Janette MacAusland, a 49-year-old acupuncturist from Wellesley, Massachusetts, appeared visibly distressed in court on Thursday as a judge denied her bail request over the alleged murder of her two young children. She has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder after police say she strangled her son Kai, seven, and daughter Ella, six, at the family's $1.5 million home in April, during a bitter divorce from her husband.

MacAusland's lawyer proposed $25,000 bail with GPS monitoring and home confinement, arguing she should not be held while the cause of death remains officially undetermined, but the judge kept her in custody. Prosecutors were granted a further six weeks to prepare their case after saying they needed more time, with the next hearing set for 29 October. MacAusland reportedly confessed after fleeing to her aunt's home in Vermont, saying she wanted her family to "go to God together"; her husband had filed for divorce in October 2025 amid a custody and property dispute.