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The medical examiner has released new details about how two young children died, allegedly at the hands of their mother, in Wellesley, Massachusetts, six months ago.
Janette MacAusland is charged with strangling her 7-year-old son Kai and 6-year-old daughter Ella. The 49-year-old Wellesley woman was arrested in Vermont after her kids were found dead in their home back on April 24.
MacAusland was charged with two counts of first-degree murder earlier this year, and then she was indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury, moving the case to Superior Court. During a court appearance last month, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office asked for — and was granted — more time to develop its case since the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had not yet determined the children’s cause of death.
The findings released by the medical examiner’s office this week show there were two causes. The first was mechanical asphyxia. Police have said MacAusland told an officer she strangled her two kids and then tried to kill herself. The second cause was acute intoxication. The medical examiner found a combination of four drugs in the children’s systems, including zolpidem and lorazepam.
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Experts say having both causes listed is significant.
According to Tufts’ director of neuropathology and autopsy, it probably means the drug levels were high.
“Those are medications that are prescribed by a physician, and they’re usually for insomnia,” Dr. Knarik Arkun said. “If someone is sleepy, they cannot struggle, they cannot fight back.”
MacAusland was in the middle of a divorce and custody battle when the children died. Her attorney has said that mental illness could play a role in her defense, but legal experts say the drug findings could be key for prosecutors.
“The government will make the argument that that shows a level of premeditation for first-degree murder, that she would consider that she should medicate the children before she strangled them,” NBC10 Chief Legal Analyst Michael Coyne said. “Some of these steps she would take in advance of murdering the children will be used to show that there is a level of plotting and planning here, that she knew what she was doing.”
MacAusland is set to be arraigned in Norfolk Superior Court at 2 p.m. on Nov. 3. Her attorney did not respond to NBC10 Boston’s request for comment Thursday.
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