A Massachusetts acupuncturist accused of killing her two young children during an acrimonious divorce made a grim admission to police when they found her at her aunt’s house, according to court documents.
Alleged confession
Janette MacAusland, 49, told a Vermont police officer, “I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself.” Police asked where her estranged husband was, and she replied, “at the lake. I wanted the three of us to go to God together but it didn’t work.”
MacAusland has been charged with the murder of her children Kai, 7, and Ella, 6, in their suburban Boston home last Friday. After allegedly murdering her children, she fled to her aunt’s house 225 kilometres away in Vermont.
Arrival at aunt's home
MacAusland showed up at her aunt Sandra Mattison’s house, banging on the windows before being recognized and let in. Mattison told police, “I asked where her husband was and she said he was at the lake. I asked her where her children were and she told me that she had killed them … Janette told me that she had driven to Quieches (bridge) and tried to jump off the bridge but could not do it. She said she drove to my house.”
Mattison called police for a welfare check on MacAusland, who had bloody wounds on her throat. When officers arrived, MacAusland confessed a second time, according to a court incident report. Vermont authorities then contacted Massachusetts police, who found both children dead inside the home.
Charges and extradition
On Saturday, Massachusetts State Police issued an arrest warrant charging MacAusland with two counts of murder. She is currently held in a Vermont jail and has waived her right to fight extradition back to Massachusetts, according to the Boston Globe.
Acrimonious custody battle
Janette had been fighting Samuel MacAusland, the father of the children, for custody and the family home, court filings show. They filed a joint motion on April 16 agreeing to have a third-party investigate and make recommendations about custody. A guardian was appointed on April 21, just days before the murders.
Former babysitter Cale Darrah told local media the children were well looked after. “They were two beautiful children who were full of life and laughter, and it pains me to think that the world should remember them only by the way their lives were tragically ended,” she said.
