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COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
MIDDLESEX, SS. SUPERIOR COURT DEPARTMENT
DOCKET NO.
2006-387-001 TO 004
COMMONWEALTH
V.
NEIL ENTWISTLE
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Now comes the Commonwealth and submits the following statement of the case in the above-entitled matter. This statement of the case is not intended to serve as a bill of particulars or otherwise limit the evidence in the Commonwealth’s case, but only as a summary of the facts to assist the Court in generally understanding the nature and circumstances of this case.
On January 22, 2006, the bodies of 27 year old Rachel Entwistle and her nine month old daughter Lillian were found next to each other in bed under a blanket in their home in Hopkinton, Massachussets.1 Rachel was last heard from by a friend on the evening of January 19, 2006. An autopsy revealed that Rachel died from a single .22 caliber gunshot wound to the head and Lillian died from a single .22 caliber gunshot wound to the chest. There was no sign of a forced entry or break-in to the home, and no shell casings were found at the scene. The husband and father, Neil Entwistle, the defendant in this case – as well as the family’s sole car were all missing from the premises.
Police began their investigation and shortly learned that the Entwistle’s BMW was in a parking garage at Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts. It was locked and unoccupied with the car keys inside. Airport records and surveillance cameras revealed that on January 20, 2006, the vehicle entered the garage at approximately 8:14 pm, left at 9:34 pm, re-entered at 10:49 pm, and remained there until its discovery by the police. Bank records and surveillance tapes show that from between about 8:30 pm and 9:15 pm, also on January 20, 2006, the defendant attempted several cash transactions (some of which were declined) from two separate ATM machines using a number of different credit cards.2 Credit card and gas station records show that the defendant made a gasoline purchase shortly after 10:00 pm on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill. Also, airline records show that at approximately 7:00 am on January 21, 2006, the defendant purchased a one way ticket to London, England, by telephone and flew out of Logan at approximately 8:15 am without any luggage.
On January 23, 2006, police called the defendant at the home of his parents in Worksop, England. The defendant told police (during a recorded telephone call to which he consented) that on January 20, 2006, at approximately 9:00 am, he had left his Hopkinton home to do an errand. He said his wife and daughter were in bed together napping when he left. He said he returned at approximately 11:00 am and found his wife and daughter dead from gunshot wounds. He claimed that when he discovered his wife and daughter he could see a gunshot wound on Lillian’s body and blood around her mouth. He said he did not call for emergency assistance, but instead covered the bodies with a comforter and then got a knife to kill himself, but could not go through with it. He said he left the home in the family car and drove to his in-laws home in Carver, Massachusetts, to get a gun from that house so he could kill himself. He said he could not get into the home so he left to go to his mother-in-law’s office to tell her, but he claimed he could not find the office. He said he then drove to Logan airport because he wanted to go home to his parents in England. The defendant also told the police that (1) because he and his wife had only recently moved to Hopkinton, only a few friends and family members knew where they lived, (2) he had no problems in his business or personal life that would cause someone to commit the murders, and (3) he had no idea who would do this to his wife and daughter. He added that he recently had a job prospect that had fallen through but he had not yet told his wife about it, whom he believed would be disappointed with the news.
Crime scene investigators and forensic chemists were at the scene for several hours before they determined that Lillian Entwistle had been shot. In particular, the gunshot wound to Lillian was only discovered after her and her mother’s body had been moved during the processing of the scene. At the time of the discovery of the bodies, a pillow partially covered Lillian’s face and body, and Rachel’s right arm was stretched across Lillian’s chest such that it was concealing the gunshot wound from view. Also, it was not until the autopsy that investigators determined that Rachel had been killed by a gunshot wound to the head as the wound was located above the forehead hairline and displayed little bleeding.
Police discovered keys to the Hopkinton and Carver family homes locked inside the Entwistle car at Logan airport. A forensic examination of a .22 caliber revolver (to which the defendant had access and had previously used, but one which Rachel Entwistle had not previously handled) belonging to Entwistle’s father in-law revealed that DNA matching the defendant was found on the grip of the firearm. The statistical probability of the DNA match is approximately 1 in 5.299 trillion. Also, DNA matching Rachel Entwistle was found on the muzzle end of the firearm. The statistical probability of this DNA match is approximately 1 in 21.82 quadrillion.
An examination of the defendant’s laptop computer showed that in the days prior to the murders, Entwistle had been searching the Internet for information on how to commit suicide and how to kill someone with a knife. The computer examination also revealed that during this same time period, the defendant was attempting to locate and contact “escort services” (persons providing sexual favors.) The examination showed that the defendant accessed a website named “Adult Friend Finder” through which he sent a series of emails between himself and another person (apparently a female) in which the defendant says he is in a current relationship but looking for a bit more fun in the bedroom and a very discrete relationship just for fun.
Police also learned that following the defendant’s return to England, he told friends there a different version of his activities after claiming to have discovered his wife’s and daughter’s bodies. The defendant said to the friends that he had indeed been able to locate his mother-in-laws place of business, told her of his discovery of the bodies, and then gathered with family back in Carver to mourn the news.3 He also told his that once back at the Carver home, he began to feel left out. It was only then that he decided to return to his own family in England, going straight home after arriving in London on the evening of January 21, 2006. Further evidence, however, shows that the defendant rented a car, spent a night in a hotel located about an hour past his home and drove almost 800 miles before going to his parents’ home on January 23, 2006.
Further police investigation has revealed that prior to January 20, 2006, the defendant had accumulated debts in the tens of thousands of dollars, and had been unable to secure employment since his arrival in the United States the fall of 2005. Moreover, the defendant did not return to the United States for the funeral of his wife and child. Rather, he had faxed a letter to the Medical Examiner’s office in Boston relinquishing all responsibility for burial arrangements to his in-laws in Carver. Also, the defendant called the attorney representing the owner of 6 Cubs Path in Hopkinton and told him that he was relinquishing all interest in the residence and the contents of the Hopkinton home.
A check with the Criminal History Systems Board reveals that the defendant has neither a license to carry a firearm or a firearm identification card.
__________________________
1 The family had only lived in the home for about ten days, having just moved there from Rachel’s family home in Carver, Massachusetts.
2 One of the ATM machines was in the international terminal and the other was in a domestic terminal. The two terminals are about a fifteen minute walk apart.
3 In fact, no one other than the defendant knew of the deaths of Rachel and Lillian until their bodies were discovered by police on the evening of January 22, 2006.
Respectfully Submitted
For the Commonwealth,
MARTHA COAKLEY
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
_____________________
MICHAEL FABBRI
Assistant District Attorney
63 Fountain Street, Suite 404
Framingham, MA 01702
Tel: (508) 875-4141
BBO # 157110
Dated: April __, 2006