Bob_Ward's Blog

I believe the strongest evidence against Neil Entwistle in his double murder trial are the statements he made after the murders of his wife Rachel and their nine-month-old daughter Lillian in their rented Hopkinton home.

Today, after devastating DNA evidence was introduced (more about that in a moment) two of Neil Entwistle's UK friends took the stand. Both men were with Neil the night before he was arrested.

At dinner, Benjamin Prior asked Neil what happened. And what Neil allegedly said to his friend is loaded with inconsistencies.

Benjamin says that Neil told him that on the morning of the murders, Neil left the house, and when he returned at around 11am, he discovered the bodies of Rachel and Lillian in the upstairs bedroom.

Upset, Neil ran downstairs to get a knife to kill himself, lost his nerve, and then drove to Carver because he knew his father in law had a gun collection. Once there, Neil settled down and realized he needed to tell someone what had happened.

Neil said he drove to the workplace of Priscilla Matterazzo, Rachel's mom, and told her what he found at the house. Then he went back to the Carver house where grieving family members were gathering. At some point he speaks over the phone to Massachusetts State Police.

Eventually, Neil wants to be alone, so he drives to the only other place in  Massachusetts he knows: Logan Airport. And eventually he gets the idea to go home to the UK so he can be with his own family.

Neil allegedly tells his friends he is having financial problems. He says he and Rachel bought the Hopkinton home with a 100 percent mortgage, and that they bought the BMW, but neither had jobs. He said he would probably declare bankruptcy in the UK.

He said the couple's financial problems were compounded by the fact that Rachel wanted to completely furnish the Hopkinton house with furniture bought on credit.

Another UK friend, Daschiel Munding testified that Neil told him essentially the same story with some key differences.

Neil told him that he remembered the back door to the Hopkinton house was left unlocked when he went to do an errand at Staples on the morning of the murders, and that it was still unlocked when he returned.

Munding says that Neil told him he went to Carver because he knew his father-in-law had a gun collection. And Neil wanted to make sure the guns were secure, that nothing was wrong.

On the day of Rachel and Lillian's funeral, Neil told Munding that he spent time at the place where he proposed to Rachel. When pressed where that was, Munding didn't know.

The stories are key because we know Neil did not show up at Priscilla's workplace, he did not return to the Carver home to grieve with friends, he did not speak with Massachusetts State Police before he returned to the UK. Also, the Hopkinton house was rented, so too was the BMW.

In addition to all of this, there is still more.

To the DNA.

My colleague, Ted Daniel, has blogged about the DNA on the murder weapon.

Here's more DNA evidence.

We now know the DNA found on the bedroom walls, away from the bed, belongs to Rachel. Those blood stains were four feet nine inches off the ground. Rachel was five feet tall. It looks to me like Rachel was shot there and then placed on the bed.

The sperm found on Rachel's clothes and in her body belonged to Neil Entwistle.

Still more evidence.

Neil Entwistle did not attend his wife and daughter's funeral, but he did order flowers from a Pembroke florist.

Neil ordered an orange rose and a white lilly with a card that read: "My orange rose and my lilly for always xoxoxo.

Neil also ordered flowers for his parents, and the next day he called with another order for other family and friends in the UK.

The florist testified the caller identified himself as Neil Entwistle and he gave two phone numbers, both of which were UK numbers.

Finally, a forensic computer technician testified about a Toshiba laptop and its hard drive. On January 16, just days before the murder, someone logging on as "ent" conducted a Google search for the phrase "How to Kill With A Knife." That search was done at 12:54:45.

And with that, court recessed for the day.

Again, what do you think?

Bob Ward