Mass. Mother Arrested In Vermont After Alleged Killing Of Her Two Children; She Told Aunt, "I Wanted Us To 'Go To God Together'"

Janette MacAusland, 49, was arrested on the night of April 24 in Bennington, Vermont, after local police say she admitted to killing her two young children and then attempting to take her own life, according to law enforcement and local news reports.

Authorities allege the children, identified as Kai, 7, and Ella, 6, were killed at the family’s home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. MacAusland arrived at a relative’s house in Bennington with a significant neck wound and was described by her aunt as “hysterical.” The aunt told officers that MacAusland said she had killed her children and that she wanted the three of them to “go to God together, but it didn’t work,” according to court and police records cited by local outlets.

What Police Say Happened

Bennington police and court documents report that responding officers spoke with MacAusland at the scene. She is alleged to have handed them a photograph of herself with the two children and said, "I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself." Police say she attempted suicide by stabbing her neck and also tried to jump from a bridge after the killings.

"I wanted the three of us to go to God together, but it didn't work," the aunt reported MacAusland said, according to police records.

MacAusland was taken into custody in Bennington and remains held at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland, Vermont. She waived extradition at an initial hearing and is expected to be returned to Massachusetts within approximately two weeks to face charges.

A memorial grows outside the home on Edgemoor Ave. in Wellesley, Mass., where the MacAuslands livedCredit: Nic Czarnecki/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Charges And Background

Prosecutors in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, have charged MacAusland with two counts of murder. The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office issued a release linking the Vermont arrest to the deaths that allegedly occurred at the family home in Wellesley.

Local reporting notes the family had been involved in a contentious custody dispute. MacAusland’s estranged husband, Samuel MacAusland, filed for divorce and sought custody of the children last October.

Community Reaction

A former babysitter, Cale Darrah, told the Boston Globe he cared for the children for about a year through June 2024 and had never noticed obvious signs of trouble in the household. "Never did I enter the house and feel like there was anything that was extremely off," Darrah said, adding the alleged killings feel surreal in a quiet community like Wellesley.

Police and court records cited by media outlets form the basis of these accounts. Further details are expected as the case is transferred back to Massachusetts and legal proceedings unfold.