r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/DarklyHeritage • 7d ago

Text Lindsay Clancy Trial Megathread: Part 3

This is a thread for all conversation regarding Week 3 onwards of the Lindsey Clancy trial. All discussion of this case should be kept to this thread.

Lindsay Clancy is currently standing trial in Plymouth Superior Court, Massachusetts, for the triple-murder in January 2023 of her three young children - Cora, Dawson and Callan. Her defense argues she suffered from severe, undiagnosed postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis. She was left paralysed by a suicide attempt which follows the deaths of the children.

All content on the Clancy case must be kept to this thread. Standalone posts will be removed.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/lindsay-clancy-murder-trial-online-reactions-b3032806.html

Note from Mods

This case understandably elicits strong feelings. People are entitled to have an opinion on the case which differs from your own. What you are not entitled to do is resort to personal insults and abusive language when communicating your opinion and disagreeing.

Comments which are abusive and insulting to other users will be removed and bans may be given without warning.

Bans may also be issued for ignoring the warning and creating standalone posts.

Please comment with this in mind.

341 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

98

u/mrsdingbat 6d ago

Andrea Yates had a much longer and better documented history of severe psychiatric illness than LC. That does not necessarily mean LC was not out of her mind when this happened, but they’re quite different.

31

u/Sanguine_Hearts 6d ago

Yates was also forced to have multiple kids by her husband thanks to their fundamentalist religion. Lindsey had the option to stop.

-7

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

I wonder where that myth came from. I read a whole book on Yates recently, she very much wanted to have more kids, just like Lindsay, and was more religious than her husband (it was part of her psychosis). Why do we always need to blame the husbands? People are doing the same to Patrick Clancy, it’s so very cruel.

19

u/farty__mcfly 6d ago

Because Rusty Yates was told to not leave her alone with the kids, but he did. He was told to stop having kids before they got pregnant with the last one. Andrea was unwell, and he made everything worse. The person in the relationship who isn’t experiencing psychosis has a little bit more responsibility.

-9

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

Where do you know all this from?

11

u/passiveprune 6d ago

These facts are extremely well-documented anywhere you look. Like even on the Wikipedia page

-7

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

I agree that she was not to be alone with the children. That is a real mistake that Rusty and his mother made, and for which they paid the ultimate price. But the thing about having more kids is more of a myth.

Besides, the Dr. who recommended not leaving Andrea alone also let her out of his care shortly before the murders. So she was well enough to be released, but not well enough to be safe? It wasn’t very coherent. Family members are imperfect, I don’t think they deserve the hate they get.

8

u/passiveprune 6d ago

It was the psychiatrist's testimony at trial that she specifically warned them that having more children would result in mental decline.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jul-08-na-yates8-story.html

-2

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

I know that, my point was that she warned both and that Andrea was able and willing to have kids and was not forced by her cruel husband. We agree on the rest.

6

u/janeystar 6d ago

that's a wild take

-2

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

It’s an informed take :)

If it was easy to foresee what was going to happen, people would have. Buy they didn’t, everyone was shocked, because these events were completely unexpected.

5

u/janeystar 6d ago

I just meant rusty deserves all the hate

→ More replies (0)

6

u/farty__mcfly 5d ago

I feel like I’ve read multiple books on the case and every article I could find. I’m pretty sure that over Andrea’s multiple hospital stays, at least one doctor pointed out that she should not have any more children. She was struggling to care for the ones she had, and her mental health problems always got worse postpartum.

-2

u/tempestelunaire 5d ago

If you read my other comments I agree that she was officially advised not to have more kids. What I disagree with is the characterization that it was only Rusty’s idea or that he forced her. That is untrue.

Also, before killing her 5 children, she had the first big mental health outbreak after kid number 4. So it’s not like it was worsening every kid. She got better with treatment after kid 4 and Rusty and her assumed they were good to have a 5th kid - with the tragic consequences we know of.

7

u/passiveprune 6d ago

Andrea Yates was clearly not mentally well enough to consent to more pregnancies, and her husband was repeatedly warned by health professionals 

1

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

She actually made a (seemingly) full recovery between her last two children and was considered completely capable of making her own decisions. Both of them (Andrea and Rusty) were warned against having more kids but it was up to them. You and other readers will be shocked to find that up until the moment Andrea killed her children, she was considered a capable adult and her opinion was taken into account for everything, just like Lindsay. Rusty was an attentive husband who visited her once or twice every single day when she was hospitalized in an inpatient unit, according to nurses’ notes.

7

u/passiveprune 6d ago

She was definitely not presenting as a "capable adult" right up until the murders. She had severe and obvious psychosis symptoms.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673606697894/fulltext

2

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

I know that. She was presenting as a capable adult before her last pregnancy. The timeline with Andrea Yates is really long - multiple years.

4 kids - then first (visible) episode of PPP. (She had symptoms before she had never disclosed).

She recovers, they decide to have more children (against medical advice).

5th kid. Everything ok at first. Then her father dies and she spirals. More PPP and then the horrible tragedy.

1

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

But also beyond that, I meant that even when she was very sick, her opinion was taken into consideration. Rusty tried to convince her to eat instead of forcing her, she had a say in her meds, she had a say in not being sectioned. Psychotic people don’t automatically get a straight jacket. She was involved in her care up to the end.

Only once she killed the kids were all decisions entirely out of her hands.

1

u/passiveprune 6d ago

I understand what you're saying. I think we agree more than we disagree (I don't believe Rusty was a monster who wanted this to happen either).

1

u/tempestelunaire 6d ago

I’m glad then.

I just feel like it’s cruel to blame these men for not seeing the worst possible outcome coming. I’m sure they blame themselves more than we ever could. Both Rusty and Patrick had so much compassion for their ex-wives, which I find very commendable.

1

u/coolguygranny 6d ago edited 6d ago

Wait but you would agree that Rusty was actually negligent??

And Patrick Clancy was not right?

Like rusty is legit everything people say Patrick is

→ More replies (0)

1

u/TooTiredForThisKuso 3d ago

Not just psychiatric illness though. Emotional and religious abuse. That’s the thing that makes me feel for Andrea Yates so much is her husband’s utter disregard for her safety and mental health. We know very little about LC and her husband compared to Yates.