Lindsay Clancy’s Apple Watch reveals key information in lead up to children's deaths
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide and the death of children, which some readers may find distressing.
Details about Lindsay Clancy's internet searches and Apple Watch data have been shared in court.
Monday (17 August) saw the prosecution call its final witnesses in the trial against Clancy, who's been accused of killing her three young children before trying to take her own life.
Clancy's legal team do not dispute that the 36-year-old killed her children - Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan on 24 January 2023, but argue that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and therefore cannot be held criminally responsible.
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Ian Whiffin was the last witness to be called by the prosecution, with the digital forensics expert sharing information retrieved from Clancy's Apple Watch and mobile phone.
What data was recovered from Lindsay Clancy's Apple Watch?
According to Whiffin's testimony, which was streamed live on CourtTV, data retrieved from Clancy's Apple Watch suggested that it stopped recording activity at 5:23pm on 24 January, while the last recorded movement on her phone showed that she'd climbed a flight of stairs at 5:33pm.
The data, presented by the prosecution, was then disputed by Clancy's attorney Kevin Reddington, who questioned its reliability.
"After 5:38pm, it's pretty much blackout," Reddington, asked Whiffin, to which he replied: "Yes, not until the phone was seized by police, I believe."
Whiffin then noted there was 'other activity' recorded on the devices, but added that this was 'after the incident'.
"It wasn't usage, it wasn't health data," Whiffin said. "It would've been things like incoming calls."
Data recovered from the phone revealed that Lindsay's phone was last unlocked at 5:13pm, while the handset received two unanswered calls from Clancy's then-husband Patrick, at 5:33pm and 6:09pm respectively.
According to a report from PEOPLE, it was previously suggested that Patrick had returned to the family home just after 6pm. It was here that he found Clancy in their front garden - after she'd jumped out of a window - while the bodies of their children were in the basement.
Reddington then presented data which suggests that 'health data' was recorded on Clancy's device the following day between 7am and 8am, suggesting that '47 metres' had been travelled at this time.
However, Reddington then disputed this data entry, saying: "If I tell you sir that Lindsay Clancy was in a coma, laying in a bed with tubes coming out of her body and certainly not wearing her Apple Watch... How did that happen?"
"I'd suggest the data came from the phone rather than the watch," Whiffin replied.
Responding to Reddington's cross-examination, state prosecutors asked Whiffin if it was possible that the movement data came from the police carrying the device to and from the evidence room. "Whenever the device is turned on, it will record steps walked consistently regardless of who's carrying it," he said.
Clancy's internet searches also presented
Elsewhere in Whiffin's testimony, Clancy's web history was also presented to the court.
This included searches regarding depression and suicidal ideation as well as various queries for medication side effects and interactions.
Timeline of Lindsay Clancy case
May 2022
Lindsay gives birth to her third child, Callan.
She’s open about her postpartum struggles with her other two kids on social media. Six weeks after Callan’s birth, she posts that she’s feeling ‘dialled in’ while focusing on exercise, nutrition, and mindset, and ‘it has made all the difference’.
September 2022
As the end of her maternity leave nears, Lindsay, who works as a labour and delivery nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, starts to experience anxiety about returning to work.
She visits two different psychiatrists and receives a diagnosis of generalised anxiety disorder.
Lindsay is prescribed several different psychiatric medications.
October 2022
According to court docs, she writes in a note on her phone: “I think I sort of resent my other children because they prevent me from treating Cal like my first baby. And I know that’s not fair to them. I know that. I was feeling so depressed last evening when Cora and Dawson came home from school, I know it runs off on them, so we had a pretty rough evening, I want to feel love and connection with all my kids.”
December 2022
Lindsay undergoes an evaluation at the Women and Infants Hospital Centre for Women’s Behavioural Health. She is not diagnosed with postpartum depression, prosecutors say.
Lindsay’s husband Patrick tells police she is having suicidal thoughts and thoughts of harming their children, according to his testimony in court.
1-5 January, 2023
Lindsay admits herself to McLean Hospital for psychiatric treatment. She is discharged after five days as clinicians do not believe she poses an imminent danger to herself or others, prosecutors say.
22 January, 2023
Lindsay, Patrick, Cora and Dawson have dinner at family friend Kyle Carney’s home. Kyle later tells police that Lindsay ‘seemed fairly normal’.
23 January, 2023
According to prosecutors, Lindsay pens a note on her phone which says she has ‘a touch of postpartum anxiety’ about going back to work.
24 January, 2023
Prosecutors allege the following took place this day:
Morning: Lindsay takes Cora to a scheduled paediatrician appointment. After returning home, they play in the snow with Dawson. She sends photos of the kids to Patrick and her mom.
4:02pm: Lindsay searches for ‘kids Miralax’ (a laxative) on her phone, and 11 minutes later looks up ‘take out 3v’, referring to restaurant ThreeV in Plymouth. She uses Apple Maps to calculate how long it would take to drive from the family’s home to ThreeV.
4:47pm: Lindsay rings a CVS in Kingston to ask if they have any Miralax in stock. A manager tells her they don’t, but they do have similar medications.
The manager later tells authorities that she did not slur her words or sound impaired during the call.
4:35pm: Lindsay texts Patrick, who is working from home: “Any chance you want to do takeout from 3V … I didn’t cook anything … It’s been a long day.”
Patrick says yes, and Lindsay asks him to ‘check the menu when you can’.
5:10pm: Lindsay calls ThreeV to place the order.
5:15pm: Lindsay allegedly texts Patrick: “Pedialax liquid stool softener.” He then leaves to pick up the medication.
5:33pm: When Patrick arrives at CVS, he rings Lindsay, but she doesn’t pick up. She rings back one minute later and confirms the medication.
5:54pm: Patrick gets to ThreeV, pays for the food and leaves.
6:09pm: Patrick returns home. “The first thing he noticed was the silence,” prosecutors say. “He did not see or hear the defendant or the children.”
Patrick calls for his wife but gets no response. He discovers their second-floor bedroom is locked. Patrick eventually manages to get in the room but sees blood on the floor. He runs outside and finds Lindsay lying on the ground, according to prosecutors.
6:11pm: Prosecutors say that Patrick rings 911 and Lindsay is saying: “I tried to kill myself.”
He is then said to ask Lindsay: “Where are the kids?” She responds: “In the basement.”
While on the call, Patrick goes down to the basement and is heard ‘screaming in agony’,
Cora and Callan are discovered on the floor of the den. Dawson is found in his dad’s home office.
When officers arrive at the scene, Patrick alleges: “She killed the kids.”
Lindsay is taken to hospital, where she is treated for injuries that leave her paralysed below the waist. The three children are also rushed to hospital.
7:28pm: Cora and Dawson are pronounced dead. Callan is medically flown to another children’s hospital.
25 January, 2023
Police issue Lindsay an arrest warrant, charging her with two counts of murder, three counts of strangulation or suffocation, and three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
27 January, 2023
Callan is pronounced dead at 11.18am.
According to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sprague, Lindsay later wakes up and uses a whiteboard to ask: “Do I need an attorney?”
6 February, 2023
While in the presence of a psychologist hired by her lawyer, Lindsay calls Patrick and tells him she had a ‘moment of psychosis’ and heard ‘a man’s voice telling her to kill the kids and kill herself’ after he left on January 24.
7 February, 2023
On the day of her arraignment, Lindsay’s attorney says that she’s still suicidal. She pleads not guilty to three counts of murder.
October 2024
Patrick asks the public to forgive Lindsay, telling The New Yorker: “I wasn’t married to a monster - I was married to someone who got sick.”
January 2026
Lindsay and Patrick file a civil lawsuit, accusing medical providers of not properly diagnosing, treating and monitoring her for a ‘severe postpartum psychiatric condition’.
9 July, 2026
The Plymouth County District Attorney's Office says the three counts of strangulation would be subsumed into the murder charges.
27 July, 2026
Lindsay’s murder trial begins.
Topics: US News
Brenna Cooper