Retired judge says warning signs may have been missed before Wellesley child murders

Vermont hearing Monday cleared path for extradition to Massachusetts

A retired juvenile court judge said signs may have been present before a mother allegedly killed her two young children, whose bodies were found in their Wellesley home, Friday evening.

Janette MacAusland, 49, is charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Kai MacAusland, 7, and Ella MacAusland, 6, who were found dead in their Edgemoor Avenue home.

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MacAusland is being held in South Burlington and appeared by video during a Monday afternoon court hearing about her status as a fugitive. During that brief hearing, she agreed to sign a waiver, allowing the extradition process to proceed without challenge.

Retired Juvenile Court Judge Carol Erskine said she was saddened by the murders of the MacAusland children and is looking for answers.

“I just think there had to be warning signs,” Erskine said. “It’s incredibly rare for people associated with children of this age not to have seen something that might have been predictive of some type of child abuse or pending tragedy.”

Months before Kai and Ella’s deaths, MacAusland and her husband were in the midst of getting a divorce.

“I think there clearly is a custody issue, because the initial divorce was filed as an irretrievable breakdown, and it was filed by the father, and was sort of moving smoothly through the process,” Erskine said.

DCF generally cannot confirm or deny whether it is involved with a family, due to confidentiality.

NewsCenter 5 has not yet heard back from Wellesley Police as to whether officers had been called to the MacAusland home before.

Regarding child custody, divorce documents include a Joint Motion for an Appointment of a Guardian Ad Litem.

“…to investigate the issues of legal custody and parenting plan issues raised in the parties’ Complaint and Counterclaim for Divorce.”

“That tells you, right there, that there was a breakdown in communication between the parents and a significant dispute over who was going to have custody of the children,” Erskine said.

MacAusland remains detained in Vermont, awaiting extradition back to Massachusetts to be arraigned on two counts of murder.

A WELFARE INSPECTION TRIGGERED BY A BRIEF INTERACTION: Vermont authorities were contacted following a brief encounter involving Janette MacAusland… and initial reports included a 12-second note from the coordination center that remains partially obscured

The subsequent discovery of the MacAusland children resulted from a series of high-stakes interactions across state lines that began with a welfare check in Vermont. On the evening of April 28, 2026, local authorities were alerted after a brief encounter with Janette MacAusland near a motel in Fairlee. Witnesses described her behavior as erratic and disconnected from reality, prompting a call to the regional coordination center. The initial report from this center included a critical twelve-second audio note that has become a focal point of the investigation. While the full content of this note remains partially obscured by static and background noise, forensic audio specialists are working to decipher what sounds like a cryptic admission of “leaving them behind” in Massachusetts. This brief, garbled transmission served as the catalyst for Vermont officers to contact Wellesley police, initiating the grim sequence of events that would uncover the domestic tragedy.

The tactical response following this encounter was swift but hindered by the ambiguity of Janette’s initial statements. When Vermont state troopers first engaged her, she reportedly appeared dazed and was suffering from self-inflicted wounds that required immediate medical attention. It is hypothesized that in the moments before her apprehension, she may have attempted to destroy her mobile device or other evidence that could clarify the timeline of the children’s deaths. The partially obscured note from the coordination center supposedly contains a timestamp that aligns with the window of time investigators believe Janette used to flee Massachusetts. This audio fragment is currently the only bridge between her presence in Vermont and the silent house in Wellesley where Kai and Ella were eventually found.

As the legal proceedings transition from a custody dispute to a double-murder trial, the mystery of those twelve seconds continues to loom over the case. Prosecutors are expected to argue that the obscured note represents a “dying declaration” or a spontaneous confession made before Janette realized she would survive her suicide attempt. Conversely, defense theories may suggest the audio is too degraded to be used as reliable evidence or that the words were the result of a profound mental health crisis rather than a premeditated admission of guilt. The coordination center’s records indicate that the call was cut short abruptly, leaving a void of information that investigators are now trying to fill with digital forensics and neighbor testimonies. This brief interaction, though fragmented, remains the most significant piece of real-time evidence connecting the distraught mother in Vermont to the tragic scene left behind in the family home.