Patrick Clancy confronts grief after a Massachusetts mistrial

By Daniel Okafor · Reporting from New York · September 21, 2026

Patrick Clancy spoke to CBS News about forgiveness and loss after a mistrial, showing how postpartum psychosis fractured his family while public accusations deepened the pain of his grief.

Grief in the public eye

Patrick Clancy sat down for a televised interview with CBS News correspondent Ross Douthat on 60 Minutes. He spoke about grief, forgiveness, and the future after a mistrial in the murder trial of his ex-wife, Lindsay Clancy.

A Plymouth Superior Court jury split 11-1 on September 4. Eleven jurors favored finding Lindsay not criminally responsible due to postpartum psychosis. Judge William Sullivan declared a mistrial.

The case stems from January 24, 2023, in Duxbury, Massachusetts, a town of 16,000 residents. Patrick returned home that day to find Lindsay with cuts to her neck and wrists after she jumped from a bedroom window in a suicide attempt. He found his five-year-old daughter Cora, three-year-old son Dawson, and eight-month-old son Callan in the basement with exercise bands around their necks.

Rescuers airlifted Callan to a Boston hospital where doctors re-established a heartbeat. Patrick held his infant son as the boy died in his arms four days later. He recalled his desperation at the hospital, as reported by Fox News.

"Just give me one. Just give me one kid," Patrick said to NBC News. "And I would raise him as best I could. I would give him the best life I possibly could. I'd tell him about his brother and sister."

Patrick filed a wrongful death lawsuit against healthcare providers, joining Lindsay's medical malpractice claims. The legal battle mirrors the Trial of Mary Surratt, where a defendant's guilt remained contested long after the proceedings.

Mental illness deceives the family

Patrick testified for two days during the trial, suffering a panic attack on the stand. The prosecution argued Lindsay deliberately planned the killings, while defense attorney Kevin Reddington maintained she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis.

Patrick testified that Lindsay's mental state deteriorated despite changes in medications, doctors, and meetings with psychiatrists. In October 2022, she told him she went nights without sleeping. Between October and December, she made repeated emergency room visits, left a postpartum depression program, and checked into McLean Psychiatric Hospital on New Year's Eve.

On the day of the deaths, Lindsay appeared to have one of her best days. She took Cora to a doctor's appointment and built a snowman with the children.

"I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive," Patrick told CBS News. "So I’m sure there are things that I didn’t see."

When Patrick asked Lindsay if she remembered the events, she described the memory as dreamlike. She told him it felt like waking from sleep.

Patrick publicly forgave her, though she never asked for it. He said headlines calling her a killer mom or monster were inaccurate.

"I believe that it was her mental illness that caused that," Patrick said, according to The Guardian.

Where does grief go in New York?

Patrick moved to New York City to seek anonymity and process his trauma. On Callan's first birthday, he lit a candle at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

"And I walk out on Fifth Avenue, and I start crying my eyes out," Patrick said, according to NBC News. "And nobody cared. I thought, 'this is where I need to be. I can grieve.'"

In January 2024, he met fertility doctor Dr. Rachel Danis in a running club. Rachel noticed a photo of children as his phone wallpaper and asked about them. Patrick replied that they were his children and that they had died.

The couple married in April, and Rachel joined him for the television broadcast. Rachel said she tries to take some of the weight from Patrick, knowing she cannot bring his children back.

Meanwhile, online conspiracy theorists published falsehoods claiming Patrick took part in the deaths. Influencers launched a digital trial on TikTok that made it difficult for him to appear in public.

"It’s deeply harmful to the legacy of my children," Patrick told CBC News. "It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health, and it’s done real harm to real people."

Patrick and Rachel are starting a family, and Patrick looks forward to telling his future children about their brothers and sister.

Patrick Clancy confronts grief after a Massachusetts mistrial

Grief in the public eye

Mental illness deceives the family

Where does grief go in New York?

Sources