Patrick Clancy said his ex-wife Lindsay Clancy has never asked him to forgive her for killing their three young children, whom she strangled with exercise bands in their family home in January 2023.
Patrick appeared on “60 Minutes” Sunday night following Lindsay’s triple-murder trial ending in a mistrial earlier this month. The grieving father has publicly forgiven Lindsay and testified during the trial that his then-wife was a loving mother before she suffered severe mental health issues.
“I saw headlines that said, you know, ‘killer mom,’ and ‘baby murderer,’ ‘monster’ — and none of them were accurate,” he said, explaining his decision to publicly forgive. “I believe that it was her mental illness that caused that.”
“I think when it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn’t get there, I would be eaten up inside forever,” Patrick explained.
Journalist Ross Douthat followed up, “Has she ever asked for your forgiveness?”
“No,” Patrick answered. “But I gave it to her.”
Just days after the killings, Patrick offered some words about his then-wife in a GoFundMe set up for the family, specifically for medical bills and funeral services for the children. “I want to ask all of you that you find it deep within yourselves to forgive Lindsay, as I have,” he wrote. “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.”
Douthat also asked Patrick if Lindsay ever told him “why” she killed the kids. “I asked her if she remembered it,” Patrick recalled. “She said it was like a dream, and she remembered it much in the way you would remember a dream after waking up.”
Lindsay has admitted to killing her three children — 5-year-old Cora, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Callan — but sought to avoid criminal responsibility for the killings at trial by relying on what’s commonly referred to as the insanity defense.
Lindsay is currently being held at Tewksbury Hospital, a state-run psychiatric facility in Massachusetts, where she’s been in custody since 2023. Following the mistrial outcome on September 4, it remains unclear whether the state will decide to retry Lindsay for the killings.
Patrick has sought to honor his children’s memory in several ways since their deaths. For example, he ran the Boston Marathon in their memory in 2024, and he has also helped create the Clancy Family Playground in Duxbury. Patrick and his sisters also founded the Heard Foundation, which focuses on improving perinatal mental-health care. During his “60 Minutes” interview, Patrick said he wants to keep the focus on the memory of Cora, Dawson, and Callan, and on improving care for mothers and families struggling with mental illness.
Related: Clancy Juror Admits She Came Into Trial With Political Agenda
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