Briton Pleads Not Guilty in Slayings

In a case that has generated widespread publicity on both sides of the Atlantic, an unemployed computer engineer from England was arraigned Thursday in the Massachusetts shooting deaths of his American wife and infant daughter.

Neil Entwistle, 27, appeared in shackles and handcuffs in Framingham District Court as he entered a not-guilty plea to two charges of first-degree murder in the slaying of Rachel Souza Entwistle, 27, and the couple’s 9-month-old, Lillian Rose.

During a two-minute proceeding, Entwistle was ordered held without bail pending a probable-cause hearing March 15. He stared straight ahead and did not make eye contact with his late wife’s mother and stepfather.

Joseph and Priscilla Matterazzo were joined in the courtroom by more than a dozen of their daughter’s friends and relatives. Most carried bouquets of lilies and roses, tied with long white ribbons, in memory of the dark-haired young mother and child who were found dead in a bed in suburban Hopkinton.

“To think that someone we loved, trusted and opened our home to could do this to our daughter and granddaughter is beyond belief,” the Matterazzos said in a statement. “Neil betrayed our trust in so many different ways that it is almost impossible to describe.”

Massachusetts does not permit capital punishment. The mandatory penalty for first-degree murder in Massachusetts is life in prison without parole.

Entwistle’s court-appointed lawyer, Elliot Weinstein, denounced the pretrial publicity surrounding the case. Outside the small courthouse about 22 miles east of Boston, a throng of British and American reporters had gathered Thursday. “I don’t know that Mr. Entwistle will ever be able to get a fair trial on these charges,” he said after the hearing.

“I am certain that anybody watching this telecast or reading the reporting of today’s arraignment has already formed an opinion with respect to Mr. Entwistle’s guilt.... And that opinion is based on absolutely no facts and absolutely no evidence, and that is quite unfortunate.”

Documents released last week by Framingham District Judge Robert V. Greco allege that in the days before the slayings, Entwistle searched the Internet for information about how to kill people and commit suicide. According to the documents, he also sought sex partners on the Web shortly before the killings.

Entwistle was arrested last week at a London subway stop, 2 1/2 weeks after the victims were found dead in a rented home the family had lived in for just 10 days. After at first vowing to fight extradition, Entwistle agreed to return to the United States to face trial. He arrived at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts late Wednesday.

Prosecutors have said they believe the mother and child were killed the morning of Jan. 20. Rachel Entwistle died from a bullet wound to the head. The baby was shot once in the abdomen.

The victims were found two days later in the Entwistles’ bed, under a heap of linens. Rachel was wrapped around Lillian as if they had been sleeping, with no indication of a struggle.

Middlesex Dist. Atty. Martha Coakley has asserted that Entwistle was despondent over financial problems and that the slayings may have been part of an intended murder-suicide plot.

Investigators say Entwistle had unsuccessfully sought work in the computer field while also maintaining several “get-rich-quick” Internet businesses. Three years ago, he launched and then abandoned an Internet company that offered “free U.K. sex.”

Coakley said Entwistle used a .22-caliber handgun belonging to his wife’s stepfather to commit the slayings. Then, according to investigators, he drove 50 miles to return the weapon to the family’s home in Carver, near Plymouth, while his in-laws were at work, then drove to Logan International Airport.

He apparently failed in his initial attempt to purchase a plane ticket when his credit card was rejected. Early the morning of Jan. 21, he bought a one-way ticket to London by telephone. He remained in seclusion at his parents’ home in Worksop, declining to meet with U.S. investigators who had traveled to England to interview him.

Prosecutors say they have forensic evidence that links Entwistle to the alleged murder weapon.