In the wake of Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial and six days of fruitless jury deliberation, the national response has ranged from solidarity to hatred for the defendant.
Clancy, 36, has admitted to fatally strangling her three children — Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, 8 months — at her Massachusetts home in January 2023. She then slashed her wrists and neck and jumped out of a second-floor window, leaving her paralyzed.
Her attorneys don’t deny she killed the children, arguing instead she was in the throes of post-partum psychosis and extreme mental illness, and isn’t criminally responsible for their deaths.
The jury was sent home Thursday after yet another day without a verdict, due to return Friday morning.
Without verdicts or fulfilling answers, the moms of TikTok attempt to fill the void.
Some hold their babies while crying and quoting from Clancy’s journals. Others pretend to hurt their babies.
Wyoming Moms Speak Out
In Thursday interviews with Cowboy State Daily, three high-profile Wyoming moms condemned such grisly joking about kids and other harrowing performances related to Clancy’s case.
Two said they’re grateful for the spotlight this case shines on post-partum depression and psychosis.
And they gave differing ideas about Clancy’s case and trial.
Cathy Holman, who runs a well-known mom blog Prairie Wife In Heels and successfully pushed this year for tougher legislation against child groomers, reflected with shock to the darker, Clancy-styled TikToks.
“That scares me,” she said. “And I’ve had some hard stuff … Vertigo so bad from stress once, I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get the baby and sit with the baby on the floor — because I was afraid to drop the baby.”
Holman said the nature of social media pushes people more toward negativity and anger, as the culture and commenters tilt against expressions of joy, as if they’re boasts.
“I just worry that people are emphasizing so much of the hard and forgetting the joy,” said Holman. “And that concerns me. Because (motherhood) is a mixture of it.”
Holman said she’ll post content about how proud she is of her kids, or a joyful event, and she’s surprised to find people take it as a boast or an unjust comparison with others. This kind of reception discourages more negativity from people and content creators, she said.
On the other hand, Holman said she’s glad to see the Clancy case spotlighting on post-partum depression and psychosis. She said she hopes it drives people to check on other people and help them.
She reflected on the 2025 case in which a Byron mom killed her four daughters, then herself, with a firearm. The late mother’s husband told Cowboy State Daily she had post-partum depression and other severe mental conditions, and had been taking ketamine.
Her family is suing her mental-health provider.
“They get dropped — the ball gets dropped by medical professionals, by those around them that don’t understand the severity of it, and tragedies happen,” said Holman of women with post-partum issues generally.
But, said Holman of Clancy, “If she did do it, she needs to be held accountable — post-partum or not.”
Holman reflected on a bout of post-partum depression she endured after giving birth to her fifth child.
She went for a run. “And I was looking at the ditch on our dirt road, and I was like, ‘I think I just want to lay down here and never get up again,’” she recalled.
She said she was able to discuss the problem with her husband and they reordered their lives to address the problem. But even that took overcoming barriers, Holman said.
Let The System Work
Desiree Tinoco, who runs the Missing People of Wyoming group dedicated to helping track missing people, is a mother of two. She urged the public not to armchair quarterback this case.
She stressed that Clancy didn’t plead guilty and hasn’t, as of this writing, been convicted.
“It’s not for the public to decide if she’s innocent or guilty,” said Tinoco.
She pointed to issues with the investigation, inconsistencies in Lindsay Clancy’s ex-husband’s testimony, and other evidentiary disputes.
“That investigation, unfortunately, was botched,” said Tinoco, adding that the case wouldn’t have yielded so much speculation if the investigation was done correctly.
“Everyone can be armchair warriors and pretend they a have a degree in something other than raging on the internet,” said Tinoco. “But we don’t know. There’s a lot of confusion out there.”
“As far as people joking about hurting their children,” she added, “I think that’s absolutely disgusting.”
Unsolved Wyoming
Renee Nelson, who is a true-crime podcaster of Unsolved Wyoming, teacher at Laramie County Community College and a mother of two, told Cowboy State Daily any joking by content creators about hurting their kids is distasteful.
Like Holman, she said she’s appreciated seeing women able to talk openly about post-partum struggles and relate to each other.
“It’s something we’re openly talking about more, because we recognize the importance of it potentially helping other women,” said Nelson.
But, she added, “there comes a point where the internet gets so saturated with reels and conversation that it becomes like, not a real thing anymore. Then you get these kind of weird, parody, off-color jokes that are a little off-putting.”
Nelson also observed “a huge divide” between people voicing outright disgust for Clancy, and people who empathize with her.
Like Tinoco, Nelson voiced skepticism, particularly toward Patrick Clancy’s testimony on cross-examination.
But, she added, “Ultimately she’s the one who’s on trial, not him.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
