Massachusetts mom allegedly killed her 2 children amid custody battle

WELLESLEY, Mass. (TCN) -- A 49-year-old mother has been arrested in connection with the deaths of her two young children amid a custody battle.

Police in Bennington, Vermont, contacted the Wellesley Police Department after they became concerned about the well-being of the children of a woman who was bleeding, distraught, and had a visible neck injury, WCVB reports.

When authorities arrived at the home, they found the bodies of 6-year-old Kai McAusland and his 7-year-old sister, Ella McAusland, WFXT reports.

Court records obtained by WFXT state that in October 2025, the children’s father, Samuel McAusland, filed for divorce from the mother, Janette McAusland. She reportedly filed a counterclaim and a guardian ad litem was appointed a week before the children’s deaths to represent the children’s best interests to the court. 

According to Cale Darrah, who babysat for the children, Kai and Ella McAusland “were two beautiful children who were full of life and laughter, and it pains me to think that the world should remember them only by the way their lives were tragically ended,” according to WFXT. 

People reports that Darrah also said, “Never did I enter the house and feel like there was anything that was extremely off.”

Sandra Mattison, Janette McAusland’s aunt, notified Bennington police, Boston.com reports. Mattison alleged McAusland told her that her husband was at the lake and that she had killed her children; she then said she had tried to jump off a bridge but was unable to.

Janette McAusland was arrested on April 25 in Vermont. She allegedly told police she had strangled her children in their beds, per Boston.com.

According to WNYT, after a scheduled court appearance in Bennington, Vermont, on April 28 on fugitive from justice charges, she will return to Massachusetts to face two murder charges.

MORE: