In a Vermont courtroom Monday, 49-year-old Janette MacAusland made her first courtroom appearance since the bodies of her two young children were discovered in her Wellesley home on Friday.
[ Wellesley mother accused of killing children confessed to strangling them, court documents reveal ]
MacAusland will be returned to Massachusetts soon, where she will be charged for the murders of 7-year-old Ella and 6-year-old Kai MacAusland in their Wellesley home.
Boston attorney Elyse Hershon tells Boston 25 it’s likely that as investigators try to unravel what happened to the children, they will be focused on what was happening in Janette McAusland’s life.
There are reports she and her husband were locked in a contentious divorce.
“Clearly, something very wrong here that led to the deaths of these two children. It’s very sad, it’s very tragic. And state of mind is going to be important, it’s important in any criminal case,” Hershon said.
According to Vermont police, Janette McAusland fled from Wellesley to the Bennington home of a relative, where she told an aunt that she killed her two children, and then unsuccessfully tried to take her own life.
This case is similar to the case of Lindsay Clancy; the Duxbury mom charged with killing her 3 young children before trying to kill herself.
It’s expected Clancy’s post-partum psychosis diagnosis will be raised in her defense at her upcoming trial.
In MacAusland’s case, Hershon expects mental health will also be a major focus.
“Generally speaking, someone can be overcome by a depressive state without having it come from the birth of the children. It could come from a divorce, it could come from abuse, it could come from any type of traumatic event that resulted in PTSD or depression, but clearly something that put someone in crisis.”
It is expected MacAusland will be returned to Massachusetts for arraignment within the next two weeks.
That’s when she will be formally charged with two counts of murder for the deaths of her two young children.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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