Acupuncturist’s 2 kids were ordered taken away from her 1 day before she ‘strangled them’ to death

A Massachusetts acupuncturist’s two young children were ordered to be removed from her and put into the custody of a court-appointed legal guardian just one day before she allegedly strangled them to death, according to court docs.

Janette MacAusland, 49, was in the middle of a messy divorce in which her estranged husband was requesting sole custody of 7-year-old Kai and 6-year-old Ella, as well as their $1.5 million home in the Boston suburb of Wellesley.

Probate and family court records reviewed by Masslive.com show that a judge appointed a psychologist as the kids’ legal guardian last Tuesday.

MacAusland allegedly killed the kids the next day, according to cops.

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Kai and Ella were dead by April 22 – days before Wellesley police found their bodies in a bed inside their home, court docs reveal.Janette Reber / FacebookEstranged husband Samuel MacAusland, 62, had been locked in a bitter divorce and custody battle that began when he filed for a divorce last October, citing an “irretrievable breakdown.”

Earlier this month, both parents requested that a court-appointed professional “investigate the issues of legal custody and parenting plan issues…in order to formulate recommendations and write a report for the court,” court docs reportedly showed.

An investigator spent roughly 35 hours reviewing the family situation and conducting interviews before submitting recommendations to the judge, who ultimately appointed Dr. Dante Spetter as guardian for the kids.

Circumstances surrounding the demise of the MacAuslands’ nine-year marriage, and why neither of them was appointed custody, remain unclear.

Pictures from happier times in their marriage show the couple – who tied the knot in Puntarenas, Costa Rica, in February 2016 – posing together on “date night” and spending quality time with their kids.

In one Instagram post from June 20, 2021, MacAusland uploaded a sweet photo of her husband in bed with the kids, alongside the caption: “Happy Father’s Day to every dad that shows up. And this one, shows up BIGTIME!”

Samuel MacAusland did not respond to requests for comment.

Pictures from happier times in their marriage show Samuel and Janette MacAusland posing together on “date night” and spending quality time with their kids. @rebervations/Instagram

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MacAusland once uploaded a sweet photo of her husband in bed with the kids, alongside the caption: “Happy Father’s Day to every dad that shows up. And this one, shows up BIGTIME!”@rebervations/Instagram
Kai and Ella were dead by April 22 – days before Wellesley police found their bodies in a bed inside their home, according to court docs in the double-murder case against their mother.

Cops made the horrifying discovery after the disgraced acupuncturist – who fled to her aunt’s Bennington, Vermont, home on April 24 – reportedly confessed to authorities there that her kids were in her bed at home.

“I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself,” MacAusland also told Vermont cops who were called to her family member’s house.

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MacAusland was previously an acupuncturist with New England Integrated Health.Janette Reber / Facebook
The “hysterical” woman had shown up out of the blue to her aunt’s home – 140 miles away from where she allegedly killed her children – around 9:15 p.m., and banged on the windows until her startled relative, Sandra Mattison, finally recognized her niece and brought her inside – where MacAusland made a chilling admission, Mattison later told cops.

“I asked where her husband was and she said he was at the lake. I asked her where her children were and she told me that she had killed them,” Mattison reportedly told police, adding that MacAusland had driven to Quechee Gorge “and tried to jump off the bridge but could not do it.”

Mattison told cops her niece, who had bloody wounds across her throat, told her: “I wanted the three of us to go to God together but it didn’t work.”

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MacAusland now faces a fugitive of justice charge in Vermont, as well as two counts of first-degree murder in Massachusetts.CBS News
MacAusland, who was an acupuncturist with New England Integrated Health, is being held at Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Vermont, where she faces a fugitive from justice charge.

Authorities are seeking to extradite her to Massachusetts to answer to the murder charges, though no date has been set for her arraignment.

MacAusland “decided that the best thing is to get back to Massachusetts as soon as possible and address these charges,” her attorney, Jeff Rubin, reportedly said.

Her next court appearance in the Vermont case is May 11.

The legal odyssey of Samuel and Janette MacAusland, a narrative that began as a conventional dissolution of marriage in October 2025, transitioned into a harrowing saga that has captivated and horrified the public. For seven months, the couple was embroiled in a bitter dispute over the custody of their two young children, Kai and Ella, as well as the ownership of their family home in Wellesley, Massachusetts. This legal friction was characterized by the usual maneuvers of probate court, with Samuel initiating the divorce and Janette counter-claiming for full custody. However, as the calendar turned toward late April 2026, the case took a dark and irreversible turn during a critical seventy-two-hour window that preceded what many expected to be a final settlement or a significant procedural milestone.

The atmosphere surrounding the MacAusland household was reportedly thick with tension as the deadline for a court-mandated investigation approached. On April 16, 2026, both parties had agreed to a joint motion for a neutral third party to investigate and provide recommendations regarding the children’s living arrangements. By April 21, a guardian ad litem had been officially appointed to advocate for the children’s best interests. This development likely intensified the pressure on Janette MacAusland, who was now facing the scrutiny of an independent evaluator. The final seventy-two hours of this timeline represent a period of profound mystery and tragedy, during which the ordinary proceedings of family law were superseded by a catastrophic criminal event.

Speculative accounts and early investigative theories suggest that the psychological weight of the impending custody recommendation may have been the catalyst for the events that followed. It is hypothesized that Janette MacAusland viewed the appointment of the guardian and the potential for an unfavorable ruling as an existential threat to her relationship with her children. During these final three days, communications between the parties reportedly shifted from legal posturing to a chilling silence. While Samuel was away at a lake house, Janette remained in the Wellesley home with six-year-old Ella and seven-year-old Kai. The silence from the residence during this period was later revealed to be the prelude to a gruesome discovery, as authorities believe the children may have been deceased for up to fifty hours before police were finally summoned to the scene.

The culmination of this seventy-month dispute was not a signed settlement or a judge’s decree but a frantic welfare check that uncovered a nightmare. When police arrived at the home, Janette MacAusland reportedly gestured toward a family holiday photo before confessing to the strangulation of her children and an attempt on her own life. The “final settlement” in this tragic context was not the resolution of a legal filing but the absolute and violent termination of the family unit. Janette was subsequently located in Vermont, where she waived extradition to face two counts of murder back in Massachusetts. This case serves as a grim reminder of the high stakes and deep emotional volatility inherent in custody battles, where the legal system’s slow grind can sometimes fail to detect the boiling point of a parent’s desperation or mental decline.