WELLESLEY, MASS. (WHDH) - A Wellesley mother accused of killing her two children was arraigned Wednesday afternoon after being brought back to Massachusetts from Rutland, Vermont.
Janette MacAusland, 49, was arrested in Vermont two weeks ago 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.
MacAusland is charged with two counts of murder. A not guilty plea was entered on her behalf.
After speaking with MacAusland, Bennington police requested that the Wellesley Police Department conduct a well-being 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. A faint scar could be seen on her neck when she appeared in court Tuesday.
“Her aunt asked where the children were, and she [McAusland] said she killed them,” Prosecutor Jennifer Hickman said.
MacAusland’s aunt reported that MacAusland told her, “I wanted the three of us to go to God together, but it didn’t work.”
The 49-year-old was in the middle of a divorce at the time. Court documents showed there was a development in that case before she allegedly killed her children.
MacAusland appeared in a Vermont court last week and agreed to be brought back to Massachusetts to be charged with the murder of her two children.
The judge ordered her held at the Western Mass Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee. She is due back in court in July.
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