Police: Briton accused in slayings looked for sex

WOBURN, Mass. -- In the weeks before his wife and baby daughter were slain, a British man posted a profile on a swingers Web site, saying he was looking to meet "American women of all ages" for sex, a police detective testified Thursday in his murder trial.

Neil Entwistle, 29, is accused of fatally shooting his 27-year-old wife, Rachel and their 9-month-old daughter, Lillian Rose, at their Hopkinton home in January 2006. Prosecutors allege Entwistle was despondent over mounting debt and dissatisfied with his sex life.

Medford police Detective Lawrence James testified Thursday that Entwistle used his credit card to purchase a monthlong membership to "AdultFriendFinder.com" in December 2005. In his profile, he describing himself as an Englishman who had recently moved to the United States looking for "1-on-1 discrete (sic) relationships with American ladies."

The Web site bills itself as "The World's Largest Sex & Swinger Personals Community."

James testified that Entwistle's profile said: "I need to confirm what friends have told me, that you are much better in bed than the women over the ocean. ... We both want the same thing so there is little point dragging it out here."

Later when Medical Examiner William Zane testified about the wounds and causes of death for Rachel and Lillian, defense attorney Stephanie Page aggressively cross-examined him and suggested he should not have ruled out suicide.

Zane said Rachel Entwistle probably died immediately from a gunshot wound to the head that penetrated her brain. Zane testified the bullet entered near the top of her head, just beyond her hairline.

Lillian died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. The bullet pierced her liver and one of her kidneys and probably caused her to bleed to death "within a minute or minutes," Zane said.

The bullet that struck Lillian in the abdomen traveled into Rachel's left breast, where it was later recovered, Zane said. Mother and baby were found cuddled together in bed, both wearing pajamas, with Rachel's right arm over Lillian's chest.

Page repeatedly asked Zane if he was ever told by investigators that tests on Rachel Entwistle's hands showed gunshot residue on the front and back of both hands. He said he did not know about the tests results, which came back after he completed his autopsy.

Zane said the presence of gunshot residue could mean one of three things: that Rachel handled the gun, fired the gun or was near the gun when it was fired. Zane said learning that Rachel Entwistle had gunshot residue on her hands does not change his opinion that she was murdered, but tells him only that she was "in the room when the gun was discharged."

A state police chemist who testified earlier said gunshot residue could travel up to three feet.

Prosecutors say the .22-caliber handgun used in the killing was owned by Rachel Entwistle's stepfather, Joseph Matterazzo, and kept in his home in Carver. Prosecutors believe Entwistle stole the gun, used it to kill his wife and daughter, then drove more than 50 miles to Carver and returned it. The defense did not offer an explanation on how the gun would have been returned to Carver if Rachel Entwistle committed suicide.

Entwistle told police he returned home from shopping to find the victims dead in a bed in the master bedroom.

After Page's cross-examination of Zane, prosecutor Michael Fabbri followed up by focusing on the bullet that entered the baby's abdomen and then went into her mother's breast.

"Have you ever been involved in a suicide where one person tries to inflict their own death by shooting through another person?" Fabbri asked.

"No, I haven't," Zane replied.

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