The online fundraiser supporting the parents of Lindsay Clancy has increased its financial target from $2 million to $3 million, after her closely watched Massachusetts murder trial ended in a mistrial. Brandee Mulligan, the organizer of the "Musgrove Family Fund" on GoFundMe, announced the increase on Friday. Mulligan cited the extension of the legal proceedings as the primary reason for the adjustment, noting that Mike and Paula Musgrove will remain displaced from their home indefinitely.
Newsweek contacted Mulligan via direct message on GoFundMe for comment. Created last month, the campaign was established to assist the Musgroves, who relocated from Connecticut to Massachusetts to remain near their daughter. According to the GoFundMe page, the couple has incurred substantial expenses over the past three years through continuous travel, hotel stays, and court attendance.
Mulligan emphasized that the campaign does not ask contributors to take a stance on the criminal case, its outcome, or Clancy herself. Instead, the appeal is framed as humanitarian relief for two parents managing severe emotional trauma alongside mounting financial burdens. "The purpose of this fund is to help Mike and Paula rebuild the financial stability they have sacrificed over these past three years," Mulligan wrote last month.
"The case will eventually reach its conclusion. Whatever that outcome is, Mike and Paula will still have to pick up the pieces of the lives they have put on hold to be there for their daughter. They should not have to face that future without the financial foundation they spent decades building." Currently, the GoFundMe has raised $1,170,642, with a recent anonymous contribution of $5,000 standing as the top donation.
Mike and Paula Musgrove are listed as the direct beneficiaries of the campaign. Mulligan stated she has no access to the funds and that Clancy's defense counsel is aware of the initiative. Following nearly six weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses and the presentation of hundreds of exhibits, the judge declared a mistrial after jurors said they remain unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
Clancy, 36, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her children, Cora, 5; Dawson, 3; and Callan, 8 months, in January 2023. She had pleaded not guilty, and her attorneys argued that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis at the time of the strangulation deaths and her attempted suicide. While jurors never disclosed their final vote in open court, notes discussed during proceedings suggested the panel was divided 11-1 in favor of acquittal before the mistrial was declared.
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