Mass. woman arrested by Bennington Police; her 2 children found dead in Wellesley home | Local News

BENNINGTON — Bennington Police have arrested a Wellesley, Mass. mother as a fugitive from justice in the death of her two children, according to state records.

Janette MacAusland, 49, is due in Vermont Superior Court in Bennington on Monday to face the fugitive from justice charge.

Bennington Police lodged her at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland on Saturday, prison records show.

Bennington Police Chief Paul Doucette did confirm Saturday afternoon the prison records that show his department had arrested MacAusland and lodged her at the Rutland facility.

Doucette said any additional public information would have to come from the authorities in Massachusetts.

The two young children were found dead inside a home in prosperous Wellesley, Mass. on Friday night, Mass. authorities said.

The names, ages and hometowns of the victims were all being withheld on Saturday, authorities said.

The cause of death for the children, believed to be elementary-school aged, also was not disclosed.

A Vermont Police Department, which Massachusetts officials refused to identify, called Wellesley Police at 9:30 p.m. Friday and asked to send officers to do a welfare check on family members believed to be in a home on Edgemoor Avenue, Massachusetts officials said.

Vermont News First tracked the case, including recent prison lodgings, and determined MacAusland was linked to the Wellesley case.

It is now believed that the police agency that alerted Wellesley was Bennington Police, which is located near both the New York and Massachusetts borders.

Police officers from Wellesley, which is about 15 miles west of Boston, responded to the home and found two dead children inside the residence, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s office.

Police did not say who or what else was found at the home.

A news release said, “At this time, there is no risk to the community.” The release never said what officials based that comment on.

Earlier Saturday, Vermont News First asked Wellesley Police to identify the Vermont Police Department that was listed on the daily police log Friday night that had asked for the house check. The police department acknowledged its activity log was a public record, but refused to provide the information.

The incident is being investigated by Wellesley Police along with the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the office of District Attorney’ Michael Morrissey.

Police spent the night and much of Saturday at the scene, which was sealed off with crime tape.

In 2025 Wellesley, which has nearly 30,000 residents, was listed as the 10th most wealthy suburb in America, according to Newsweek magazine. The magazine said Wellesley’s average home value was $2,079,414 and the average household income was $368,179.

The police case is considered an active and ongoing investigation, according to a news release.

This story will be updated.