Janette MacAusland’s two young children died from a lethal combination of drug intoxication and mechanical asphyxia, coroners revealed this week, deepening the horror surrounding the Massachusetts mother’s first-degree murder indictment.
Ella, 6, and Kai, 7, were found dead in their Wellesley home in April, and the official findings disclosed Wednesday pinpointed their causes as mechanical asphyxia together with the “combined effects of substances including zolpidem, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and lorazepam,” according to the coroners’ report. Zolpidem is prescribed for short-term insomnia treatment, while lorazepam addresses anxiety conditions.
The toxicology results surfaced just 48 hours after MacAusland, 49, was indicted on first-degree murder charges, accelerating a case that has already exposed a family shattered by divorce and custody warfare. The acupuncturist was locked in a bitter dispute with her ex-husband over their children and their $1.5 million residence when the killings allegedly occurred.
After the children’s deaths, MacAusland fled approximately 140 miles to her aunt’s home in Bennington, Vermont. She arrived in a hysterical condition, blood-covered and bearing a gash on her neck, according to court documents cited by WCAX. The aunt told police that MacAusland confessed to murdering her children and described a failed suicide attempt, saying she had tried to jump off a bridge but could not follow through.
When Vermont police responded to the Bennington property, MacAusland allegedly repeated her confession directly to officers.
“I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself,” she allegedly told police, according to the documents.
MacAusland was arrested and has remained held without bail at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee since her apprehension. She was arraigned in May at Dedham District Court, where a not guilty plea was entered on her behalf. Her arraignment at Norfolk Superior Court is scheduled for Nov. 3.
The case emerged into public view on April 14 when Wellesley police conducted a welfare check at the family’s upscale residence and discovered the two children dead in bed. The scene prompted an immediate search for MacAusland, who had vanished from the property, and triggered the multi-state alert that ended with her discovery in Vermont.
If convicted of first-degree murder, MacAusland faces life imprisonment with no possibility of parole under Massachusetts law.
