An 88-Year-Old Woman Was Found Dead in February. Just Before Thanksgiving, Her Daughter-in-Law Was Arrested By KC Baker

The close-knit town of Exeter, N.H., was shaken when Janet Rischeill Kelsen, 88, was allegedly bludgeoned to death in her home in February.

Residents and store owners in the sleepy New England town said they worried more about break-ins and theft than homicide, according to Seacoastonline.

“You have something like that happen, especially to an elderly person who is defenseless, it’s not really on your mind,” Ward Dilmore, whose wife manages Exeter Fine Crafts on Water St. in Exeter, told Seacoastonline in February. 

Now, nine months later, authorities have arrested a suspect: Kelsen’s daughter-in-law. Danielle Kelsen, 55, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection to elderly woman’s Feb. 9 death, the Office of the New Hampshire Attorney General said in a Nov. 25 release.

Danielle “recklessly caused the death of Janet Kelsen under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life by inflicting blunt head trauma,” the Attorney General’s Office claimed in the release.

Danielle is also charged with wiretapping and eavesdropping for allegedly using “an electronic device to intercept oral communications between herself and Janet Kelsen,” according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Danielle and her husband lived with Janet in an apartment on Front Street, WMUR reports.

Just before 6 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 9, a relative called 911 to report a medical emergency, police said, WMUR reports.

At the time, Janet’s death was investigated as a possible accident, WMUR reports. That changed when detectives concluded that her injuries were not consistent with a fall, police said, WMUR reports.

Danielle was taken into custody in Southwest Harbor, Maine, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

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In an interview with WMUR, Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati said Danielle is “the only individual who’s been arrested because that’s the only individual that we believe was responsible for this action. There shouldn’t be any sort of speculation with regards to another person that was living in the home at the time.”

Authorities have not disclosed what led to the alleged murder.

Following a preliminary hearing on whether she was a fugitive from justice, Danielle is scheduled for an extradition hearing on Dec. 10. 

Following extradition to New Hampshire, Danielle is expected to be arraigned in 10th Circuit Court in New Hampshire.

It is unclear whether she has retained an attorney who can speak on her behalf.