'Crying' Millionaire Mom: Kids' Chilling Cause of Death Revealed

We have new information that could have a huge impact on the tragic case of a Massachusetts mom accused of killing her two children as she was in the middle of a bitter custody battle. We just learned the causes of death for Jeanette McCausland's seven-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. When asked where the children were, the defendant told her aunt that she had killed them. She allegedly told police she had strangled her children, but now we're learning there may be more to the story. This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just $15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song like All I Want. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes. Loan network is busy. See terms. We're on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. It is tough to talk about this story every time it comes up because the details of it are so horrific. And the information that we're now getting in from the medical examiner about the causes of death for Jeanette McCausland's children are also really difficult to hear. It took roughly six months. To get this information from the medical examiner for them to determine the causes of death of Jeanette McCausland's son and daughter. Now, a grand jury indicted Jeanette McCausland this week on two charges of murder. And at this point, it's unclear what a viable defense for her may look like if and when this case goes to trial. Her attorney's already pushed back though on comparisons being made between Jeanette McCausland's situation in her case and that of another Massachusetts mom, Lindsay Clancy. Jeanette McCausland's attorney. Reportedly said that this would not be, quote, Lindsay Clancy 2.0. But I'll tell you the causes of death here in just a moment, which includes some new information we did not know about the last time we talked about this case, which was just a couple days ago when Jeanette McCausland was indicted on two counts of murder as this case moves forward. I want to show you the indictment first in this case, and then I'll get to what the medical examiner had to say. This is a part related to Jeanette's son. And you can see it alleges that Jeanette, quote, did assault and beat KM with intent to murder him. And by such assault and beating did kill and murder said KM. But again, we're learning more to that part of the story here. McCausland allegedly told a police officer, quote, I strangled them and I tried to kill myself when she was asked where her kids were as officers confronted her in Vermont back in April. McCausland lived more than an hour and a half away from where she was taken into custody. Her home was in Wellesley, Massachusetts. That's a Ritz. Suburb of Boston. She and her husband had a $1.5 million home there, and they were raising two kids, seven-year-old Kai and six-year-old Ella. Jeanette worked as an acupuncturist at a clinic in the area. But it appears at the end of last year, some major changes were happening in Jeanette's life and not in a good way. Her husband filed for divorce in October 2025. The divorce complaint shows that he cited an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. The document also states that Jeanette's husband wanted custody of the kids. And the house. In November, Jeanette responded with a counterclaim saying that she wanted custody of their children. Now, in April, when these children allegedly lost their lives, there was some significant movement when it came to this custody battle that was going on between Jeanette and her husband. Because on April 16th, a motion was filed for a neutral third party to come in, do an investigation to help determine what custody should look like for the children. This neutral third party is a guardian ad litem, an individual who would come in, and would do an investigation, then report back to the court. And they were appointed on April 21st. Now, you can imagine the emotional stress this kind of situation would have. But what police are now alleging that Jeanette McCausland did the next day, and over the days that followed, it's hard to comprehend. So, April 24th, Bennington, Vermont, police are called to the home of a woman who authorities say is Jeanette McCausland's aunt. Bennington is roughly 120 miles from Wellesley. And the aunt said she was not expecting to see Jeanette at her house. Jeanette McCausland appeared at the home of her aunt, Sandra Madison, who resides in Bennington, Vermont. Ms. Madison later reported to Bennington police officers that the defendant had knocked on her window, and at first she had not recognized her niece. Ms. Madison observed the defendant to be hysterical and to have a large cut to her throat. Ms. Madison brought the defendant inside and attempted to calm her down. Jeanette McCausland's aunt reportedly told police that she noticed that there was blood on her niece's neck and it was dry. She said that McCausland told her that she tried to take her own life. Her aunt also said that McCausland allegedly said this. The defendant explained to her aunt that she had tried to f**k herself. Ms. Madison asked the defendant where her husband was, and the defendant stated that he was at the lake. Police in Vermont then called police in Wellesley. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. 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After confirming the defendant's residence, Bennington Police contacted the Wellesley Police Department and asked that they conduct a welfare check at that home. Wellesley Police responded to that location, Your Honor, and upon entering to conduct a well-being check, found two deceased children, seven-year-old Kai and six-year-old Bennington. Bennington Police contacted the Wellesley Police Department and asked that they conduct a welfare check at that home. Wellesley Police contacted the Wellesley Police Department and asked that they conduct a welfare check at that home. Wellesley Police contacted the Wellesley Police Department and called Ella McCausland. Convict, again, Your Honor, is asking that the defendant be held without fail. Now, within the hour of police making the discovery, inside of the home, officers say they got on the phone with Ella and Kai's dad. Sorry to keep following you, but the father is on the phone now. Uncontrollable on the phone. I don't believe he knows what's going on. According to the arrest warrant, and these details are very difficult to hear, police say that McCausland allegedly admitted to them that she strangled her two children in her bed, then attempted to take her own life. According to the indictment, she allegedly killed the children on or around April 22nd, which would have been just one day after that guardian ad litem was appointed, and then she was arrested on April 24th. McCausland's aunt told officers she allegedly said, quote, I wanted the three of us to go to God together, but it didn't work. Now you have the medical examiner releasing its report reportedly with the causes of death for Jeanette McCausland's children. They say that Kai and Ella died of mechanical asphyxia and acute intoxication. Now, the asphyxia part of it would be the strangulation that Jeanette McCausland allegedly admitted to the officers, but the acute intoxication, that is new information. And according to the Boston Globe, the children had a combination of substances, including zolpidem, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and lorazepam in their systems. Zolpidem's brand name is Ambien, the prescription sleep medication, and lorazepam is used for anxiety. And then, of course, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, those are common over-the-counter pain relievers. Now, it's unclear why those medications were in the house, and we don't know much about Jeanette McCausland's mental health history. Join us now to break down this case, Safa Robinson-Ferrer, criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor. Always great to have you on Law & Crime. Even, you know, this story is just really tough whenever we talk about it. And now we have this new development that there were drugs in the kids' systems. How does that impact. This case going forward, knowing it's not just, you know, the cause of death being that she allegedly strangled her children. You know, there were some pretty serious drugs in her system. This is going to go to the prosecution's theory that she intentionally murdered her children. And so it's yet another piece of evidence that would go to show that this was planned in some way, or I expect that that's what they're going to argue, that she gave her kids these drugs to induce some sort of psychiatric response, possibly, depending on what ultimately was found or the compounds that were found and how they interact with each other. Also will tell us, you know, if she tried. to sedate them, for example, to then do what she did or whatever the case might be. But it certainly goes to the intent argument that she intended to murder her children. It's going to cut through the defense's expected theory or the expected defense theory that this was under some sort of psychological or psychosis defense or mental health defense. Yeah, because, I mean, the drugs that were allegedly in the systems of Cayennella, the seven and six-year-old, I mean, you know, Ambien and lorazepam, like to my understanding, like that's not something that would be obviously prescribed for children. Those are some pretty serious sedatives. Absolutely. How does that, I mean, from the defense, like what do you do with this information? Because like on top of it, it already seems like it's a tough case. And like we've talked about, you know, she drives to Vermont allegedly after this takes place. What do you do with this? Like when you get that, that information, you know, and they probably already had that information, but now it's public, but like, what do you do with it? What can you do with it? To be honest, you know, in cases like this and in any criminal case, it's the government or the prosecution's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. So I expect that the defense is going to attack the toxicology report, how that was obtained, whether the substances or compounds that were found were actually true and accurate in the children's system. I don't think that there's going to be much of a strong argument for that. And I want to actually circle back to one of the, or the last question that you asked me was, what is the prosecution's theory or case or what does the drugs? Prize picks packs are here. Rip digital packs and get real basketball, football, and Pokemon cards. Sell cards instantly for cash or ship them home. Prize picks packs gives everyone the opportunity to pull the one of one Cooper flag rookie card worth $8 million and a Pikachu logo for free. We're going to get to that in just a few minutes. And a Pikachu illustrator card worth $2.8 million in packs as low as just $1. Download prize picks and use code Spotify to get $25 instantly in bonus packs when you buy your first $5 pack. 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I think the next step is to get the child to the hospital. whatever she's alleged to have done you know and i just think of this case and and uh there's always more than than what we know on the surface but at the same time like if you're in a situation where It feels like the I'm not saying that they would do, you know, a psychosis type argument. We don't really know what that would be. But knowing that, you know, you have these two children who passed away, it seems like the divorce, you could argue if you're a prosecutor, like there's your motive as to as to what was going on. She allegedly tried to take her own life. We've seen her injuries, sadly, on her body. And then she drives to Vermont. And if, you know, the prosecution has all of that buttoned up, as well as witnesses, including her aunt and what Jeanette McCausland allegedly said to law enforcement, like you have all of this, like if you're the defense, like what can you really, you know, you're kind of like backed up into a corner in a way. But at the same time, this isn't a death penalty state. It's not like you're going to take a plea to get that taken off the table or something like what can you really do? So from the defense's perspective, what they're going to do is they're going to challenge primarily, first and most importantly, is her statements to law enforcement that she was in some way, shape or form coerced to give that information or coerced to give that statement. She wasn't in her right frame of mind that the police were already investigating the homicides. And so they didn't properly Mirandize her if that is, in fact, true or not. there will be a hearing and arguments on that issue of her statements and if her statements will be admissible should the case make it to trial. Not only that, but what the defense is going to do is challenge the credibility of witnesses. Is law enforcement credible? Is this aunt credible? What statements were made again by the defendant that can or cannot be used at a trial? Not only that, they're going to go into her state of mind if she has any mental health diagnosis, things of that nature. Where was dad at this point in time? Could they, I don't think they could, but could they try to possibly point the finger at dad? Again, that's an honest stretch, but all of those things are going to be looked at by the defense and there's going to be an attempt to exploit those things. And essentially it may just come down to an argument that the government has failed to meet its burden because they don't have enough proof beyond a reasonable doubt. I think they do have that here, at least from what we're hearing and the information that we've received, but that will be an attempt that the defense will make. What do you even do? So like, even if we get to the point where like all of that checks out and like, you're a defense attorney and I'm not saying like the argument made in court, but like, you're just in your office, you know, I'm sure late at night, you're going through documents and you're sitting there and you're like, you know, if, and not just saying necessarily for this case, but any case where you're just like backed up into a corner. And like, even, you know, as the attorney, like what probably happened here after you've investigated everything and you're staring at the possibility of like, well, we could go to trial. Um, but then at the same time, like if she takes a plea deal in terms of the outcome, doesn't like a lot, doesn't really change. Like, cause it's like the death penalty wouldn't be on the table in Massachusetts. Like what, what paths do you have going forward trying to do, even if she did something horrific as like what she's accused of, like what paths forward do you have for your client in a situation like that? Well, more importantly, I think is as a defense attorney, you have to think outside of the box. You know, I think here they're going to go for some type of psychiatric defense or something like that and really honing in on proving or showing that and depending on what the rules are of the state, you know, whether they have to prove or disprove or the prosecution has to disprove their psychiatric defense is going to be a question. But really honing in on that and putting somebody in front of the jury who's going to essentially say that she had such a mental breakdown as a result of this mental health diagnosis that she may have previously had or whatever was going on in her life at the moment and really highlighting that for the jury to negate the intent requirement. Not only that, but at trial, again, they're going to want to have to go, they're going to want to go at the prosecution cannot meet its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Not only that, but if we have to make a decision where we're just dead in the water, what does a plea look like? What is something that's satisfactory to my client that I can say, we can live with this outcome. We don't want to have anybody from the family testify at trial. We don't want this to be any more public. So should we consider taking a plea? And what is an appropriate plea and sentence that this would require? Now, on one hand, if life is on the back end regardless, and there's no offer from the government, then we really don't have much to lose by going to trial. So we're going to go to trial to see what we can get. there's a chance we can get him not guilty. There's a chance that we can get a jury to hang. Prize Picks Packs gives everyone the opportunity to pull the one-of-one Cooper flag rookie card worth $8 million and the Pikachu illustrator card worth $2.8 million and packs as low as just $1. The best holiday finds aren't always the ones you went looking for. At Ross, discover unexpected gifts, fashion, decor, and plenty of reasons to keep looking. Ross, expect the unexpected. We're going to take that opportunity because we already don't have anything to lose. Now, if the prosecution is going to play ball with us and say, okay, well, I'll have you plead guilty to one count of second degree murder with the possibility of parole on the back end. You got to do 20 to 25 years with parole on the back end, or because it's not a death penalty state, the life without parole is not really going to do much of a difference. So those are the things that we play with. And in any case, prosecution or defense, there's strengths and weaknesses on either side. Even the most what sounds like a slam dunk case to the public, there are issues that generally will come up on both sides. And I will expect to see that here. You know, I think about her, the alleged drive that she made, assuming it was a car. I mean, I'm sure it was. But, you know, she gets from Wellesley where she lives in Mass outside Boston. And then she ends up, according to police, at her aunt's house in Bennington, Vermont, about 120 miles. On one hand, I mean, that's more than an hour and a half, almost two hour drive to get to that location. But from, you know, at a trial, like what is the prosecution? Because on one hand, like, yes, like I think people would look at that narrative and say, like, OK, so she drove to her aunt's house. But like in a court of law, like how do you prove a commute like that? Or, you know, and also from the defense's standpoint, like how can you challenge that she went from point A to point B? Well, from a prosecutor's standpoint, what she's going to do or what they are going to do, I would expect, is that establish a timeline first. When the children were ultimately murdered, when she arrived at her aunt's house, and they're going to get that information, I believe. either from the aunt if she's going to cooperate and testify. I know that there was a 911 call or some sort of dispatch where law enforcement was called to go check on the home and ultimately found the children. And so they're going to want to create a timeline that establishes the time of death of the children, when she got to her aunt's house, and the phone call that ultimately led law enforcement to go and to find the children. In that in-between time, and what people don't often realize is that the vehicles that are made now have an infotainment system, and we don't know what kind of vehicle it was, but let's imagine that it was a newer car that has some sort of GPS tracking system, OnStar, something of that nature where law enforcement can actually subpoena the records to see when that vehicle was in a particular location, traveled a path to the aunt's house, and there's cameras everywhere now. We don't know if she may have stopped at a gas station, but again, in creating that timeline, if we see through credit card records or any place that's along the route that she would have taken to the aunt's, going there to obtain any possible footage that would have continued to establish when she was traveling and at what point in time. Also, we've got cell phones, if she had a cell phone with her at that time, where she's pinging off the cell towers. All of those things are going to be taken in conjunction to establish when she actually traveled from Massachusetts to Vermont to the aunt. And I expect that the prosecution is going to put all of that in front of the court. Now, from the defense perspective, they're going to argue none of this is credible. Nothing can be established. They lack evidence that would either explain any of these things. So they lack GPS records or there is a lack of information. They didn't go and get cell phone tower information or any one of those things that the prosecutor may not retrieve. They are going to hone in on that and say this was a shoddy investigation because they didn't even do the bare minimum of obtaining these records. And then argue that we really don't have any evidence. So I think that's going to be what the time of death of the children were. It's open. It's on or about, I believe it was April 22nd was the date or sometime in April. So the defense is going to say, well, there's no clearly established time of death. And because there's no clearly established time of death, and my client was somewhere else or had some sort of exculpatory excuse or argument to be made. Again, if that is the case, I mean, we know that she made an admission to her aunt or made admission to law enforcement. So these are just theories or arguments that can be made if certain evidence is kept out, like that statement to law enforcement. If we don't have that statement to law enforcement of her admission, then that's going to be a little bit harder for the government to prove their case. And the defense is going to exploit that issue. You talk about a mental breakdown. And I think that's a term that can be casually used by a lot of people for when they're going through a tough time and even in a joking manner. Certainly that's not what we're talking about here. But you have this woman who she's going through a divorce. We know that we know that there was a custody battle to an extent that was going on. Like what qualifies as you know, and this is, you know, an issue that we've talked about a lot. But like when it comes to a mental health defense, where, you know, yeah, it was a tough time in her life. I mean, you can't imagine going through something like that. But then at the same time, it's not like what's the bar that the defense would have to prove that there could be something that could actually come out of this with lesser, you know, perhaps a bit of insanity, please, something like that, you know, that goes because I know it has to go more than just like this was a tough time in your life. Absolutely. And so what the defense is going to probably hope happens or show is that she did at some point in time either have a mental health diagnosis that could have resulted in a level of psychosis that would have caused this to happen. You know, whether that's schizophrenia or whatever diagnosis she may have received, if that is in prior established mental health on record for her, then what they're going to probably try to argue is that this just she was under such stress and in such a chaotic time and moment in her life that it invoked. The best holiday finds aren't always the ones you went looking for at Ross. Discover unexpected gifts, fashion, decor, and plenty of reasons to keep looking. plans, even unlimited, are just $15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song, like all I want. Right. You know, forget the music budget. Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 month plan required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra new customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. See terms. That psychosis and invoke this type of response. And she just essentially lost any ability to make any normal, sensible, appropriate decisions within her life or at that moment and who would ultimately want to harm their children in that sort of way and show that this wasn't that and that she also attempted to self harm. So all of those factors, I don't think that they're going to be the strongest arguments in this case compared to some other cases. But I do think that the defense is going to at least make the attempt and they have to they have to make that attempt if the case is going to ultimately go to trial. Yeah, and she's she's been indicted. We'll see what happens next. Just a very, very sad tragic story to say the least out of out of Massachusetts. Safa Robinson for air. Always great to have you on long crime. Thanks for doing this. Thanks, Chris. That will do it for on the case presented by law and crime. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time.