LIVE: Forensic psychologist to testify about the voices Lindsay Clancy heard before killing her kids

ByPeter Charalambous and Mason Leib ABCNews logo

Wednesday, August 19, 2026 2:04PM

LIVE: Lindsay Clancy murder trial enters day 16

A forensic psychologist who has met with Lindsay Clancy approximately sixty times over the last three years is set to return to the witness stand this morning, as defense attorney Kevin Reddington seeks to prove that an episode of postpartum psychosis led Clancy to kill her three children in 2023.

Clinical and forensic psychologist Paul Zeizel offered key testimony in Clancy's defense on Tuesday when he described a phone conversation he facilitated with Clancy about her then-husband Patrick about two weeks after the killings.

"She told Patrick that she loved him very much. She was unable to express a lot of emotion, but she expressed love for him, and she had said that she heard a male voice ordering her, telling her that she didn't have any choice, but she had to kill her children and then kill herself," said Zeizel, who visited Clancy in her hospital room and allowed her to use his speaker phone.

Zeizel returns to the witness stand Wednesday morning to resume his testimony, and he is expected to face cross examination.

According to Reddington, prosecutors have suggested that Zeizel planted the idea Clancy was heard a voice telling her to kill her children during their first meeting - two days before the call with Patrick.

Clinical and forensic psychiatrist Donald Condie also testified in court Tuesday as an expert for the defense.

Condie, who did not treat Lindsay Clancy, testified that he had reviewed medical records from Lindsay Clancy's former psychiatrists, assessing the different symptoms observed by the different medical providers who did treat her, and said they suggested the mother of three had reported experiencing symptoms of postpartum depression leading to postpartum psychosis prior to the killings.

Defense lawyers have argued that those providers did not properly communicate with one another and misdiagnosed Lindsay Clancy.

Condie pointed to medical records that stated Lindsay Clancy had shown signs of dissociation and brain fog and had experienced auditory hallucinations in December 2022 -- the month before she killed her children -- suggesting her medical providers may have missed critical warning signs.

Lindsay Clancy had reported at the time that she was unable to sleep, felt she was losing her connection with her children, was unable to feel emotions, and appeared out of touch with reality, he said.

"Dissociation can mean that people feel like things around them are not real," Condie testified. "At times, she reported that she had heard a voice."

On cross examination, Condie acknowledged that Clancy may have not reported all her symptoms over concerns about losing access to her children or risking her medical license.

Lindsay Clancy and her defense attorney Kevin Reddington listen to testimony from her former mother-in-law., Tuesday Aug. 18, 2026 in Plymouth, Mass.
Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool

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Expert details the extent of Lindsay Clancy's injuries after suicide attempt

Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, a forensic pathologist, testified later on Tuesday about Lindsay Clancy's injuries following her suicide attempt the night she killed her children.

According to Laposata, Lindsay Clancy's body temperature dropped to 82 degrees Fahrenheit after she cut herself and jumped out of a second-floor bedroom window.

"Her low body temperature came from lying on the hard frozen ground, which would be 32 degrees [Fahrenheit]," Laposata said. "She lost the ability to control her body temperature below that level, so that means all her blood vessels just dilate, and they just lose heat to the atmosphere."

Laposata, who also testified in Karen Read's highly publicized murder trial, told jurors that Lindsay Clancy also suffered a traumatic burst fracture -- a type of spinal fracture -- after she landed on the icy ground. The injury left her paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair, Laposata said.

"What she got from that is what we call a characteristic burst fracture or a Jefferson fracture, and this is a fracture that we see with people who hit their head on, like, if they take a dive into a swimming pool and they hit their head on the bottom," she said.

Laposata also said she observed multiple "hesitation marks" -- incisions that cut through the skin and blood vessels -- on Lindsay Clancy.

"There was bleeding also from the wounds on the wrist, and there were numerous attempts at cutting the skin, which we call hesitation marks, which are a classic finding in suicide attempts," she testified.

Susan Clancy says former daughter-in-law was a 'very nurturing' mother

Like other witnesses who have testified in the trial so far, Susan Clancy described Lindsay Clancy on Tuesday as a devoted mother who loved her three children.

"She was very nurturing, very loving," she said.

During Susan Clancy's cross examination, jurors heard messages between Lindsey Clancy and her former mother-in-law, with the former expressing concerns about the medications she had been prescribed.

Jurors have heard previous testimony about how Lindsay Clancy was prescribed 13 different psychiatric medications in the four months before she killed her children.

"I'm not okay, and I'm terrified of taking meds tonight," Clancy wrote in a message dated Nov. 30, 2022. "I was never ever this depressed. It was brought on by the medication."

In another message, Lindsay Clancy raised concerns that she was becoming dependent on Ativan -- a benzodiazepine medication used to treat anxiety and insomnia, among other conditions -- and that her doctors were not addressing the issue.

"I just deep down inside of me feel that I've developed a benzo dependence after just two weeks of using it, and I feel like no one is hearing that and addressing it, and we keep throwing different meds in the mix that aren't really addressing the real issue," Lindsay Clancy wrote.

Prosecutors also attempted to highlight that Susan Clancy tried to help Lindsay Clancy figure out her medications.

"There were a lot of medications," Susan Clancy testified.

Throughout her testimony on Tuesday, Susan Clancy emphasized that Lindsay Clancy's family was aware she was struggling and tried to assist her in finding help.

"Lindsay was struggling," she said. "We were all very concerned."

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