Wellesley, Massachusetts mother allegedly confessed to killing 2 children: "I wanted the 3 of us to go to God together"

Janette MacAusland, the Wellesley mother who allegedly confessed to killing her two young children, waived extradition rights in a Vermont courtroom Monday afternoon and will return to Massachusetts to face murder charges.

She appeared in Rutland Criminal Court via a video feed from jail on a fugitive from justice charge. MacAusland was wearing a padded vest during the proceedings. 

"She's decided that the best thing is to get back to Massachusetts as soon as possible," her attorney said during the court appearance. 

MacAusland will be held without bail, the judge said. She is expected to be arraigned on two murder charges in Massachusetts within the next two weeks. 

The investigation began late Friday night when MacAusland showed up at her aunt's home in Bennington, Vermont bleeding, with a neck injury and appearing "highly distraught," according to police.

According to court documents, MacAusland told Bennington Police, "I strangled them and then tried to kill myself." She told police that the children were in her bed.

Officers in Bennington then called Wellesley Police to check on MacAusland's 7-year-old son Kai and 6-year-old daughter Ella at their home on Edgemoor Avenue. When officers arrived, they found the children dead inside the house.

MacAusland reportedly told her aunt, "I wanted the 3 of us to go to God together but it didn't work."

MacAusland was taken into custody by Bennington Police as a fugitive from justice. The Norfolk District Attorney's Office got an arrest warrant and charged her with two counts of murder. She's been held without bail at the Marble Valley Correctional Facility.

Court records show MacAusland's husband Samuel had filed for divorce last October and he filed for custody of the children and their home.

Cale Darrah, the family's babysitter, told WBZ-TV she didn't see this tragedy coming.

"She seemed to just deeply love her children, like any other mother that I've come across," Darrah said. "They had, like, very small, insignificant kind of arguments in front of me. Nothing that raised any, like, huge alarm bells."

According to Wellesley Public Schools Superintendent Dr. David Lussier, the children were students at Schofield Elementary School. One was a second grader, and the other was in kindergarten. 

"She was a bit of a girly-girl, she always loved when I would do her hair, loved the color purple," Darrah said of the children. "He loves to read, especially a lot of books about planes, trains, trucks, all that good stuff." 

Support was offered to students, staff, and families at the school on Monday.

"This is an unimaginable loss that will be deeply felt not just at Schofield but across our entire community," Lussier said in a statement. "I ask that we all keep this family in our thoughts and prayers during this difficult time." 

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