Entwistle murder case

Infobox Criminal
subject_name = Neil Entwistle


image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = birth date and age|1978|9|18
place_of_birth = Nottinghamshire, England
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
alias =
conviction = 2 counts of Murder, 1st degree
(murders of wife Rachel and daughter Lillian)
penalty = Life imprisonment
status = Incarcerated in Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center
occupation = Computer programmer
spouse = Rachel Entwistle
(murdered by Neil)
parents = Clifford and Yvonne Entwistle
children = Lillian Entwistle
(murdered by Neil)The Entwistle murder case concerns an English man, Neil Entwistle, convicted of murdering his American wife, Rachel, and their infant daughter Lillian on January 20, 2006 in the US.

The bodies of 27-year-old Rachel and 9-month-old Lillian were found on January 22, in the master bedroom of the couple's rented Hopkinton, Massachusetts home where the Entwistles had been living for only ten days. Autopsy results showed that Rachel died of a gunshot wound to the head, and the baby died of a gunshot wound to the stomach.

His trial for murder began on June 2, 2008 in Woburn, MA. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7439176.stm Accused 'had plan to sell story'] ] He was found guilty on all charges on June 25, 2008 and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole on June 26, 2008.

Aftermath of murders

Just hours after the deaths of his wife and daughter, Entwistle purchased a one-way ticket to London about 5:00 AM EST on the morning of January 21, and boarded a British Airways flight that left at 8:15 AM.

On January 23, Hopkinton Police located Entwistle at the home of his parents, Clifford and Yvonne Entwistle, in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England. Entwistle told them that he left his Hopkinton home at around 9:00 AM EST three days previously to run an errand, and that his wife and daughter were both alive and well and in the bed in the couple's master bedroom. When he returned at around 11:00 AM EST, he claimed to have found both had been shot dead. He then covered the bodies of his wife and infant daughter with a blanket. He did not alert authorities.

Entwistle told the police that he was so distraught upon seeing the corpses of his wife and daughter that he decided to kill himself. However, because he was unable to bring himself to end his life with a knife, he drove the family car to his father-in-law Joseph Materazzo's house to get a .22 caliber handgun. Finding the house locked, he told police that he then decided to fly home to England to see his parents.

Entwistle's speedy departure from the scene of the deaths of his family was not the only reason authorities questioned his version of the events. Entwistle's DNA was found on the handle of the same .22 handgun owned by his father-in-law that he told authorities he'd never touched. Additionally, DNA matching that of his wife Rachel was found on the gun's muzzle. Also, a set of keys to Materazzo's house were found in the car Entwistle left at Boston's Logan Airport.

A search of Entwistle's computer also revealed that days before the murders, Entwistle looked at a website that described "how to kill people" and searched for escort services. [http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/02/14/entwistle.documents/] Contrary to outward appearances, Entwistle had been unemployed since September 2005 and was essentially penniless at the time of the killings. Authorities suspected a financial motivation for the killings.

Investigations and evidence

Initial police investigation

On 21 January, the day after the murder is alleged to have been committed, police officers attended the Entwistle's home at 8:27 p.m following up a call by Rachel Entwistle's mother and a friend. The police however failed to find the bodies of Rachel and Lillian after making only a cursory check. A second search the following evening revealed the bodies which had previously been obscured by bedding. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7448870.stm US Police 'failed to spot bodies'] , BBC News, 11 June 2008]

On 23 January police investigators then contacted Neil Entwistle at his parents' home in Worksop, England. According to reports, Entwistle told police that he had found the bodies of his wife and baby dead at about 11 a.m. on the 20th, and had no idea who killed them.

Police subsequently named Entwistle as a person of interest in the investigation before later issuing an international arrest warrant. After he was traced to London, on February 9 2006, Entwistle was arrested on a Tube train at Royal Oak station, following detailed searches by officers at his parents' house. He initially requested that he not be sent back to the United States, however he later conceded to extradition.

District attorney's statement

The then Middlesex County District Attorney Martha Coakley (who successfully prosecuted British au pair Louise Woodward in 1997) told a press conference after Entwistle’s arrest: “On Thursday night (January 19, 2006), Rachel was alive and had spoken with family members."

“At some time on Friday morning, Neil Entwistle — with a firearm we believe he had secured at sometime before that from father in-law Joseph Materazzo — shot Rachel Entwistle in the head and then proceeded to shoot baby Lillian, who was lying on the bed next to her mother."

“We believe possibly this was intended to be a murder-suicide, but we cannot confirm that. Obviously the murder was effected, but the suicide was not."

“What we believe happened next was that Neil Entwistle returned the gun to his father-in-law’s home in Carver, then made preparations to leave the country. As we know, he was observed at Logan International Airport."

“He purchased a one-way ticket on British Airways at approximately 5am on Saturday morning, January 22. He was on an 8:15 flight to the United Kingdom on that day."

“Based upon forensic information late Tuesday afternoon that linked the .22 handgun owned by Joseph Materazzo both to Neil Entwistle and to Rachel, we believed we had probable cause to seek an arrest warrant for Neil Entwistle’s arrest.”

Arrest and events prior to trial

One week after the funeral of his wife and daughter, on 8 February 2006 Neil Entwistle was arrested by the Extradition Unit of London's Metropolitan Police at the Royal Oak underground station. Initially refusing to agree to his extradition, Entwistle eventually agreed to waive his right to contest the extradition order and was flown to the United States on 15 February where he was arraigned at Framingham District Court and ordered to be held without bail at Middlesex County Jail in Cambridge, Massachusetts

A month later on 28 March Entwistle was indicted on two counts of murder, the illegal possession of a firearm and the illegal possession of ammunition. On 11 April he plead not guilty to all charges and was again ordered to be held without bail. Over the following months Entwistle's legal team, led by Elliot Weinstein, fought proposals by the prosecution to use DNA evidence and argued, in both cases unsuccessfully, to have the case dismissed.

In December 2006, nearly a year after the death of Rachel and Lillian Entwistle, officers at the Middlesex County Jail where Neil Entwistle was being held found letters to his parents and to his legal team which, according to the addressees, indicated he was depressed and may be contemplating suicide. As a result Entwistle was initially transferred to the Bridgewater State Hospital for mental evaluation before being returned to Middlesex. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/6229965.stm Murder accused moved to hospital] , BBC News, 4 January 2007]

In the following months Elliot Weinstein raised further (unsuccessful) legal argument requesting the suppression of evidence found in the family home. The basis for the motion was that Entwistle had not given police or prosecutors permission to enter the home without a warrant.

On 11 September 2007 Entwistle's legal team successfully requested that the trial, due to start on 1 October 2007 be rescheduled to allow the lawyers time to analyze the evidence. Later, on 14 November Elliot Weinstein requested a further delay and the trial was then rescheduled to March 2008. Subsequently the illness of one of Entwistle's lawyers, Stephanie Page, led to a further delay before a new trial was finally set at June 2 2008.

In early June 2008 Middlesex Superior Court began a lengthy juror selection process, punctuated by legal argument that the delay in the trial date and the high profile nature of the murders meant that the defendant would not receive a fair trial. Some media reported that potential jurors were indicating that they formed significant views on the defendant's guilt or otherwise prior to the trial. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7439153.stm Fairness of US murder trial questioned] , BBC News, 6 June 2008]

Conviction

The formal legal arguments in the trial ended on June 23. After deliberating for nine hours over two days, on June 25, 2008, the jury found Entwistle guilty as to the charge of first degree murder. He was also found guilty of the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on June 26, 2008, the mandatory sentence for someone convicted of first degree murder in the state of Massachusetts. Judge Diane Kottmyer imposed two concurrent life sentences on the murder charges and ten years of probation on the firearms and ammunition charges to run concurrent with the life sentences, conditional that he never profit from the sale of his story. [ [http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mostpopular/16716251/detail.html Entwistle Given 2 Life Sentences] , WCVB-TV, 26 June 2008.] Entwistle will be incarcerated at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center, although Judge Kottmyer originally said that he would serve his sentences at MCI-Cedar Junction. [ [http://wbztv.com/local/entwistle.murder.verdict.2.757826.html Entwistle To Share Prison Walls With 'Mucko'] , WBZ-TV, 26 June 2008]

References

External links

* [http://www.entwistlemurdertrial.com/ Neil Entwistle Murder Trial, a site maintained by the MetroWest Daily News for the sole purpose of covering the Entwistle trial]
* [http://www.bostonherald.com/blogs/cityDesk/ Boston Herald editor's blog on Entwistle]
* [http://tnlh323.5u.com/ Neil Entwistle Trial Resources]
*cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Entwistle told police he found his family slain
date=February 11, 2006
publisher=The Boston Globe
url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/02/11/entwistle_told_police_he_found_his_family_slain/
*cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Entwistle charged with killing wife, daughter in alleged murder-suicide plan
date=February 9, 2006
publisher=The Boston Globe
url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/02/09/entwistle_charged_with_killing_wife_daughter_in_alleged_murder_suicide_plan/
*cite news
first=
last=
pages=
title=Rachel Entwistle is recalled as engaging
date=January 31, 2006
publisher=The Boston Globe
url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/01/31/rachel_entwistle_is_recalled_as_engaging/
*cite news
first=Jonathan
last=Raban
pages=3-9
title=Just Two Clicks
date=August 14, 2008
publisher=The London Review of Books
url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n16/raba01_.html