Psychologist Testifies Clancy Had Bipolar Disorder Before Children's Deaths

A forensic psychologist testified on Monday that Lindsay Clancy was suffering from bipolar disorder and experiencing anxiety, depression, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts in the weeks leading up to the deaths of her three children.

Dr. Kirk Heilbrun, who evaluated Clancy over three days this year, said he reached a different conclusion than Dr. Avram Mack, a forensic psychiatrist who testified Friday that Clancy did not have bipolar disorder or psychosis.

Both experts appeared as rebuttal witnesses for prosecutors in the trial, which centers on Clancy's mental state when she strangled her children — 5-year-old Callan, 3-year-old Dawson, and 8-month-old Cora — before jumping from a second-story window in January 2023. Closing arguments are expected later this week.

Clancy's defense attorney, Kevin Reddington, does not dispute that she killed the children. He argues she should not be held criminally responsible because she suffered from postpartum psychosis, a rare condition linked to stress, sleep deprivation, and hormonal changes after childbirth. He also said she had bipolar disorder and that antidepressants worsened her condition.

Prosecutors contend the former labor and delivery nurse planned the killings and sent her husband out of the house by asking him to pick up medicine and dinner.

Heilbrun said he struggled to diagnose bipolar 2 disorder, which involves cycles of depression and less intense hypomania, because of the range of symptoms in her records. He noted that at a psychiatric hospital two weeks before the killings, Clancy never reported hallucinations or suicidal thoughts — her main concern was insomnia.

Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. The trial has featured starkly contradictory expert testimony on whether she was experiencing postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings.