Janette MacAusland Indicted for Murder of Two Wellesley Children

Janette MacAusland, 49, an acupuncturist from Wellesley, Massachusetts, was indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury on two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of her 6-year-old daughter Ella and 7-year-old son Kai. Prosecutors allege the children were strangled “on or about” April 22 2026. After the killings, MacAusland fled to her aunt’s home in Bennington, Vermont, where she was found with a large throat wound and subsequently arrested.

Acupuncturist mother is indicted for the strangulation murders of her two young children at $1.5m New England home while she was going through nasty divorce WBTS - NBC 10 - BostonBreitbart

The murders occurred amid a contentious divorce between MacAusland and her husband, Samuel MacAusland, who filed for divorce in October 2025 and was seeking full custody of the children and control of the family home. A court-appointed guardian had been slated to represent the children at a May 5 hearing that never took place. The case follows a series of recent filicide prosecutions in Massachusetts, prompting public discussion about the intersection of mental illness and criminal liability.

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• April 22 2026 – Alleged date of the children’s strangulation.

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• April 24 2026 – MacAusland’s first Massachusetts court appearance; she wept openly as prosecutors outlined the alleged events.

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• May 5 2026 – Planned hearing on child-custody matters that was not held.

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• October 29 2026 (scheduled) – Arraignment in Norfolk County Superior Court.

Acupuncturist mother is indicted for the strangulation murders of her two young children at $1.5m New England home while she was going through nasty divorce

• Victims: Ella MacAusland, 6; Kai MacAusland, 7.

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• Cause of death (as reported by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner): mechanical asphyxia combined with acute intoxication from zolpidem (Ambien), acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil), and lorazepam (Ativan).

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• Legal status: two counts of first-degree murder; held without bail at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center in Chicopee.

Acupuncturist mother is indicted for the strangulation murders of her two young children at $1.5m New England home while she was going through nasty divorce

• Office of the Chief Medical Examiner: ruled the deaths homicides caused by mechanical asphyxia and the combined effects of the listed substances.

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• Norfolk District Attorney’s Office: requested additional time to develop the case while awaiting the medical examiner’s definitive cause-of-death determination.

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• Defense attorney Joseph Krowski: argued the case should not be conflated with the Lindsay Clancy trial and raised concerns about criminalizing mental illness.

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• NBC Boston noted that, four months after the children’s deaths, the medical examiner had not yet issued a final cause-of-death determination, prompting a prosecutorial delay.

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• The Boston Globe and the Daily Mail reported that the medical examiner had identified both mechanical asphyxia and acute intoxication as the cause of death.

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• The discrepancy reflects an ongoing clarification of the forensic findings.

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• “This is not Lindsay Clancy 2.0. Janette MacAusland is her own woman, but there's been a discussion, a discourse that's opened up in this country about whether or not we want to criminalize mental illness,” — Joseph Krowski

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MacAusland’s arraignment is scheduled for October 29 2026. The court will address the pending murder charges and consider pre-trial matters, including bail status and the availability of further forensic evidence.

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