RUTLAND, V.T. (WHDH) A Wellesley woman appeared in court in Rutland, Vermont Monday and agreed to be returned to Massachusetts to face two counts of murder in the deaths of her children.
Janette MacAusland, 49, was arrested in Vermont Friday as a fugitive from justice after she showed up at her aunt’s home in Bennington, Vermont covered in blood following a failed suicide attempt, Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette said.
After speaking with MacAusland, Bennington police requested that the Wellesley Police Department conduct a wellfare check on her children. Wellesley police confirmed her six-year-old daughter Ella and seven-year-old son Kai were found dead at her home at approximately 9:50 p.m.
According to court documents, MacAusland admitted to Vermont police that she strangled her children in her bed before attempting to take her own life.
MacAusland’s aunt reported that MacAusland told her, “I wanted the three of us to go to God together, but it didn’t work.”
“I’ve not experienced a double homicide with two children in my tenure as the police chief,” Doucette said. “It’s almost something, like, surreal. You see that on Dateline or 20/20 or something, not something that you would normally suspect.”
“Very tragic. I mean, the little kids didn’t deserve that, other family members, I mean, they were little. Very little,” said a woman who lives in Vermont.
MacAusland and her husband were in the middle of getting a divorce, according to officials.
The motive for the murders is under investigation.
It’s not yet clear when MacAusland will be transported back to Massachusetts.
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