Authorities said a Vermont police encounter led to a wellness check at the family’s Massachusetts residence.
WELLESLEY, Mass. — A Wellesley mother was held in Vermont on Sunday after authorities said her two young children were found dead inside their Massachusetts home during a Friday night wellness check that led to two murder charges.
Janette R. MacAusland, 49, was charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of her children, 7-year-old Kai MacAusland and 6-year-old Ella MacAusland. Authorities said the case began after police in Bennington, Vermont, contacted Wellesley police with concerns about the children’s welfare. The deaths shook Wellesley, where both children attended Schofield Elementary School, and opened parallel legal steps in Vermont and Massachusetts as investigators worked to return MacAusland to face the charges.
Bennington police said they were contacted at about 9:15 p.m. Friday after MacAusland arrived at a family residence in Vermont appearing highly distraught. Police said she had a visible neck injury and was bleeding. Officers tried to speak with her and grew concerned about her children, who were believed to be at a home on Edgemoor Avenue in Wellesley. Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette said officers “became increasingly concerned for the welfare of her children” during the encounter. Wellesley police were asked to check the home, and Bennington police said they were told shortly before 10 p.m. that two children had been found dead inside.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said Massachusetts State Police assigned to the office obtained an arrest warrant Saturday charging MacAusland with two counts of murder. Officials have not released the children’s causes of death, autopsy findings or a detailed timeline of what happened inside the home before police arrived. They also have not released a possible motive. The investigation is being handled by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the district attorney’s office and the Wellesley Police Department, with assistance from Vermont authorities. Local officials said the investigation remained active and that there was no known risk to the broader community.
MacAusland was taken into custody in Vermont as a fugitive from justice and was being held without bail at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland. She was scheduled to appear Monday, April 27, in Rutland Superior Court’s criminal division on the fugitive charge. Authorities in Massachusetts were working with Vermont officials to have her transported back to Massachusetts to answer the murder charges. Public reports did not list a plea or an attorney statement for MacAusland as of Sunday. She is presumed innocent unless convicted in court.
Court records cited in public reports show the children’s parents were in a contested divorce. Samuel MacAusland filed for divorce in October after nine years of marriage and sought custody of the children and the family home. Janette MacAusland later filed a counterclaim also seeking custody and the home. On April 16, the parents filed a joint motion agreeing that a neutral third party would investigate and make recommendations about custody. A guardian ad litem was appointed April 21, four days before the children were found dead. Authorities have not said whether the divorce proceedings are connected to the criminal case.
The children were a second-grader and a kindergartener at Schofield Elementary School, according to Wellesley school officials. Superintendent David Lussier said the district was devastated by the deaths. “This is an unimaginable loss that will be deeply felt not just at Schofield but across our entire community,” Lussier said. The district said its crisis team was preparing support for students, staff and families as classes resumed Monday after April vacation. The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office also said counselors would be on site when students returned to school.
Neighbors and people who knew the family described the children as familiar faces on Edgemoor Avenue, a residential street in the Boston suburb. Jeffrey Peng, a Wellesley High School senior who lives nearby, said he had known the family for years and often saw the children outside. “The kids seemed so cheerful, so positive, so happy,” Peng said. His father, Jerry Peng, said the deaths were hard to absorb because the children were so young. Other residents said the street had been quiet before police arrived Friday night, and investigators were later seen collecting evidence from the home.
Former babysitter Cale Darrah identified the children in public reports as Ella and Kai and described them as happy and healthy. Darrah said she babysat the children for about a year through June 2024 and did not recall signs that something was wrong inside the home. The children’s names were not included in the first brief statement from prosecutors, which identified them only by their ages and said they were students in the Wellesley Public School System. Later reports named the children as the community began mourning them.
Wellesley is a suburban town west of Boston, and the case drew immediate attention because of the ages of the victims and the cross-state path that led police to the home. The first public details came in short statements from local and state authorities, leaving major questions unanswered by Sunday evening. Officials had not said when the children died, whether anyone else was in the home, what evidence led to the murder warrant or whether additional court records would be released after MacAusland’s first Vermont appearance.
As of Sunday, April 26, MacAusland remained in custody in Vermont. Her next scheduled step was the Monday fugitive from justice hearing in Rutland, while Massachusetts authorities continued efforts to bring her back to Norfolk County for the murder case.
Author note: Last updated Sunday, April 26, 2026.