A Massachusetts mother accused of strangling her two young children inside their home before fleeing to Vermont asked a judge to release her from custody and throw out the case.
Janette MacAusland, 49, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the April deaths of her 7-year-old son, Kai, and 6-year-old daughter, Ella.
MacAusland’s attorney, Joseph Krowski, argued that prosecutors had not presented enough information to justify keeping his client behind bars.
The judge rejected the request and ordered MacAusland to remain in custody without bail, according to the New York Post.
This is the same woman police say showed up at her aunt’s house in Bennington, Vermont, on April 24 with a bloody gash on her neck, hysterical, and allegedly confessed to killing her own kids.
According to a Vermont police report cited by CBS News, MacAusland told her aunt, “I wanted the three of us to go to God together but it didn’t work.”
She later told an officer, “I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself.” She said the children were in her bed.
Wellesley police found 7-year-old Kai and 6-year-old Ella dead inside the family’s home on Edgemoor Avenue. Officers described blood spatter throughout the scene.
MacAusland then fled about 140 miles to Vermont. She was arrested there as a fugitive from justice, waived extradition, and was returned to Massachusetts to face two counts of first-degree murder.
She has pleaded not guilty.
The alleged murders unfolded amid a bitter divorce and custody dispute between MacAusland and her estranged husband, Samuel MacAusland, according to The Post.
Samuel filed for divorce in October after nine years of marriage and sought custody of the children and possession of the family home. MacAusland filed a counterclaim seeking the same.
Just three days before the children were killed, a guardian was appointed to investigate the dispute and make recommendations regarding custody.
Prosecutors told the court Thursday they still do not have the official manner and means of death from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. A grand jury that had been hearing the case was dismissed and will be reconvened once those results come in. The next court date is set for late October.
MacAusland’s attorneys are now reportedly attempting to frame the case around her mental condition.
Krowski insisted that his client should not be treated as “Lindsay Clancy 2.0,” referring to the Massachusetts mother who admitted strangling her three children but claimed she was suffering from postpartum psychosis.
“There’s been a discussion, a discourse opened up in this country about whether or not we want to criminalize mental illness,” Krowski said, according to the Post.
