Lindsay Clancy killed her three young children and attempted suicide, and now the big question in court is whether severe postpartum mental illness means she isn’t criminally responsible — prosecutors say it was deliberate, her defense says she was mentally ill, and a jury’s gonna sort it out. I’ve noticed every woman I know is glued to this trial, dissecting every witness and clip like it’s the hottest new show. We talk about why: researchers call it threat assessment—study scary stuff from your couch so you don’t get blindsided later—and yeah, that actually makes sense. But also, true crime has turned into continuing ed: people folding laundry while listening to triple-homicide reconstructions and falling asleep to narrators who sound like warm maple syrup. And of course, fans suddenly think they’re detectives—Brenda’s got a cork board and insists on the suspect’s Wendy’s timeline—leaving poor husbands like Gary sweating and rehearsing their 7:14 alibis. I poke fun, I roll my eyes, but honestly, watching how this case blew up into a national obsession says a lot about us and what we binge when we want to feel a little smarter, safer, and way too nosy.
Takeaways:
Good morning.
Speaker A:It's Haystack.
Speaker A:And I've got to say, at this point, every.
Speaker A:I think every woman I know is following this Lindsay Clancy trial right now.
Speaker A:They know every little thing about it.
Speaker A:I don't.
Speaker A:I hear Lindsay Clancy, and I was that someone that was on Dancing with the Stars.
Speaker A:Don't keep up with all this stuff.
Speaker A:But it is now that I've dug into it a little bit.
Speaker A:An incredibly tragic case a few years ago.
Speaker A:Clancy killed her three young children and then attempted to take her own life.
Speaker A:And prosecutors in defense agree that she killed them.
Speaker A:The defense isn't arguing that she did it, although a lot of the public thinks that the husband did it, the now ex husband.
Speaker A:The question, though, is whether she was criminally responsible.
Speaker A:That's the question being weighed in the court of law.
Speaker A:Her defense says that she was suffering from severe postpartum mental illness, and prosecutors say that she knew exactly what she was doing and it was deliberate.
Speaker A:And so now that's.
Speaker A:That's all for the jury to decide.
Speaker A:Of course not.
Speaker A:It's not for TikTok to decide.
Speaker A:It's not for Facebook.
Speaker A:It's not for your coworker who listened to three podcasts and is suddenly a forensic psychiatrist.
Speaker A:No, it's the jury's job.
Speaker A:But the case has kind of become bigger than the one trial.
Speaker A:Women are debating motherhood, postpartum mental health, medical care, marriage, responsibility.
Speaker A:And somehow in the modern world, everybody's algorithm is showing them a completely different trial.
Speaker A:One woman says, did you see what the psychiatrist testified?
Speaker A:Another one says, no, but I saw a lady in her car explain it for 47 minutes.
Speaker A:My question is, why.
Speaker A:Why are women so.
Speaker A:I'm going to get so much hate for this, but I do think this is a gender thing.
Speaker A:Women seem to be so obsessed with true crime.
Speaker A:Like every girl I know watches investigation, discovery all the time.
Speaker A:Researchers are actually saying, as I've dug into this, it's a form of threat assessment.
Speaker A:You study dangerous people in dangerous situations from.
Speaker A:From the safety of your own home so you can recognize warning signs later.
Speaker A:And that does sound kind of reasonable.
Speaker A:But a lot of people have turned it into continuing education.
Speaker A:You're.
Speaker A:You're folding laundry while listening to a detailed reconstruction of a triple homicide.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:You fall asleep to murder podcasts that were narrated by a man whose voice sounds like warm maple syrup.
Speaker A:Her body was discovered beneath the floorboards.
Speaker A:Meanwhile, your husband's lying next to you thinking, could we.
Speaker A:Could we put on some ocean sounds or something?
Speaker A:Then the podcast says the victim's spouse immediately became the prime suspect.
Speaker A:And suddenly the wife looks at him and says, that's interesting, Gary.
Speaker A:I guess I should have said, that's interesting, Gary.
Speaker A:True crime fans also believe they can solve any case.
Speaker A:The police have detectives and DNA labs and surveillance footage and forensic.
Speaker A:Forensic pathologists.
Speaker A:But Brenda noticed something weird in episode four.
Speaker A:Why did he say he went to Wendy's at 7:14?
Speaker A:I don't know, Brenda.
Speaker A:Maybe he wanted a Frosty.
Speaker A:No, people who want Frosty say around seven.
Speaker A:Brenda's got a cork board.
Speaker A:What is it about true crime?
Speaker A:Is it.
Speaker A:Is it the mystery, the psychology, the safety lessons?
Speaker A:I. I mean, I've had a few true crime podcasts that I've tried to listen to when, when my female friends.
Speaker A:Oh, you.
Speaker A:And they've.
Speaker A:None of them have been that intriguing to me because in the end, the person that you.
Speaker A:That you assumed did it, did it.
Speaker A:Men watch football and think we could coach the team, though, so I don't guess this is much different.
Speaker A:Women watch true crime and think they could solve the murder.
Speaker A:And only one of those hobbies makes Gary nervous, to be honest.
Speaker A:By episode six, he's not even watching the show anymore.
Speaker A:He's sitting perfectly still on the couch thinking, I, I need to make sure that Brenda knows exactly where I was at at 7:14.