‘I wanted the 3 of us to go to God together’: Another Massachusetts mom charged with killing children

The two children were found dead in the family’s Wellesley, Massachusetts home on April 24, per WCVB. Police say that after the killings, MacAusland fled to a family member’s home in Vermont.

In a Thursday court hearing, prosecutors said they were still waiting on the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to deliver the official manner and cause of death for the two children. MacAusland’s defense attorney, Joseph Krowski, argued that in light of the lack of information, his client should be freed and the case dismissed.

"Clearly, she was and is suffering. And like too many other women, institutions have failed her," Krowski said. The judge denied the motion and ruled that she would continue to remain in custody without bail.

In the wake of the children’s killings, MacAusland had traveled to her aunt’s home in Vermont, police said. The aunt told police that while she had not initially recognized her niece, she eventually let her in.

She said of her niece, “She was hysterical. I brought her into my house. She had knocked on a window to get my attention, and I could see that she had a large cut on her throat.”

She said that MacAusland had told her she killed her kids. “I asked her where her children were, and she told me that she had killed them.” The aunt said MacAusland had told her, “I wanted the three of us to go to God together, but it didn't work.”

MacAusland handed an image of her with her two children to an officer that she had been carrying with her, and told the officer when they asked who the children were, “I strangled them, and then I tried to kill myself.”

MacAusland told the officer that the children were in her bed. Officers in Massachusetts went to the home, finding the children there. Police dispatch audio captured an officer saying as he moved into the home, “There’s blood spatter everywhere,” per the Boston Globe.

Police had initially requested that an EMS crew be sent to the scene but later canceled that request. Dispatch said, “It’s a police matter.” A law enforcement official briefed on the matter told the outlet that the children had been dead for some time.

After hearing from a neighbor that police were at the house, Samuel MacAusland, the father of the children, called the police. He was first told that they couldn’t tell him much. He called back again moments later, and dispatch told police at the scene, “The father is on the phone now. Uncontrollable on the phone. Really needs to know what’s going on.”

Per the New York Post, the MacAuslands were in the midst of a divorce, having filed in October before the killings. Samuel MacAusland was seeking custody of the children as well as the home. Just three days before the killings, on April 21, the parents filed a motion for a third party to make recommendations on custody.

Krowski told reporters following the Thursday hearing that he’s “cautiously optimistic” that prosecutors may take a second look at the case following the Lindsay Clancy trial, but added, “This is not Lindsay Clancy 2.0.”

"Janette MacAusland is her own woman, but there's been a discussion, a discourse that's opened up in this country about whether or not we want to criminalize mental illness." Krowski said it’s too soon to say whether he will pursue an insanity defense in the case.