Nanny says Lindsay Clancy appeared to be a loving mother before killing her 3 children

Nanny says Lindsay Clancy appeared to be a loving mother before killing her 3 children 1 of 5 | Elaine Rossi, the nanny to Clancy children, enters the courtroom to be a witness during Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial at Plymouth-superior-court" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="172188" data-entity-type="location">Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool) 2 of 5 | Lindsay Clancy waits for the judge to call a prospective jury member into court in her murder trial where she is charged in the 2023 killing of her three children, Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Plymouth-superior-court" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="172188" data-entity-type="location">Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) 3 of 5 | Lindsay Clancy enters the courtroom after a short break in her murder trial at Plymouth-superior-court" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="172188" data-entity-type="location">Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool) CORRECTION: Source is The Boston Globe, not The Boston Herald. 4 of 5 | Lindsay Clancy grabs a tissue after witness Elaine Rossi, the nanny to the Clancy children, testified during her murder trial at Plymouth-superior-court" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="172188" data-entity-type="location">Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via AP, Pool) CORRECTION: Source is The Boston Globe, not The Boston Herald. 5 of 5 | A page from a notebook kept by Lindsay Clancy in which she documents her medications and feelings during Clancy’s murder trial at Plymouth-superior-court" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="172188" data-entity-type="location">Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool) By Michael Casey Updated 9:00 PM MESZ, August 5, 2026 Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Months before Lindsay Clancy strangled her three children, she lost significant weight, couldn’t sleep and complained of postpregnancy mental health issues, the family’s former nanny testified at her murder trial Wednesday. But the nanny never worried the Massachusetts mother might be a danger to her children or to herself. “I observed a wonderful mom who loved her kids,” Elaine Rossi told the jury on the seventh day of the trial in Plymouth. “She was concerned about their safety, and Callan eating and sleeping. She was a wonderful mother.” Clancy’s defense says she was a loving mother who was overmastered by postpartum psychosis, a dangerous psychiatric condition that afflicts a small proportion of women after childbirth and affects their hold on reality. Prosecutors contend that she acted intentionally on Jan. 24, 2023, and should be held criminally responsible for the deaths of Callan, Dawson and Cora Clancy, who ranged in age from 8 months to 5 years. EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. ___ Lindsay Clancy’s diary chronicled desperation and ‘brain fog’ before she killed her 3 kids 4 MIN READ 94 Lindsay Clancy goes on trial over whether postpartum psychosis drove her to kill her 3 children 2 MIN READ 14 ‘She killed the kids!’ 911 call from Lindsay Clancy’s husband brings tears to the courtroom 2 MIN READ 14 Rossi was hired in September 2022, a few months after Callan was born, and let go in December after Clancy, 35, decided not to return to work. Rossi said she wasn’t told why Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, chose to remain at home. She testified Wednesday about her time with the Clancy family, describing Cora as a “girly-girl” who loved arts and crafts. Three-year-old Dawson was “full of energy, rambunctious, funny, silly.” Callan was the “sweetest, happiest baby.” The defense sought to portray Clancy as a doting mother who acknowledged her mental health difficulties. Prosecutors likely hope the jury will see a mom who wasn’t impaired by her mental health. Rossi testified that she saw prescription medicine bottles in the house, and that Clancy “shared with me she had postpartum and couldn’t sleep,” and had taken to sleeping in the basement. In her journals during that time, Clancy indicated she was struggling with anxiety and feeling overwhelmed by motherhood. Both the prosecution and defense read excerpts from her diary to the jury Monday, where she catalogued an ever-shifting lineup of psychiatric prescriptions, as well as thoughts of suicide. Clancy remains paralyzed from the waist down after jumping from her home’s second-story window on the night of the killings. Clancy wrote about her struggles to get newborn Callan to sleep, and constant worries of his being sick. She also expressed concerns about going back to work, not being able to breastfeed, and feeling disconnected from her children and her then-husband. “I’m so desperate to get a mental break from taking care of everyone that my mind is trying to find something physically wrong with me,” she wrote in a Nov. 18, 2022, entry. “I have crazy brain fog. I feel like I can’t make a plan,” she wrote in another, undated entry. “I live moment to moment waiting for the next nap time.” Clancy’s lawyers don’t dispute that she killed the children. But in the criminal trial and a medical malpractice lawsuit, her attorneys say she had bipolar disorder that wasn’t fully diagnosed until after the killings. Her attorneys say her condition seemed to worsen on the psychiatric medications, some of them problematic for bipolar patients. If convicted of murder, Lindsay Clancy faces life in prison without parole. If found not guilty due to a lack of criminal responsibility, she would be committed to a state mental health facility. Michael Casey Casey writes about the environment, housing and inequality for The Associated Press. He lives in Boston. twitter mailto