The medical examiner says Ella and Kai MacAusland died from asphyxia and a combination of drugs.

The medical examiner's finding is a cause of death. It is not the verdict on the two first-degree murder counts. The Globe reported Janette MacAusland has pleaded not guilty in district court and is set for arraignment in superior court on Nov. 3. Boston 25 News's Thursday story used a different spelling of her name. The earlier indictment account had not named the children.

A Norfolk County grand jury on Monday, Oct. 19, 2026, indicted Janette MacAusland, 49, on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her two children, ages 7 and 6, WCVB and Boston 25 News reported. The children were found dead in the family's Edgemoor Avenue home in Wellesley, Mass., on April 24, according to WCVB. The MetroWest Daily News first reported the indictment Monday.

The case began in Bennington, Vt., where MacAusland arrived highly distraught at a relative's home, WCVB reported. "It was reported that the woman had a visible neck injury and was bleeding," Bennington police said in a press release, according to the station. Vermont officers asked Wellesley police to check on the family's home, and Wellesley officers found the children dead inside, WCVB reported. Bennington police then arrested MacAusland as a fugitive from justice.

According to a police report obtained by WCVB, MacAusland's aunt told police she let her niece in after she knocked on a window. "She was hysterical. I brought her into my house. She had knocked on a window to get my attention and I could see that she had a large cut on her throat," the aunt's statement said. The aunt told police she asked where the children were, "and she told me that she had killed them." According to the statement, MacAusland told her, "I wanted the three of us to go to God together, but it didn't work." The report says MacAusland handed an officer a holiday photo of the family and, when asked where the children were, answered, "I strangled them, and then I tried to kill myself," WCVB reported. Those statements are what police and a witness say she said. They have not been tested in court.

MacAusland appeared by video at a brief hearing in Vermont in April and signed a waiver allowing her extradition to Massachusetts to proceed without a challenge, WCVB reported. CBS News and WHDH reported that she was arraigned in Massachusetts in May after her return from Vermont. In September, her attorney asked for the case to be dismissed, WCVB and Boston 25 News reported, and CBS News reported the lawyer's argument that "This is not Lindsay Clancy 2.0."

Paperwork from Norfolk County shows MacAusland and the children's father were in the process of a divorce, WCVB reported, and Boston 25 News reported the couple was in a custody dispute. The children attended kindergarten and second grade at Schofield Elementary School, according to WCVB. MacAusland is being held without bail at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee, a facility where mental health is a focus, the station reported. Boston 25 News reported, when it wrote about the indictment, that a date for her arraignment on the indictments had not been set.

The Boston Globe reported Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, that the state medical examiner's office said Ella MacAusland, 6, and Kai MacAusland, 7, died from mechanical asphyxia and the "combined effects of substances including zolpidem, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and lorazepam." The Globe reported mechanical asphyxia occurs when an external force restricts breathing, that zolpidem is the sleep medication sold as Ambien, that lorazepam is the anxiety medication sold as Ativan, and that acetaminophen and ibuprofen are over-the-counter pain relievers. WCVB reported the same day that the deaths were caused by mechanical asphyxia and acute intoxication from a combination of sleep, anxiety and pain medications, and did not name the drugs. Boston 25 News, on Thursday, named the same four substances and spelled the defendant Jenna McCausland. WCVB, the Globe, and the indictment use Janette MacAusland. The Globe reported the Norfolk district attorney's office declined to comment on the findings. The Globe also reported authorities allege she killed the children "on or about" April 22, that she pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in Dedham District Court, and that her arraignment in Norfolk Superior Court is set for Nov. 3. Boston 25 News reported the same Nov. 3 date and reported that a conviction would mean life in prison without the possibility of parole. Those are the medical examiner's findings and the next court date. They are not a verdict. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.