In a tragic attempted murder-suicide, a mother in Massachusetts is said to have strangled her two young children and attempted to kill her baby before attempting to jump to her death.
District Attorney Tim Cruz announced on Wednesday that 32-year-old Plymouth resident Lindsay Clancy had been charged with two counts of homicide and three counts of strangulation in connection with the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son.
Clancy is currently under police custody while being treated at a Boston hospital.
Clancy’s husband called 911 at 6 p.m., and officers were dispatched to the family’s home in Duxbury, a town about 35 miles southeast of Boston. Tuesday, Cruz reported that she had jumped from a window in the home.
Later, Cruz said, “first responders located three children under the age of 5 in the home unconscious, with obvious signs of severe trauma.”
Cora, age 5, and Dawson, age 3, were taken to the hospital, where they were declared dead.
Officials say that a boy who will be 8 months old on Thursday is still fighting for his life. He was taken by helicopter to Boston Children’s Hospital, where he is still getting care.
Cruz said it looks like Clancy strangled her children, but the medical examiner will say for sure in the next few days what caused their deaths.
Clancy was helped right away and then taken to a hospital nearby.
Cruz said, “This is an unimaginable, senseless tragedy, and the investigation is still going on.”
Sources told CBS Boston that investigators are thinking about the possibility that Clancy had postpartum psychosis when she tried to kill herself and kill her baby.
She wasn’t working as a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital while she was on leave.
Rita Musgrove, the great-grandmother of the children, told NBC Boston that when she talked to their mother last week, nothing seemed strange.
“It’s shocking and sad,” she said as she left flowers at a memorial outside the family’s home.
Aunt Donna Jesse said, “They were just the most beautiful children in the world. They had been taken care of and were just beautiful. They lived a great life.”
Everyone in the community is in shock, but the first people to arrive at the horrible scene are especially upset.
During the press conference on Wednesday, police officers were seen crying, and the State Police Association of Massachusetts told its members that there are ways to deal with the case.
Cruz said, “I also want to praise the work and professionalism of the Duxbury first responders and the Massachusetts State Police.” “I’m sure that what they saw last night will stick with many of them.”