Wellesley,MA: A mother was charged with multiple counts of murder after it was alleged she killed her two children, then tried to commit suicide so that all three "can go to God together."
It was reported that Janette MacAusland of Wellesley, Massachusetts, choked and killed her two children, aged 6 and 7, then attempted suicide by cutting her neck, but survived.
MacAusland then went, according to reporting, to a family member's home in Vermont, covered in her own blood, and admitted to family members what she did to the children.
According to court documents, she wrote: “I had strangled them, and then I tried to kill myself”. The aunt told investigators that MacAusland said to her, “I wanted the three of us to go to God together, but it didn’t work.”
It has also been reported that the father filed for divorce last year and the two have been going through a bitter custody battle.
A police on Vermont reached out to the Wellesley Police Department requesting a wellness check at MacAusland’s residence. Local police arrived and discovered two dead children.
The news of the murders devastated and shook the community and left those who knew the family in shock, especially the neighbors and their former babysitter.
The children were identified as 6 and 7 year old Ella and Kai, respectively.
“It’s unbelievable, [I’m] very shocked,” one neighbor told local media.
Another neighbor “knew something was wrong” when she saw multiple police cars arrive at her quiet middle-class suburban neighborhood.
“I feel very sad for the loss of the two kids,” the neighbor said. She added, “Everyone feels very bad for the loss of the two kids. We just wonder like, ‘what’s going on?’”
A neighbor closer to the family also said, “From what I know of the family, it seems to me like very surprising, [the children] seemed very well cared for. Their parents seemed to love them a lot. None of this seems consistent with what we’ve seen walking our dog by the house.”
However, one person who spoke with the local media who is closest to the family, especially the children, the former babysitter named Darrah, said, “I think it's really important for people to remember that they aren't just names and faces and headlines, but they were full people, as little as they were, who had interests and personalities. They were happy, healthy children.”
She continued, “Ella especially, was extremely outgoing and confident. She loved the color purple and always wanted me to to try to braid her hair. Kai was a little bit shyer. He loved to read books with me, especially about planes and trains and trucks.”
Darrah wanted the local community to know that the children should be remembered for being more than just victims.
“I don't think anybody should be remembered first and foremost by something that's done to them, especially something so inconceivably tragic. They were tragically short lives, but they had lives. They had friends,” she said.
------------------------------------------
Writer and author Eddie Molina has over 25 years of combined LEO and military service. Learn more about his interview articles at www.eddiemolina.com
Comments