Coroners say two young Wellesley children died from mechanical asphyxia and mixed drugs as their acupuncturist mother faces first-degree murder charges in the case.
Ella MacAusland, 6, and Kai MacAusland, 7, were found dead in bed in April at the family’s Wellesley, Massachusetts, home. Officials have now spelled out how they died, and those findings arrive as their mother already sits charged with killing them.
The New York Post reported that coroners determined the deaths stemmed from mechanical asphyxia, a lack of oxygen caused by physical blockage or compression, and the combined effects of several substances. Janette MacAusland, 49, an acupuncturist, has been indicted on first-degree murder charges and is being held without bail.
She was locked in a bitter custody fight with her ex-husband when the children were killed, authorities allege. A not guilty plea was entered for her at a May arraignment. If convicted of first-degree murder, she faces life in prison with no chance of parole.
The coroners’ findings, reported this week, point to more than one factor in the children’s deaths. Mechanical asphyxia was paired with a mix of drugs in their systems.
Those substances included zolpidem, a prescription sleep aid; lorazepam, an anti-anxiety medication; and the everyday pain relievers acetaminophen and ibuprofen. The official phrasing tied the deaths to asphyxia and the “combined effects” of that group of drugs.
"combined effects of substances including zolpidem, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and lorazepam"
The indictment on first-degree murder charges came just two days before those cause-of-death details surfaced. Ella and Kai were found in the family’s roughly $1.5 million Wellesley home.
After the children were found dead, MacAusland left Massachusetts and went to her aunt’s home in Bennington, Vermont, about 140 miles away. Court-related accounts describe her arriving in a hysterical state, covered in blood, with a gash on her neck.
She allegedly told her aunt she had killed the children and had tried to jump off a bridge but could not go through with it. The aunt’s account was later given to police, according to the court material cited in the reporting.
When officers were called to the Bennington property, MacAusland allegedly admitted the killings. Documents describe her statement to police in plain terms.
"I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself,"
Prosecutors have charged the case as first-degree murder. The alleged confession and the coroners’ findings now sit side by side in the public record, with the drug list and asphyxia ruling filling in what the April discovery left open.
MacAusland is being held without bail at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee. A not guilty plea was entered on her behalf during the May arraignment at Dedham District Court.
Her next major step is an arraignment at Norfolk Superior Court set for Nov. 3. Until then she remains locked up, charged with killing her son and daughter while the custody fight with her ex-husband formed the backdrop described in the case.
No verdict has been reached. The charges, the alleged statements in Vermont, the flight from Wellesley, and the coroners’ conclusion about asphyxia and mixed medications are what the record now shows. The children were 6 and 7 years old.
Two kids found dead in their own home leave one hard demand on the system that remains: a full trial, a clear verdict, and accountability equal to what was taken from them.
