BOSTON (AP) — Lindsay Clancy was “begging for help” in the months leading up to killing her three children and attempting to end her own life, Clancy's former mother-in-law testified for the defense Tuesday in the fourth week of her murder trial.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988.
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Lindsay Clancy listens to her mother Paula Musgrove on the witness stand during her murder trial in Plymouth Superior Court, in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Defense Attorney Kevin Reddington, speaks with Susan Clancy, the former mother in law of Lindsay Clancy, during her testimony at Clancy's murder trial in Plymouth Mass., Tuesday Aug. 18, 2026 in Plymouth, Mass. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Psychiatrist Dr. Donald Condie testifies during Lindsay Clancy's murder trial in Plymouth Mass., Tuesday Aug. 18, 2026 in Plymouth, Mass. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Susan Clancy, the former mother in law of Lindsay Clancy, enters the court room to give testimony during Lindsay Clancy's murder trial in Plymouth Mass., Tuesday Aug. 18, 2026 in Plymouth, Mass. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
“Lindsay was struggling — we were all concerned,” said Susan Clancy, mother of Patrick Clancy, who found the Massachusetts couple's children after they had been strangled in the family basement in January 2023. Lindsay Clancy also attempted to take her own life that night and was left paralyzed. Lindsay and Patrick Clancy are now divorced.
The trial centers not on whether Lindsay Clancy killed her children on Jan. 24, 2023, which her lawyers do not dispute, but on her state of mind at the time. Her attorney argues she should not be held criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, a rare mental illness linked to the stress, sleep deprivation and hormonal changes that follow childbirth.
Susan Clancy’s testimony echoed emotional accounts the day before from Lindsay Clancy’s mother and sister, who recounted for jurors how they saw her become increasingly anxious, paranoid and suicidal starting in the fall of 2022.
Susan Clancy, who, like Lindsay, worked as a labor and delivery nurse, said in Plymouth Superior Court that she and her former daughter-in-law were close and described Lindsay as a “wonderful mother” who was “very nurturing, very loving.”
Susan Clancy said that Lindsay was open with her about struggling and asked for her mother-in-law's support. The jury was shown texts between Lindsay and Susan Clancy in which Lindsay spoke about fears that she had developed a dependence on benzodiazepines, but couldn't sleep without taking them.
“I'm not okay and I'm terrified of taking meds tonight,” Lindsay texted her mother-in-law on Nov. 30, 2022, two months before the killings.
On Monday, Lindsay Clancy’s mother, Paula Musgrove, said her daughter was scared of sleeping alone, became increasingly paranoid and believed the medications she was taking “were destroying her mind.”
That December, Lindsay Clancy told her mother and her then-husband, Patrick Clancy, that "she had thoughts of harming the children,” Musgrove said. Lindsay Clancy’s sister Allison Ozga testified that at the end of December, Lindsay told her she had experienced suicidal thoughts every day for a month.
Prosecutors argue that Lindsay Clancy planned the Jan. 24, 2023, killings and contrived to get her husband out of the house by sending him to get takeout and to the pharmacy. They have shown through texts and photos that she performed many normal activities the day of the killings, including taking her children to the doctor and playing with them in the snow, and have questioned the seriousness of her suicide attempt.
Lindsay Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, has argued that in addition to suffering from postpartum psychosis, she had bipolar disorder and that antidepressants prescribed after the birth of her third child worsened her condition.
On the day of the killings, Lindsay Clancy said she heard a voice telling her, “This is your last chance. Kill the children so you can kill yourself,” according to her lawyer.
The defense has argued that Lindsay Clancy was overmedicated and that her care was disjointed, with doctors not speaking to one another or sharing notes. Her doctors have testified they never saw her exhibit signs of mania or psychosis, though she did repeatedly talk of feeling suicidal.
Dr. Donald Condie, a clinical and forensic psychiatrist who didn’t treat Lindsay Clancy but reviewed her medical records, testified Tuesday that she reported symptoms consistent with postpartum anxiety in September 2022, around the time she was preparing to return to work after the birth of her son Callan. Her records documented worsening symptoms over the following months as she saw multiple providers and was prescribed several medications.
Condie said Clancy’s medical records indicated she reported hearing a voice, but conceded on cross-examination that she had not reported hearing voices before the children were killed.
At the start of the trial, Patrick Clancy described the horror of returning home to find his dead children. Prosecutors played a seven-minute 911 call in which he can be heard finding the bodies and telling a dispatcher, “She killed the kids!”
If convicted of murder, Lindsay Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty because of a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility.
Lindsay Clancy listens to her mother Paula Musgrove on the witness stand during her murder trial in Plymouth Superior Court, in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)
Defense Attorney Kevin Reddington, speaks with Susan Clancy, the former mother in law of Lindsay Clancy, during her testimony at Clancy's murder trial in Plymouth Mass., Tuesday Aug. 18, 2026 in Plymouth, Mass. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Psychiatrist Dr. Donald Condie testifies during Lindsay Clancy's murder trial in Plymouth Mass., Tuesday Aug. 18, 2026 in Plymouth, Mass. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
Susan Clancy, the former mother in law of Lindsay Clancy, enters the court room to give testimony during Lindsay Clancy's murder trial in Plymouth Mass., Tuesday Aug. 18, 2026 in Plymouth, Mass. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool)
ANDERSON, S.C. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman says it's a “head scratcher” that President Donald Trump endorsed Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina's Republican Senate runoff, saying his experience in Congress and business — and consistent votes for Trump’s priorities — make him the stronger candidate to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
Norman's comments came in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press ahead of the Aug. 25 GOP runoff to pick a replacement for the senator, who died unexpectedly last month. In a state that routinely elects only Republicans for statewide office, GOP primaries are often the most contentious competitions. Tuesday's winner will face Democrat Annie Andrews in November.
Norman finished second to Graham in a 10-candidate special primary on Aug. 11, though neither won the majority needed to win outright. AP's request for a similar interview with Graham has not been granted.
Darline Graham was appointed as interim senator after her brother's death. She opted to run in the special primary for a full term, something she said Trump — long an ally of her brother — urged her to do. Darline Graham says she's accomplished much during her time as interim, has years of experience running a state agency in South Carolina and will continue to advocate for Trump's goals in the Senate.
Norman said he’s skeptical that South Carolina voters have had enough time to vet the political newcomer for a six-year term, while he’s already been through a statewide campaign this cycle, coming up short in the June gubernatorial primary. He also eschewed the millions being spent on ads against him, much of it from a super PAC that had been aligned with Lindsey Graham and now supports Darline Graham.
Norman backed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley over Trump in the 2024 presidential primary, but has since been a Trump supporter.
Here are excerpts from AP's conversation with Norman about the race. This transcript has been edited for space and clarity:
A: If you read the mood of the public across the country, it's, “we want gas prices down.” They don’t understand what’s left.
(Trump) did a great job of taking out the nuclear threat that we had for 40 years. … but there’s still a lot of work to be done. The American people do not understand the Strait of Hormuz not being completely controlled by America. That’s what I hear. And gas prices, as a result, are staying high. And I think one of the worst things the president wants is the public to turn on him because he’s not ending it.
Now, what does ending it mean? Well, no one really knows. I mean, does it mean, just a remnant of leaders that are opposed to him? Does it mean bombing? He mentioned that he was going to take out the electrical supplies. He was going to decimate the country. Well, that hasn’t happened. So, I think it’s a communication issue that he needs to get involved with.
So I think he’d be doing himself a big favor to explain more now. He says it’s under no timeline. Well, when the public turns on you, they turn on you.
A: Imagine if I went to (head football coach) Dabo Swinney at Clemson and any of the coaches and said, “Look, I got a prospect I want you to look at, and I want them to. They can start. I want you to sign them up. They can start for the next six years.” “What’s the qualifications?” “They're kin to Tom Brady.” Tell me how that analogy doesn’t work here.
It’s politics. It’s votes, and I’ve stuck with it, and I will continue to.
A: It’s not the fact that she hasn’t been in politics. Now, she’s worked at a governmental agency. I’ve run a business. I’ve made money and I’ve lost money, and that’s the drawback for any politician. You need to have done that. I have demonstrated that I want to get the national debt solved, which is the cancer that I see is bankrupting this country, but by dodging debates, that’s going to hurt her, and it should.
You got to get out there and answer all questions.
She can run a campaign like she wants to. What’s happened? She’s told the Washington elite they’re dictating the terms because it’s not South Carolina money. Mine is my money and South Carolina’s money, so they’re dictating the terms and giving her the political answers, like Biden: Don’t show up, be in a basement. His was because he was senile. Hers is they want her to win this election.
The powers that be do not want Ralph Norman in there, and it would be questioned, what’s the return on investment that they’re having to come after me like that? What’s the return on investment for the president? If I were your typical politician, I would say, “No, that makes me mad, I’m gonna stop him at every level.” I’m not gonna do that. I don’t play like that. It would be horrible if Kamala Harris had won this. He saved the country, and I really think that. He should go on Rushmore. He really should. What he’s done, it took guts.
But this one is a head scratcher. I’m gonna win this election. We’re gonna win this election, and unless something happens that I, you know — I can just feel it. People are with us, and I’ve got a record they can’t dispute.
A: No. And I told the president it was a loyalty issue. I came in with Nikki. She’s from South Carolina, and he understands that. And again, anybody can take anything and use it to say that was a reason. Look, the minute she lost (the 2024 presidential primary against Trump), I called him, and my record since he’s been in office has been lock solid.
It’s because I believe in him. I just believe what he’s doing. Now I don’t like what he’s doing now, but he’s president. I give him all the leeway to do it if that’s what you want to do. But he’s done so many good things, right, to me.
Voters have to decide that. I mean, if they want to hold that against me, it’s out there. I’m not apologizing.
A: People bait us, “Are you gonna fire (Senate Majority Leader John) Thune?” Well, it’s deeper than that. One, I wouldn’t do it to somebody that I wouldn’t have a conversation with first. When you fire anybody, you talk with them, and you come to an agreement. You either disagree or agree. I would get with Thune, who is a nice man, from what I've been hearing, say, “How can we work on getting the SAVE Act passed? Now, if it’s still the same, “We don’t have the votes. We’re not going to try anything,” and then I’ll just say, “Well, fine, I’m going to work to replace you, and we’ll see who that is.”
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
U.S. Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., answers questions during a forum for candidates competing in a special Republican Senate primary runoff to replace her late brother, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., speaks with attendees at the South Carolina Republican Party's Silver Elephant Gala on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2026, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
