Patrick Clancy Carries a Grief Only One Man Understands

There is no support group for what happened to Patrick Clancy. The research on parents who survive what he survived barely exists, because so few ever have. But one man has — and his road map is at the center of this episode. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins Tony Brueski to examine the loneliest grief in true crime.

Shavaun starts where the pain starts: a father who came home to find his three children gone, taken by the woman he loved and built a family with. She explains why this loss breaks the grief playbook therapists rely on. The perpetrator and the co-mourner are the same person, the anger and the love have the same address, and the standard stages of grief have no chapter for it.

Then the pile-on. While Patrick relived that night on the witness stand, strangers online accused him of orchestrating it — allegations his attorneys have condemned as patently false, allegations that brought death threats to his new wife's door. Shavaun details what public blame does to private trauma, and why survivors of family tragedies so often become the internet's suspects.

The episode closes with Rusty Yates — the father who lost five children to Andrea Yates' psychosis in 2001 — and the hard-won advice he offered Patrick. Tony asks whether wisdom like that can actually hold a person up. Shavaun's answer is the most honest thing you'll hear about grief this year.

END LINKS:

Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292

Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1

Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod

DISCLAIMER:

This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

HASHTAGS:

#LindsayClancy #PatrickClancy #TrueCrime #LindsayClancyTrial #RustyYates #TrueCrimePodcast #TrueCrimeCommunity #HiddenKillers #Massachusetts #GriefSupport