Witness: Bury them 'the way I left them,' Entwistle said

WOBURN, Massachusetts (AP) -- A British man accused of fatally shooting his wife and 9-month-old daughter asked if they could be buried together because "that's the way I left them," his father-in-law testified Monday.

Neil Entwistle is accused of fatally shooting his wife, Rachel, 27, and their daughter, Lillian Rose, in their Hopkinton home in January 2006.

Entwistle and his wife's stepfather, Joseph Matterazzo, discussed funeral arrangements shortly after their bodies were found.

During a telephone conversation, Entwistle asked if his wife and daughter could be buried together, Matterazzo testified.

"He says, 'because that's the way I left them, I mean, that's the way I found them,"' Matterazzo recalled Entwistle saying.

When Assistant District Attorney Michael Fabbri asked Matterazzo if he was certain of what Entwistle said, Matterazzo replied emphatically, "That's exactly what he said."

Prosecutors allege Entwistle was in debt and dissatisfied with his sex life when he shot his family with Matterazzo's gun, then bought a one-way airline ticket home to England.

Entwistle told police he returned home from doing errands on January 20, 2006, and found his wife and daughter together in bed, dead from gunshot wounds. He said he pulled a heavy comforter over them, and returned to England distraught without calling police.

Prosecutors say searches of Entwistle's computer records for the months before the killings showed he had looked for escort services and had researched methods of murder and suicide.

Matterazzo testified that Entwistle called him from his parents' home in Worksop, England, several times in the days after the killings.

The day after Hopkinton police found the bodies, Entwistle called in a "whimpering" voice and told Matterazzo that he had discovered his wife and daughter fatally shot in their bed three days earlier, Matterazzo testified.

"He said, 'Hi, Joe. I don't know how things got like this,"' Matterazzo recalled Entwistle saying.

"I asked him, 'Neil, did you do this or do you know who did this?"' Matterazzo said. "He said, 'No, I do not."'

Matterazzo also testified about taking Entwistle target shooting with him twice during the fall of 2005. During the first outing, he said he showed Entwistle how to load and fire several guns, including the .22-caliber revolver authorities say Entwistle used to kill his wife and daughter.

Authorities have said they believe Entwistle took the gun, shot his wife and daughter, then drove 40 miles back to return the weapon before he left the country.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

All About Neil Entwistle • Rachel Entwistle • Criminal Trials