Overview
- Janette MacAusland, 49, was arraigned in Dedham District Court on Wednesday, where a judge entered a not guilty plea and ordered her held without bail.
- Police say MacAusland told her aunt in Bennington, Vermont, on April 24 that she killed 7-year-old Kai and 6-year-old Ella, prompting a welfare check that led Wellesley officers to find the children dead in the family home.
- MacAusland was arrested in Vermont as a fugitive, waived extradition last week, and is now held at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee at her lawyer’s request.
- A Dedham District Court judge has impounded the Massachusetts State Police report for six months, and officials have not released the medical examiner’s cause or manner of death.
- Court records show an active divorce and custody fight, with a guardian ad litem appointed April 21, and a probable cause hearing is set for July 13.