Patrick Clancy broke his silence in his first interview since his ex-wife Lindsay Clancy's murder trial ended in a mistrial, revealing he still speaks to the three children she strangled, and asking them for help.
The 38-year-old father sat down with CBS correspondent Ross Douthat for a segment set to air Sunday night on "60 Minutes." A preview clip aired Thursday. In it, Douthat asked Clancy whether he still talks to his children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and eight-month-old Callan, all killed in January 2023 in the basement of the family's Duxbury, Massachusetts, home. Clancy's answer was direct.
"I talk to them."
Asked what he tells them, Clancy said: "Help me. All the time." Two words and five syllables that carry the full weight of what one man lost, and what no court proceeding has been able to resolve.
Lindsay Clancy, 36, a former delivery nurse, admitted she strangled all three children. Her defense lawyers argued she was suffering from postpartum psychosis and could not be held accountable. The case drew intense national attention.
The jury deliberated for more than 38 hours over seven days. Eleven jurors declined to convict. A lone holdout refused to vote for acquittal. Plymouth Judge William Sullivan received notification that the panel could not reach a unanimous verdict, and the trial collapsed into a mistrial.
Patrick Clancy had testified during the trial, describing Lindsay as a mother who would make up songs with the children and cook them special meals like green eggs and ham. That testimony came from a man who had already buried three kids and was now being asked to help a jury understand the woman who killed them.
Questions about the holdout juror's reasoning surfaced quickly. The foreperson later revealed details about what happened inside the deliberation room, adding public scrutiny to an already fractured outcome.
Losing three children was not the end of Patrick Clancy's ordeal. His attorney, Howard Cooper, told Boston 25 News that Clancy has been subjected to a sustained campaign of defamation and threats since the trial.
Cooper did not hold back:
"Over the past months, Patrick Clancy and his family have been subjected to a relentless, escalating and destructive defamation campaign."
He went further, identifying the sources of the campaign, not anonymous internet trolls, but people with platforms and financial incentives.
"This campaign of misinformation has been launched and promoted by minor celebrities, so-called influencers and outright conspiracy theorists who appear intent on boosting their own social media profiles and potential profit by publishing what they know to be outright falsehoods that Patrick was somehow involved in the death of his young children and other vile claims."
Cooper left the door open to pursuing legal action against those responsible. He did not name specific individuals or accounts, and no formal legal action has been announced. But the message was clear: a man who lost his children to an admitted killing is now spending money on lawyers to defend himself against people manufacturing lies for clicks.
The mistrial left Lindsay Clancy's case in legal limbo. Prosecutors have not publicly stated whether they will retry her. Meanwhile, Clancy's defense team moved quickly on a different front, hiring a lawyer who specializes in double jeopardy arguments to try to block any retrial entirely.
The case even reached the White House. When supporters petitioned for a federal pardon, President Trump declined, calling it a "state situation", a straightforward reading of the constitutional boundaries that separate federal and state criminal jurisdiction.
Patrick Clancy, now 38, has remarried. He lives in New York. The full "60 Minutes" interview will air Sunday night, and whatever he says in it will land in a public square already poisoned by conspiracy theories and social media profiteering.
Three children are dead. Their mother admitted to killing them. A jury split 11-1 and produced no verdict. Online grifters turned the grieving father into a villain for profit. And the legal system has yet to deliver a final answer on accountability.
Patrick Clancy still talks to Cora, Dawson, and Callan. He asks them for help. When every institution around a man has failed to deliver justice or even basic decency, that is about all a father has left.
