DEDHAM, Mass. — An acupuncturist mother accused of strangling her two young children in their Wellesley home broke down in tears when she was formally charged, and months later her lawyer asked a judge to throw out the case or set her free.

Janette MacAusland, 49, was arraigned on May 6, 2026, in Dedham District Court on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her son Kai, 7, and daughter Ella, 6. A not-guilty plea was entered on her behalf. She appeared in a gray sweatshirt with her hair in a messy bun. A scabbed-over cut was still visible on her neck. She clasped her hands nervously, then began sobbing as an officer escorted her from the courtroom after a judge ordered her held without bail at a women’s correctional facility in Chicopee.

Prosecutors told the court that on the night of April 24, MacAusland arrived “hysterical” at her aunt’s home in Bennington, Vermont — about 140 miles from the family’s $1.5 million Wellesley house — with a large gash on her throat. After her aunt brought her inside, MacAusland allegedly said she had tried to kill herself and admitted she had killed the children. When police arrived, she confirmed to officers that she had murdered them, authorities said. Wellesley police then went to the Edgemoor Avenue home and found the children dead. Dispatch audio from the welfare check included an officer noting “blood spatter everywhere.”

According to police reports, MacAusland told a Vermont officer, “I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself,” and said the children were in her bed. She allegedly told her aunt, “I wanted the three of us to go to God together but it didn’t work.”

The killings came amid a bitter divorce and custody fight. Samuel MacAusland filed for divorce in October 2025 after nine years of marriage and sought custody of the children and the home. In mid-April the parents filed a motion for a third party to make custody recommendations; a guardian was appointed on April 21, three days before the children were found dead. Kai was in second grade and Ella in kindergarten at Schofield Elementary School. People who knew the family described MacAusland as a doting mother and the children as full of life and laughter.

MacAusland, who worked as an acupuncturist with New England Integrated Health, waived extradition from Vermont and was returned to Massachusetts. She has remained in custody without bail.

On Sept. 10, 2026, her attorney, Joseph Krowski, returned to Dedham District Court and asked that the case be dismissed or that MacAusland be released, arguing there was not enough information to keep her behind bars. Prosecutors said they were still waiting for the medical examiner’s official findings on the children’s cause and manner of death. The judge denied the requests and ordered that she stay held without bail. The matter was continued to late October.

MacAusland has not been indicted by a grand jury. Many records in the case have been sealed.

Sources: New York Post; CBS Boston; WCVB; WMTW; NBC Boston; The Boston Globe; Boston 25 News; Fox News.