Woman accused of killing her children reportedly had postpartum depression

PLYMOUTH COUNTY, Mass. (CNN) - Thirty-two-year-old mother Lindsay Clancy is accused of assault, strangulation and murder of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson and 8-month-old son Callan.

All three children were found Jan. 25 in the basement of their Duxbury, Massachusetts home “unconscious,” the district attorney says, exhibiting “obvious signs of severe trauma.”

Two children died that night. The third, the 8-month-old, died two days later.

“They were just beautiful, beautiful children. Well cared for. They were just beautiful,” Donna Jesse, a Clancy family relative, said.

Clancy attempted suicide, investigators said. She survived.

Debbie Heath’s son, a firefighter, responded that night.

“It’s still bothering him today and yesterday. When it’s quiet, that’s when you’re alone with your thoughts and you know he’s had little breakdowns here and there,” Heath said.

Clancy, who worked as a labor and delivery nurse, wrote in private Facebook posts viewed by the Boston Globe just weeks after her third child was born that she had struggled with postpartum depression in the past, but was now feeling “dialed in” and had been focusing on exercise, nutrition and mindset.

Patrick Clancy, husband to Lindsay and father to their now-deceased three kids, has asked the public to forgive his wife.

“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. … 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.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Patrick Clancy to pay for funerals, medical bills and an unknowable period of no work, no income and, as he wrote, “discovering” his purpose.

“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,” Patrick Clancy wrote on the GoFundMe page.

Lindsay Clancy is facing at least two counts of murder, as well as other charges.