Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Judge Blocks TikToker from Testifying in Lindsay Clancy Murder Trial | Crime Alert 08.20.26

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

A Massachusetts judge rules that a former psychiatric hospital worker who posted a viral TikTok will not be permitted to testify at Lindsay Clancy's trial. A California chiropractor receives a six-year prison sentence following his conviction for sexually abusing patients during treatment sessions. Minnesota authorities investigate a horrific murder-suicide at a daycare facility that left a mother, child, and the suspect's mother dead. Sydney Silvagni reports. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Sidney Silvani. A major legal ruling has come down in the high-profile murder trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her three young children to death inside their Duxbury home in January 2023. A former psychiatric hospital employee who published a viral TikTok video criticizing prosecutors and detailing conditions at the facility where Clancy was briefly committed will not be allowed to take the stand as a defense witness. During a voir dire hearing on Wednesday, August 19th, Judge William Sullivan ruled that Emily Thorndike, a licensed independent clinical social worker cannot testify before the jury. Defense attorney Kevin Redington

sought to add Thorndikey to the defense witness list after her nearly 10-minute video posted under the handle at Emily T. Therapy racked up over 600,000 likes. Thorndikey previously worked at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, where Clancy was admitted for several days in December 2022 following a severe mental health crisis. Although Thorndykee stopped working, at the facility the year prior, Reddington hired a private investigator to track her down after she claimed online that prosecutors had misrepresented the level of patient care and staffing levels at McLean Hospital during the holidays. In the viral video clip posted to TikTok, Thorndike challenged the prosecution's claims regarding doctor access and holiday staffing.

In general, there are around 23 patients on the unit at a time. And because of that, there are usually around four to five physicians in charge, we call them. four to five psychiatrists who there is one doctor who comes on the weekend in holidays and he or she sees every single patient on the unit okay and if you think about it there's a reason that the doctors who are there during the week are only assigned four to five patients because you cannot spend a long amount of time as a doctor with 23 different patients so the job of the weekend doctor as we call them the holiday doctor is literally to just go quickly check in with every patient it is not a lengthy meeting by any means. So this idea of the prosecution saying, well, she actually did see a doctor.

So that was kind of a lie. She saw a doctor. She didn't see her doctor. Despite Thorndike's detailed assertions on social media, prosecutors strongly objected to her testimony, emphasizing that she had been actively watching trial streams and was no longer employed at McLean Hospital when Clancy was admitted. Defense attorney Reddington insisted during the hearing that he was not trying to disparage McLean, declaring that the facility had done a good job of that themselves. Ultimately, Judge Sullivan cited with the prosecution, ruling that Thorndike's testimony offered limited value because official hospital records already document staffing levels and can be introduced into evidence directly. Clancy does not deny killing her three children with exercise bans, but her defense team

contends she is not criminally responsible due to severe postpartum psychosis and over-medication. More crime and justice news after this. Get Bell Pure Fiber Internet with Crave Netflix and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. In California, a former chiropractor has been ordered to serve time behind bars after abusing his professional authority to assault multiple female patients.

Ventura County District Attorney Eric Nasserenko announced on August 14th that 46-year-old Fernando Juarez-Gomez Jr. was sentenced to six years in state prison in Ventura County Superior Court. Gomez, who operated the now-closed Limitless Functional Therapy Clinic in Ventura, was convicted by a jury on June 24th of five felony counts of sexual battery involving four female victims, while also pleading guilty to a battery charge involving a fifth victim. According to details provided by the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, police detectives launched an investigation into Gomez in early 2024, after two female patients reported that he touched them inappropriately in areas unrelated to legitimate medical treatment. Investigators arrested Gomez at his clinic on March 21, 2024, prompting additional victims to come forward to the Ventura Police Department. Senior Deputy District Attorney Twyla Atmore stated that Gomez convinced these young women his methods would relieve their pain,

but instead touched the most intimate parts of their bodies for his own sexual gratification. The court affirmed aggravating factors showing Gomez exploited his position of trust. Turning to Minnesota, a tragedy has left the city of Hopkins in mourning, following a double murder suicide inside a residential daycare center. The Hopkins Police Department reports that 41-year-old daycare owner, Kristen Brown and her seven-year-old daughter, Evie Brown, were found dead inside the Brown Bear Daycare facility. Investigators believe Kristen's husband and Evie's father, 41-year-old Nathan Brown, fatally stabbed both victims with a screwdriver before dying from a self-inflicted

gunshot wound. According to court documents and search warrants, a parent arriving to drop off a child heard screams coming from inside the home. Upon entering through the back door, the parent witnessed Nathan attacking Kristen and Evie. The heroic parent immediately fled with three children and called 911. Arriving officers safely evacuated six additional children from the building, all of whom were physically unharmed. Investigators revealed that Kristen had issued a notice just two weeks earlier, announcing the daycare's closure due to relationship struggles with Nathan. Authorities in Burnsville, Minnesota have linked the tragedy to a secondary homicide 18 miles away, where Nathan's 78-year-old mother, Alice Brown, was also found stabbed to death in her home.

Family members express complete devastation in a public statement released by police, while the local community gathered for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims. For more crime and justice news, be sure to join us for crime stories with Nancy Grace on Fox 1, YouTube, Sirius XM, and now streaming on 2B. With this crime alert, I'm Sidney Solvomi. This is an I-Heart podcast. guaranteed human.