9/20/2026: Patrick Clancy, AI Data Centers, Shergar Where Are You?

0:07Ross Douthat:For the last few months, the Lindsay Clancy trial has become a national obsession. Did you ask Lindsay why she did it? I asked her if she remembered it. Tonight you'll hear from the father, Patrick Clancy, for the first time outside the courtroom. I try not to think about that night very often. data centers have become the symbol of america's unease with big tech how dare you we are struggling to pay our bills an issue uniting both democrats and republicans ahead of the midterms i'm not going to vote red or blue i'm going to vote for the candidate that is willing to speak up and put up and do something to help us with this issue and they're off shurgar was one of the great racehorses in the world until he was kidnapped.

0:58Ross Douthat:What would the IRA want with a horse? It remains one of sport's enduring unsolved mysteries. Well, Chargo wasn't any horse. He was the most expensive horse in the world. I'm Leslie Stahl. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Nora O'Donnell. I'm Ross Douthat. I'm Bill Whitaker. Those stories and more tonight on 60 Minutes.

1:30Ross Douthat:Over the last few months, a murder trial in Massachusetts has become a national obsession and a cultural Rorschach test. The story of Lindsay Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse who killed her three children and then attempted suicide, has created a vortex of online theorizing and suspicion and generated furious arguments about the relationship between mental illness and criminal fault, the ways in which the medical system fails mothers, and how men and women understand one another. At its heart, though, it's a story about a family and the worst tragedy imaginable. Tonight, you'll hear from the father, Patrick Clancy, for the first time since the trial, talking about how he tried to rebuild a life in the shadow of unbearable grief, and why he wants to put the focus back on the memory of his children, Cora, Dawson, and Callan.

2:24Ross Douthat:In the fall of 2022, when Callan was five months old, Patrick noticed that Lindsay was struggling. It was October, and she went a few nights without sleeping. What did she tell you that she was experiencing then? She came downstairs one morning, and she said, I didn't sleep at all last night. And so I said, that's awful, and I'll take the kids to school. You just focus on getting caught up on sleep. Did you know anything about postpartum mental illness before this experience started? No. I could piece together what it was like to be really, really anxious or depressed, but I didn't know how to manage a postpartum illness.

3:12Ross Douthat:I think mental illness has this ability to be tragically deceptive. So I'm sure there are things that I didn't see. Patrick and Lindsay Clancy were living in the seaside town of Duxbury, Massachusetts. They were married six years. Months after the birth of their third child, Lindsay made repeated emergency room visits. She admitted herself to a program for patients with postpartum depression and was discharged after a day of treatment. She was also prescribed an escalating number of prescription drugs. Patrick said he struggled to help his wife navigate the medical system. What was the low point a few months in?

3:54Ross Douthat:I think December. December was a big struggle for her. Just a huge lack of sleep, deep, deep depression, intrusive thoughts. And at the end of that month, she went to the hospital. It was New Year's Eve when Lindsay checked herself into McLean's psychiatric hospital. She was treated for depression, and days later she was released. The family celebrated Cora's birthday on January 7th. She told you she wanted to come home. She did. Seventeen days later, the unthinkable. After taking Cora to a doctor's appointment earlier in the day, Lindsay asked Patrick to run an errand and pick up dinner. And when he returned home, he said he found her lying in the backyard, her throat and wrists cut, paralyzed after jumping from an upstairs window.

4:46Ross Douthat:In the basement, he said he found his children strangled. Cora and Dawson were dead. Callan somehow survived and was airlifted to Boston Children's Hospital. So I didn't have all the details of Callan's condition. I just knew that they got a heartbeat back. So I remember that night, I really thought there was a chance that Callan would live. And I remember just thinking, just give me one. Just give me one kid. And I would raise him as best I could. And I would give him the best life I possibly could. And I'd tell him about his brother and sister. And I was holding out hope for that. And then when I got to the hospital, I saw the doctor.

5:29Ross Douthat:I saw the look on her face, and I knew that it wasn't going to be a good prognosis. Callan's heart kept beating for four days. I'm so grateful for those four days that I had with him. And I'm so grateful he hung on.

5:49Ross Douthat:Did you talk to him in those four days? Yeah. Can you tell me anything you said? I said, I'm so sorry.

6:01Ross Douthat:and I got to hold him. I got to lay down next to him,

6:10Ross Douthat:and he died in my arms. During those hours with Callan, Clancy sat and wrote tributes to each of his three children, typing with one hand while he held his baby's hand with the other. He said he was afraid if he didn't write about them, they would be forgotten. But it wasn't just about your kids. It also had something that I think a lot of people found at that moment incomprehensible, which was something about Lindsay, where you forgave her. I saw headlines that said, you know, killer mom and baby murderer, monster, and none of them were accurate. I believed that it was her mental illness that caused that.

6:52Ross Douthat:So I shared those words. And I think when it comes to forgiveness, I also felt that if I didn't get there, I would be eaten up inside forever. Did you ask Lindsay why she did it?

7:10Ross Douthat:I asked her if she remembered it. And what did she say? She said it was like a dream, and she remembered it much in the way you would remember a dream after waking up. Do you feel like you failed in some way in this period, or do you feel like you did the best you could? I think I did the best I could with what I had at the time. And I live with the outcome. I live with it every day. Has she ever asked for your forgiveness? Um, no. But I gave it to her. In the weeks after the tragedy, the crowds of mourners dispersed and Clancy's world emptied out. There was no family routine, no bedtime stories, no purpose.

7:58Ross Douthat:Everything just came to a screeching halt. And then there was a day where I, really without thinking, I drove by their school. And it was at the exact time that all of their friends were getting dropped off. And I was just, I couldn't be there anymore. Did you ever have suicidal thoughts yourself? Yeah. There was a time where I didn't think I would live to see my 35th birthday, and I was completely fine with it. In April, unable to stay in Duxbury, Clancy said he moved to New York City, seeking anonymity. Five weeks after I moved to New York on May 26th, I had to figure out how I'm going to celebrate Callen's first birthday.

8:44Ross Douthat:and how do you celebrate your son's first birthday months after he's passed away? And so I go to St. Patrick's Cathedral. I light a candle and I say, I love you, buddy. And I walk out on Fifth Avenue and I start crying my eyes out. And nobody cared. And was that good? Were you grateful for that? I thought this is where I need to be. I can grieve. Before moving, he had emptied the house in Duxbury, a home filled with the most visceral reminders of his children's lives. What kind of things did you keep? Some of their toys, a lot of personal items, just things that reminded me of them. Reminders now purposefully placed around his Manhattan apartment, a baby sloth that Cora carried everywhere, A photo of Callan wearing a bow tie almost bigger than him.

9:45Ross Douthat:Dawson's beloved and battered helicopter. Those are their real handprints. In their hometown of Duxbury, Clancy found another way to keep them close. This brand new playground, built to feature touchstones for each child. Sloths for his daughter, a firefighter for Dawson, and down the way, a toddler's playpen for Callan. Do you dream about them? Yeah. All the time. Tell me a good dream. I remember early on having a dream, maybe six months or a year after, and I'm in the kitchen at the house, and Cora walks in, and I just look at her, and it was like, I basically just said, where have you been?

10:31Ross Douthat:And she comes up to me and gives me a big hug. Those dreams are so real. It's like I'm lucid in those dreams. In July of this year, Lindsay Clancy went to trial for the killing of her three children. Her lawyers argued that she was suffering from dangerous postpartum psychosis and couldn't be held responsible for her actions. I'm going to declare a mistrial. Her trial ended with a hung jury. Meanwhile, Patrick was suddenly facing a trial by TikTok. This is why I think Patrick did it. I have so many questions. Not Lindsay. Patrick did it. You googled how to commit suicide. An online swarm of sleuths and influencers has been dissecting every detail of the case, developing theories that portray him as uncaring, unfaithful, and even the murderer of his children.

11:27Ross Douthat:How do you respond to people who have that idea about you? It's deeply harmful to the legacy of my children. It is a huge distraction from what really matters here, which is perinatal mental health. And it's done real harm to real people. Myself included, but also others. How does it affect you directly, the stuff that's out there online? It's painful to see. And it makes it difficult to be in public. And it's possible that some of those people, after seeing lie after lie after lie, they start to believe it, then that's what we're left with. One of the catalysts for these theories was Patrick's apparent stoicism on the witness stand.

12:14Ross Douthat:Testifying is very difficult. On the second day, a lot of that was focused on the night of January 24th. We did take a break right before they played the 911 call, which I knew was going to be just horrific. And I went to a back room, and I started having this massive traumatic panic attack. My heart was pounding, and they put me in an ambulance. They offered me some medication, but I said, I don't want it because I want to go back and I want to finish this so I can be done with this. I went back and I finished the testimony. Clancy says reaching out to survivors and experts in the field of postpartum health has helped him.

12:57Ross Douthat:I started reaching out to people at Postpartum Support International. I reached out to psychiatrists, experts in the field. And I asked them, what do you think happened? And we had some pretty deep conversations. Those conversations helped Patrick come to terms with what happened. And so too has Dr. Rachel Dannis, a fertility doctor who says they met in January of 2024 in a run club in New York. They got to know each other over coffee. Pat pulls out his phone to pay, and I noticed this adorable photo of children as the wallpaper. And I just asked, who are those cuties? And Pat had said, those are my kids.

13:44And then I think I asked if they live in Massachusetts, and Pat said they died. And this is just at the cashier.

13:52Ross Douthat:So what did you do then? I guess I had so many questions, and yet at the same time, I didn't know exactly what to ask. As they logged miles together, their relationship deepened. They got married in New York City this April. We talked a lot about what Pat carries, the grief that he carries, along with the good memories. Do you think you help him carry that grief? I hope. Do you think she helps you carry that grief? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, 100%. It's, my life has changed since I met Rachel in such a positive way. I always try to take some of the weight from Pat. I always want to strive to do that. I know I can't fix, I can't bring his kids back.

14:49but if I can honor them and allow Pat to grieve but also just continue to honor them in the present, I guess that's all I can do.

15:06Ross Douthat:And you guys are starting a family. Yeah. What are you going to tell your child about their brothers and sister? I think every parent can agree you have different relationships with your kids, but they're all your kids. And I can't wait to tell them about their brothers and sister. Patrick and Lindsay have each brought lawsuits against health care providers who treated her, alleging medical malpractice. Lindsay Clancy is being held in Tewkesbury Hospital in Massachusetts, waiting to learn whether she will be retried for the murder of her children.

15:59America and the world are in the midst of one of the most profound technological revolutions in human history, with artificial intelligence poised to transform nearly every aspect of how we live and work. Behind this seemingly invisible revolution is something very physical, data centers. They are the factories of the AI age, vast industrial warehouses packed with powerful computer chips consuming enormous amounts of electricity. With more than 3 ,000 of them across the country and another 1 ,500 proposed, data centers are now one of the top issues in the midterm elections. So we went to Texas, where everything is bigger, including the development of data centers, to understand the backlash happening nationwide.

16:51All this agricultural land will look like what? It'll be nothing but data center buildings, concrete. This is just part of it. Yes, it's just one little bit as far as you can see. Jasmine Villegas lives on this quiet farm just outside Dallas, Texas. The data centers will be right there. When she learned that a data center campus almost three times the size of this one a few miles away would be built next door, this mother of five and marine veteran felt called back to duty. How did you become the go-to person at the center of this fight against the data centers? Ma 'am, just because I'm not in uniform doesn't mean that my service to this country has ended.

17:37I stand strongly behind my oath that I took when I enlisted to, you know, protect and defend this Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And you believe the data centers are an enemy? We're not sure. That's the thing. It might not be an enemy per se, but how do I know that these chemicals or this pollution, water, air, noise, isn't going to affect my community, isn't going to affect me? How dare you! In town halls and on social media, data centers have become vessels for other worries and fears of rising prices, the power of the tech elite, congestion and crowding, and a dawning AI era that threatens livelihoods and futures.

18:21We are struggling to pay our bills. In Loudoun County, Virginia, which has the world's highest concentration of data centers, electricity bills have surged in the last year, at least in part because of growing power demand. We live in the desert. We can't waste water. They will waste water. In Chandler, Arizona, residents worry about water being used to cool data centers when the state already has a shrinking supply. And in Red Oak, Texas, where Villegas lives, construction workers' cars clog the roads for miles before dawn. There, they are concerned about all of these things, and they accuse the city council of operating in secrecy.

19:07And now you've been caught. You've been caught making decisions without transparency. Not one single person in that room was for the data center. And the city council just went ahead and approved it. How did that make you feel? Angry. But instead of feeling defeated, it's like, oh, challenge accepted. The pressure is real. The people are concerned. And I think they have a right to be concerned because they don't know what's going to happen. Michael Weber is a professor at the University of Texas whose specialty is the relationship between water and energy. When tech companies want to build in Texas, they call Weber for advice.

19:52I tell them you need to pay your taxes and hire people and be power flexible, water positive, and carbon negative. You have kind of a less technical, more direct message for some of these tech companies. Don't be a jerk. Don't take the water. Don't break the grid. Don't ruin the land. And Weber says data centers have been around for decades. But the speed of the construction and the size of those built for AI are unprecedented. The primary difference is they're larger. In the old days, and by old days, I mean like two years ago, a large data center might have been five megawatts. A new data center for AI might be a thousand megawatts.

20:29It's like 200 times larger. So the scale is much different. You look at the numbers. They're mind-boggling. Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft expected to spend$1.5 trillion building data centers through next year. Why do we need so many? I talk to a lot of smart people, and some say this will satiate. But then there are other smart people who say the demand for intelligence will never be sated. So we will always want more data centers. We will always want more intelligence. That intelligence developing inside these hulking warehouses, supporters believe, will generate what's called AGI, or Artificial General Intelligence, that can match or surpass human capabilities.

21:11That means in addition to autonomous cars and robotic factories, this additional computing power could pave the way for groundbreaking discoveries like curing cancer. And data centers aren't universally loathed. Building trade unions want more because of how much skilled labor is needed to build them. On the issue of water, they often aren't as draining as many believe. A CBS News analysis found golf courses nationwide use more than twice as much water as data centers. There's a race to power, a speed to power right now, where all the AI companies are in a race to train up their models to win the AI arms race.

21:53they call it. You're saying this is like a new arms race? There's national security implications on the line, as well as great economic gains on the line. We in America want to have a first before a bad actor save China or someone like that. In Texas, attracting big tech was the goal of Republican Governor Greg Abbott. Texas will be the centerpiece for AI data centers for Google in the entire world. The Democrat running against him in November, Gina Hinojosa, has made data centers a key issue in her campaign and is calling for a temporary moratorium. Who authorized that?

22:30Ross Douthat:Greg Abbott. Abbott took$20 million in campaign donations from data center executives and companies. Governor Abbott has changed his tune. Pushing back against these AI data centers that are trying to build in our neighborhoods. In August, he paused approval of new data centers that would draw from the state's power grid until they complete an audit. You know, worry about the traffic, the congestion, the noise. I worry about the environmental impacts and the impacts it has on where I live. Dave Lowe lives right by the proposed data center in Red Oak and told us he's a lifelong conservative Republican.

23:11Are you thinking about voting differently? This is the first time in my adult life where there's been an issue that's come up that I feel like is going to directly impact me. And so this time around, I've made the decision that I'm not going to vote red or blue. I'm going to vote for the candidate that is willing to speak up and put up and do something to help us with this issue. Opposition to data centers is one of the rare issues uniting Americans across the political divide. More than 60 % of Republicans, Independents, and Democrats all agree they don't want a data center where they live. Lowe and Villegas are part of a group of a few dozen Red Oak residents across the political spectrum who meet twice a month.

23:56Time is 4.02. We're starting. Thank you everyone for coming. Their primary focus is stopping a developer called Compass from building 10 two-story data centers in their rural neighborhood on agricultural land the size of Manhattan's Central Park.

24:13Ross Douthat:We need to know what feasibility studies the city of Red Oak has done before inviting the data centers in. If completed, this would be just one of seven campuses set to cover more than a quarter of the entire town of Red Oak, population about 20 ,000. We wanted to talk to Compass and local leaders to understand why they think this project would be good for the town. They both declined to speak to 60 Minutes, but Compass CEO Chris Crosby said this in July. You know, we want to be part of the communities that we're in. We want to be long-term job creators. We want to be places where there's continued investment and growth that comes as a result of us.

25:00Growth has also come to rural Hood County, 70 miles west of Red Oak, where there are nine proposals for data centers. We have probably eight or nine, possibly 10 ,000 acres worth of data centers proposing to come in here. Dave Eagle is one of five elected officials on the commissioner's court, which votes on them. They come out here to this very rural area. Who do you think they think they're dealing with? They think that they're dealing with some low information, how can I put it, country bumpkins maybe, so to speak. One of Eagle's concerns is that the proposals are shrouded in secrecy. What are some of the names of these proposed projects?

25:45Well, they're interesting. We have Project Yellow, Project Red, Project Lion, Project Panther. Do you think maybe these developers want to make it hard to keep track of them? Yes. How so? Based on their track record. We've had to pry information out of them. Last year, an out-of-state company came to the table with something they said would be a big win, but wouldn't say who was behind it. They just basically approached us in a way that they're going to bring a lot of jobs in here, they're going to be good neighbors, they're going to really upgrade the community, but they wouldn't tell us exactly what they wanted to do.

26:26They basically came in here to razzle-dazzle me. They tried to razzle-dazzle you? I think so. I mean, how would you take it if it was you against eight others? It was kind of like, whoa, you know, this must be really big, you know. Two months later, Eagle found out they were really big. Amazon Web Services was behind the proposal. We obtained the pitch. They asked the county for up to 90 % in property tax rebates for 30 years. And you said? I can't do that. There's no way I'd do that. But wouldn't bringing a big company like Amazon Web Services to Hood County actually lead to a lot more tax revenue that could benefit people here?