treatment, this family would still be together,” the Patriot Ledger reported.
The outlet also said that dozens of mothers in the state wrote a letter supporting Clancy.
“As mothers, we are asked to hold the world’s weight on our shoulders. We push through the pain and smile despite our inward battles,” they reportedly wrote.
“Many of us have felt the darkness of postpartum depression, and for that reason, we can empathize with Lindsay’s pain.”
Friend Amy Bevins said Clancy’s top priority was making sure her children felt “loved, safe, and happy,” Boston.com reported.
“I trusted her implicitly with the care of my child over the past three and a half years,” Bevins wrote. “I am steadfast in my belief that her greatest joy was being a mom and watching her children grow.”
With wires from Post