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The Massachusetts mom accused of strangling her two young kids and trying to kill her infant before jumping out a window had revealed online months earlier that she was struggling with her mental health after giving birth.
Lindsay Clancy, 32, opened up about her battle with postpartum anxiety on Facebook in July, months before the shocking violence at her home in Duxbury on Tuesday, the Boston Globe reported.
Six weeks after the birth of her third child, the mom of three shared another post about how she felt “dialed in” again.
She said she was focusing on exercise, nutrition and her mindset — noting “it has made all the difference,” the outlet reported.
The post is not visible publicly on the Facebook page.
Sources have told CBS Boston that authorities are considering the possibility that Clancy was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, allegedly killed her daughter, Cora, 5, and her son Dawson, 3, and tried to kill her 8-month-old son.
She remains hospitalized after jumping out a second-floor window at her Summer Street home, about 35 miles southeast of Boston, in what authorities said was an attempted suicide.
Clancy faces two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation or suffocation, and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, officials said.
Firefighters responding to a 911 call from Clancy’s husband, Patrick, discovered their three children “unconscious, with obvious signs of trauma,” officials said, the Globe reported.
Cora and Dawson were pronounced dead at a hospital, while the infant boy — who turned 8 months old on Thursday — was flown to Boston Children’s Hospital, where he remains hospitalized.
“I cannot begin to fathom the pain, the depths of pain” the family must be feeling, said Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz, who did not provide information about a possible motive.
“We are shocked and saddened to learn of this unthinkable tragedy,” Mass General said in a statement. “We extend our deepest sympathies to all those affected by these devastating events.”
Clancy, who graduated from Lyman Hall High School in Wallingford, Connecticut, and Patrick were married in 2016 in Southington, Connecticut, the paper reported,
She earned a biology degree from Quinnipiac University in 2012 and holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, the Globe said.
In her yearbook profile, Clancy wrote that “life is messy sometimes,” according to the outlet.
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“No matter how hard you fight it, you fall. And it’s scary. Except there’s an upside to free falling. It’s the chance you give your friends to catch you,” she reportedly wrote.
In 2018, the couple bought their home at 47 Summer St. for $500,000, according to town records cited by the Globe.
Clancy appeared online to be a doting mom who was living an idyllic life in the suburban community.
“I feel like the luckiest mama in the whole wide world,” she wrote. In a later post she said: “So unbelievably thankful for this family and life.”
On Wednesday, an SUV parked outside the home had a “Baby on Board” sticker affixed to the back window, the Globe said.
Clancy’s father-in-law, Christopher Clancy, declined to comment.
“We’re all heartbroken right now,” he told the paper.
Residents expressed their shock about the deaths and the charges against their neighbor.
“It’s very sad. It’s sort of like, ‘How can this happen around here?’” Tom McGrath told the Globe, and offered his prayers for the family.
“Especially for the baby — and prayers for what she was going through to actually do this,” he added, referring to Clancy.
Duxbury Fire Chief Rob Reardon said support services were being offered to first responders who came upon the horrific scene.
Town Manager René Read appeared emotional as he told reporters that he works closely with the first responders.
“I know a little bit of what they go through, but when they tell me it’s the worst they’ve ever seen, it’s going to have an impact,” Read said, according to the Globe.
With Post wires
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