Mom accused of killing kids during divorce made grim admission

Massachusetts woman in midst of bitter custody fight told police she strangled her two children, documents say.

Published Apr 28, 2026  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  2 minute read

Alleged killer Janette MacAusland, right, and her children, 7-year-old Kai and 6-year-old Ella. Photo by Cale Darrah photo

An acupuncturist in Massachusetts 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, documents say.

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Janette MacAusland, 49, told a Vermont police officer, “I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself.”

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Police asked her where her estranged husband was, she answered, “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.

MacAusland showed up at her aunt’s house, 225 kilometres away in Vermont and was banging on the windows before her aunt, Sandra Mattison, recognized her and brought her into the house, 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’s statement to police said.

Mattison called police and asked them to do a welfare check on MacAusland, who reportedly had bloody wounds on her throat. When they came, MacAusland confessed to the murders a second time, according to a court incident report. Vermont authorities then contacted authorities in Massachusetts to check up on the children. Police found them both dead inside the home, they said.

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On Saturday, Massachusetts State Police issued an arrest warrant charging MacAusland with two counts of murder. She’s currently being held in jail in Vermont and has waived her right to fight extradition back to her home state, 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 both filed a joint motion on April 16 that agreed to have a third-party investigate and make recommendations about the custody fight. A guardian had been appointed on April 21 — a few days before the murders.

A 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.

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