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The two kids allegedly strangled by a Massachusetts mother in her $1.5 million home died from intoxication caused by a cocktail of drugs as well as asphyxia, coroners revealed this week.
Ella and Kai MacAusland were found dead in bed in April – and coroners revealed Wednesday their deaths stemmed from mechanical asphyxia and the “combined effects of substances including zolpidem, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and lorazepam,” the Boston Globe reported.
Zolpidem is used as a short-term medication to treat insomnia, while lorazepam is a drug used to treat anxiety.
The coroners’ findings emerged just two days after the children’s mom, Janette MacAusland, 49, was indicted on first-degree murder charges.
MacAusland was embroiled in a bitter custody battle with her ex-husband when she allegedly strangled Kai, 7, and Ella, 6, in their Wellesley home.
After allegedly murdering her kids, MacAusland fled to her aunt’s home in Bennington, Vermont – some 140 miles away – where she showed up in a hysterical state, covered in blood with a gash on her neck, WCAX reported, citing court docs.
The acupuncturist allegedly confided in her aunt that she had murdered her kids and tried to jump off a bridge but couldn’t do it, according to the statement the relative provided to cops.
MacAusland allegedly admitted to the killings when cops were called to the Bennington property.
“I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself ,” she allegedly told police, according to the documents.
MacAusland is being held without bail at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee, and her arraignment at Norfolk Superior Court is set for Nov. 3.
She faces life imprisonment with no chance of parole if convicted of first-degree murder.
A not guilty plea was entered on her behalf during her May arraignment at Dedham District Court.