Janette MacAusland

Charged, not convicted. Janette MacAusland has been indicted on two counts of first-degree murder and is presumed innocent. She remains held without bail.

Introduction

Janette R. MacAusland is a 49-year-old Wellesley, Massachusetts acupuncturist and massage therapist charged with murdering her two young children, seven-year-old Kai and six-year-old Ella, in the family’s home in April 2026 . On October 19, 2026, a Norfolk County grand jury indicted her on two counts of first-degree murder, the development that moved one of the Boston area’s most closely watched criminal cases from district court to the superior court docket . First-degree murder in Massachusetts carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole upon conviction, and MacAusland is presumed innocent .

Background Information

MacAusland lived on Edgemoor Avenue in Wellesley with her two children, both students at Schofield Elementary School — Kai a second grader, Ella a kindergartner . She worked as an acupuncturist and massage therapist, was affiliated with New England Integrated Health and Massachusetts General Hospital, and founded a group called Boston Acupuncture Trauma Relief after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing . She married the children’s father, Samuel MacAusland, in Costa Rica in February 2016; people who knew the family described her as an attentive parent .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The children were killed in April 2026 inside the family’s estimated $1.5 million Wellesley home; the indictments allege the killings occurred “on or about” April 22, according to reporting on the charging documents . At the time, MacAusland and Samuel MacAusland were in the middle of a divorce and custody dispute over the children and the family home . She was arrested on April 24, 2026 after traveling to an aunt’s home in Vermont, where police said she arrived distraught, with a visible neck injury, and said she had killed the children .

At an earlier court appearance her lawyer, Joseph Krowski Jr., sought $25,000 bail with GPS monitoring and home confinement and argued she “should not be deprived of her liberty while they get their act together,” a reference to the medical examiner’s then-pending determination; a judge denied the request . On September 10, 2026, her lawyer asked a Dedham District Court judge to dismiss the charges or set bail and was refused .

The case’s central open question was answered the week of the indictment: a spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said the children died from mechanical asphyxia and acute intoxication from the combined effects of substances including zolpidem, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and lorazepam, and their deaths were ruled a homicide . The determination, first reported by Boston news outlets, removed the evidentiary ambiguity her defense had pointed to and was followed within days by the grand jury’s indictment .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew sustained local and national coverage from April 2026 onward, amplified by the custody dispute that surrounded it and by the children’s ages . The family’s former 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” . Her professional identity as a practitioner who treated trauma survivors made the allegations a recurring subject of commentary in Boston media as the case moved through the courts.

Current Status

MacAusland was indicted on October 19, 2026 and remains held without bail; the case now proceeds in Norfolk Superior Court, with her next hearing scheduled for October 29, 2026 . No arraignment date in superior court had been announced as of the week of the indictment . The charges are unadjudicated, and she is presumed innocent .

Impact on Their Career/Life

MacAusland’s acupuncture and massage practice and her hospital affiliation are effectively ended by her incarceration; she is held at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Correctional Center . Boston Acupuncture Trauma Relief, the organization she founded, no longer lists her publicly in connection with its work. A first-degree murder conviction in Massachusetts would carry a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole .

Sources

• Massachusetts Legal Resources, “Janette MacAusland: The Wellesley Case, the Timeline, and What Happens Next,” updated October 20, 2026 — source
• Daily Mail, “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,” October 2026 — source