Why the internet blames Patrick Clancy for the deaths of his children | CNN

Theory Briefing

• Patrick Clancy was officially cleared as a suspect, yet online communities continue to treat him as the likely perpetrator.
• High-profile legal cases consistently generate conspiracy theories that target exonerated individuals, a pattern the article directly examines.
• The gap between official findings and public suspicion reveals how distrust of institutions fuels alternative guilt narratives.
• Viral attention on a case can lock in early suspicions before facts emerge, making later exculpatory evidence harder to absorb.