Updated September 11, 2026. This page is the standing record of the case against Janette MacAusland, the Wellesley mother charged with murdering her two children in April 2026. It will be updated at each court date. The most recent development: on September 10, her lawyer asked a Dedham District Court judge to dismiss the charges or set bail, and was refused. The next hearing is October 29.
Who is Janette MacAusland
Janette R. MacAusland is 49 and lived on Edgemoor Avenue in Wellesley with her two children, Kai, 7, a second grader at Schofield Elementary School, and Ella, 6, a kindergartener there. She worked as an acupuncturist and massage therapist, was affiliated with New England Integrated Health and Massachusetts General Hospital, and founded Boston Acupuncture Trauma Relief after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. She married Samuel MacAusland in Costa Rica in February 2016.
People who knew her described an attentive parent. The family’s babysitter, Cale Darrah, told reporters after the arrest: “Never could I have imagined that she would do something like this. She seemed to just deeply love her children like any other mother.”
What she is charged with
Two counts of murder, one for each child, in Dedham District Court. The complaint charges first-degree murder, which in Massachusetts is prosecuted only by grand jury indictment and carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole. No indictment has been returned as of this update. If one is, the case moves to Norfolk Superior Court.
What happened, according to the court record
The following is drawn from the police affidavit and statements made in court by prosecutors. None of it has been tested at trial, and MacAusland is presumed innocent.
On the night of Friday, April 24, 2026, MacAusland arrived at her aunt’s house in Bennington, Vermont, about three hours from Wellesley, bleeding from a gash across her throat and, in the words of the affidavit, “highly distraught.” Asked where the children were, she told her aunt she had killed them. She said she “wanted the 3 of us to go to God together but it didn’t work,” and that she had driven to the Quechee Gorge Bridge and tried to jump but could not.
Bennington police were called. When they arrived, she produced a holiday photograph of the family and, asked about the children, shook her head. She told an officer: “I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself.” Bennington police asked Wellesley police to check the house. At about 9:50 p.m., officers found Ella and Kai dead in a bed.
The custody case
The killings came in the middle of a contested divorce. Samuel MacAusland filed in Norfolk Probate and Family Court in October 2025, after nine years of marriage, seeking custody of the children and control of the Wellesley home. Janette MacAusland filed a counterclaim in November seeking the same. On April 16, 2026, the two filed a joint motion asking the court to appoint a guardian ad litem to investigate legal custody and the parenting plan and make recommendations. The appointment was made April 21. A pretrial conference had been scheduled for May 5. The children died three days after the guardian was appointed.
Timeline
- October 2025. Samuel MacAusland files for divorce.
- November 2025. Janette MacAusland files a counterclaim.
- April 16, 2026. Joint motion for a guardian ad litem.
- April 21. Guardian ad litem appointed.
- April 24. Ella and Kai found dead in Wellesley. MacAusland arrested in Bennington, Vermont, and held at the Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Rutland.
- April 27. Appears by video in Rutland Superior Court in a suicide prevention jumpsuit and waives extradition. Her Vermont lawyer, Jeff Rubin: “She’s decided that the best thing is to get back to Massachusetts as soon as possible and address these charges.”
- May 6. Arraigned in Dedham District Court before Judge Jeanmarie Carroll on two counts of murder. Not guilty pleas entered. Held without bail. Court-appointed defense lawyer Joseph Krowski Jr. tells the court he met her about twenty minutes earlier. Judge grants his request that she be housed at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee. Probable cause hearing set for July 13.
- July 9. Defense motion to continue the hearing allowed. New date September 10.
- September 10. Prosecutors tell the court the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has not issued a cause or manner of death and is expected to “within a few weeks.” Krowski asks the judge to dismiss the charges or release MacAusland on “a reasonable bail with conditions,” citing the delay and her mental health history. Both requests denied. Hearing continued to October 29. Krowski to reporters: his client is “not Lindsay Clancy 2.0,” but “everything is on the table” as to defenses.
- October 29. Next scheduled date, Dedham District Court.
Why the case is stalled
Four and a half months after the deaths, the state medical examiner has not formally determined how the children died. A murder indictment ordinarily rests on that finding, and prosecutors have not sought one without it. We explained the mechanics, including why murder cases almost never get the probable cause hearing that keeps being continued, in our report on the September 10 hearing.
Krowski’s September 10 request for dismissal or bail was, in substance, a complaint about that delay. A District Court judge has almost no ability to grant either in a murder case: bail is effectively unavailable on a first-degree murder charge, and dismissal for delay at this stage would require a showing nobody has made. The request was denied, as expected, and it placed on the record that the defense is objecting to the time.
The Clancy comparison
Krowski raised Lindsay Clancy himself, saying the Clancy trial had opened “a discourse … about whether or not we want to criminalize mental illness” and that he hoped the Norfolk District Attorney “takes a different approach in how we prosecute women suffering from profound mental health problems.” He said it was “pretty obvious” his client had a history of mental illness.
The legal test is the same in both cases. Under Commonwealth v. McHoul, a defendant is not criminally responsible if, because of mental disease or defect, she lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct or to conform it to the law. The facts are not the same. Clancy’s defense rested on postpartum psychosis, a condition with a defined window after childbirth. MacAusland is 49 and her children were 6 and 7. Any criminal responsibility defense would have to be built from her own history and from the evaluations that follow, which is what “everything is on the table” means. We explain the defense in our guide to not guilty by reason of insanity.
What to watch
- The medical examiner’s report. Prosecutors said weeks. When it arrives, expect a Norfolk County grand jury to be convened.
- An indictment. If returned before October 29, the District Court case will be dismissed and MacAusland arraigned again in Norfolk Superior Court.
- The charging theory. First-degree murder can rest on deliberate premeditation, extreme atrocity or cruelty, or felony murder. The indictment will say which.
- Competency. No evaluation has been reported. A judge may order one under chapter 123, section 15, at any point.
- The Norfolk District Attorney. Michael W. Morrissey is not seeking reelection. Decisions about a plea or a charging change will belong to his successor.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. REACH Beyond Domestic Violence, which serves Wellesley, operates a confidential hotline at 1-800-899-4000.
Where is Janette MacAusland now?
Held without bail. At arraignment the judge granted a defense request that she be housed at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee.
Has she been indicted?
No. Prosecutors are waiting for the medical examiner’s cause-of-death finding. The District Court complaint remains pending, with a hearing set for October 29, 2026.
What did she tell police?
According to the affidavit, she told an officer in Vermont, “I strangled them and then I tried to kill myself,” and told her aunt she “wanted the 3 of us to go to God together but it didn’t work.”
Who is her husband?
Samuel MacAusland, who filed for divorce in October 2025 seeking custody of the children and the Wellesley home. He has not commented publicly.
Who is her lawyer?
Joseph Krowski Jr., appointed by the court. Jeff Rubin represented her in the Vermont extradition proceeding.
Is she claiming insanity?
Not yet. Her lawyer says he will not discuss defenses until he has the full file, and most of the court record is impounded.
What is the next court date?
October 29, 2026, in Dedham District Court.
Sources: The Boston Globe (April 26, April 27, May 5, May 6 and September 10, 2026), NBC Boston, CBS Boston, Boston 25, Boston.com, WHDH, The Swellesley Report, VTDigger and WCAX. Custody timeline from Norfolk Probate and Family Court records as reported by the Globe and Boston 25. Janette MacAusland is presumed innocent; nothing alleged by the Commonwealth has been proved. General information about Massachusetts law, not legal advice.