In court, Entwistle denies slaying family
CAMBRIDGE -- Neil Entwistle gave friends in his native England a starkly different account of his actions after the gunshot slayings of his wife and baby daughter from what he told investigators, according to a document filed yesterday by prosecutors.
Entwistle told friends he found the bodies of his wife, Rachel, and 9-month-old Lillian Rose Entwistle in their Hopkinton home, drove to his mother-in-law's workplace to tell her about the discovery, and then mourned with his in-laws at their Carver house, according to a statement of the case by prosecutors.
He returned to England, he told friends, because he felt ''left out" while grieving with his in-laws, said the statement by Assistant Middlesex District Attorney Michael Fabbri. The prosecutor filed the document after Entwistle pleaded not guilty yesterday to two counts of murder and other charges at a Superior Court arraignment attended by his in-laws and a dozen of their supporters.
The account contrasted sharply with what the 27-year-old unemployed engineer allegedly told a detective who called him at his parents' house in Worksop, England, on Jan. 23, the day after authorities discovered the bodies.
In an affidavit unsealed in February, police said Entwistle told the detective that he found the bodies after returning from an errand, covered them on the bed with a comforter, and grabbed a knife to kill himself, but could not do it.
He told the detective that he then drove 50 miles to his in-laws' house to get a gun to shoot himself, said the affidavit. But when he could not get inside the house, he went to Logan International Airport to get a flight to England.
Neither account is accurate, say authorities. They contend that Entwistle, despondent over his home life and his tens of thousands of dollars in debts, killed his family on the morning of Jan. 20 with a .22-caliber revolver that he had taken from the gun collection of his father-in-law, Joseph Matterazzo, and that he returned to the Carver house hours after the slayings.
Police say that he then fled Massachusetts on an 8:15 a.m. flight to London on Jan. 21, before the bodies were discovered the following day, after buying a one-way ticket and boarding without luggage. On arriving in England, he rented a car, stayed overnight in a hotel about an hour from his parent's home in Worksop, and then drove almost 800 miles around the country before arriving at his parents' house on Jan. 23, the statement said.
Entwistle's lawyer, Elliot M. Weinstein, refused to discuss any aspect of the case yesterday, and accused reporters of trafficking in ''voyeuristic entertainment at the price of a man accused of murder." Because of widespread international news coverage, he said, it is impossible for Entwistle to get a fair trial anywhere.
Entwistle's arraignment was his second court appearance since he waived extradition and was returned to the United States on Feb. 15. He stood handcuffed and mute, clad in an elegant dark suit, pale pink dress shirt, and necktie while Weinstein entered not-guilty pleas before Superior Court Judge Peter M. Lauriat. Lauriat ordered that Entwistle be held without bail, and said the trial is likely to take place next April.
Neil Entwistle did not attend the funerals of his wife and daughter. In another previously undisclosed detail, Fabbri's statement said Entwistle faxed a letter to the state medical examiner's office relinquishing responsibility for burial arrangements to his in-laws.
According to the case summary, Entwistle told police that he had no problems in his business or personal life ''that would cause someone to commit the murders, and . . . he had no idea who would do this to his wife and daughter."
That remark could hinder a potential defense by Entwistle's legal team. Entwistle had launched several business ventures on the Internet that generated complaints but little income, and detectives had explored the possibility that someone angered by an online enterprise had committed the crimes.
Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com. 
