Third Clancy child dies of injuries suffered at Duxbury home

BOSTON − The 8-month-old boy who was seriously injured inside his Duxbury home Tuesday night has died at a Boston hospital, the Plymouth County district attorney's office said. His siblings, 5-year-old Cora and 3-year-old Dawson, also died.

“(Friday), at approximately 12:30 p.m., the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner contacted Massachusetts State Police assigned to our office to report that at 11:18 a.m., the third Clancy child was pronounced deceased at Children’s Hospital in Boston,” district attorney spokeswoman Beth Stone said in a statement.

Patrick Clancy, of Duxbury, with his children, Cora, Dawson and Callan.
Patrick Clancy, of Duxbury, with his children, Cora, Dawson and Callan.

Police responded to a 911 call Tuesday night reporting a woman's attempted suicide on Summer Street in Duxbury. When officers arrived, they found a woman seriously injured after jumping from her second-story window, and two of her children strangled to death inside. Callan Clancy, the 8-month-old boy, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries.

Lindsay Clancy, 32, is already facing two counts of murder in the deaths of Cora and Dawson Clancy, 3, as well as three counts each of strangulation and assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

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Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Plymouth on Tuesday. District Attorney Timothy Cruz said the medical examiner's office will be responsible for determining the exact means and causes of their deaths, but that it appears they were strangled.

Cruz said "nobody is here to speculate" as to what exactly happened or why Lindsay Clancy may have killed her own children. Duxbury Police Chief Michael Carbone wouldn't say if police were familiar with the Clancy family or if any prior 911 calls to the home had been made.

"Our hearts and condolences go out to the Clancy family," Cruz said. "I cannot begin to fathom the depths of pain that might be going on."

DA: Children strangled inside Duxbury home, mother to be charged with murder

Health: Deaths of Duxbury children push postpartum depression and mental health to forefront

The incident has prompted conversations about postpartum depression and psychosis as the "unthinkable tragedy" leaves people across the region searching for answers.

Cases of women who have killed their children have often involved postpartum depression or psychosis, the latter being a condition that can severely alter a person’s mental state after giving birth. If left untreated, it can pose serious danger to both the mother and her child.

Nancy Byatt, a perinatal psychiatrist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School who is an expert on maternal depression, said postpartum psychosis can "hijack the brain."

Reach Mary Whitfill at mwhitfill@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 8-month-old Callan Clancy dies of injures in Duxbury tragedy