Debt, Escort Service, Then Murder?

British Man Accused Of Killing Wife, Daughter Visited Racy Web Sites

(CBS/AP)  A man accused of killing his wife and baby daughter visited the Web sites of escort services and accessed directions to at least one just two days before his family was shot, according to documents released Monday.

Neil Entwistle, 27, was arrested in his native England last week and charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 20 slayings of his wife, Rachel, and their 9-month-old daughter, Lillian, at their home in the Boston suburb of Hopkinton.

Prosecutors said they believe Entwistle killed his wife and daughter after becoming despondent over mounting debt.

In an arrest warrant affidavit released last week, investigators said Entwistle had tens of thousands of dollars in debt and also "had recently expressed a dissatisfaction with his sex life."

British authorities signed an order Friday authorizing Entwistle's return to Massachusetts, but it wasn't clear when he would arrive.

One affidavit describes a telephone conversation between state trooper Robert Manning and Entwistle on Jan. 23, while Entwistle was at his parents' home in Worksop, England.

Entwistle allegedly told Manning that on the day of the killings, he had left the house to run errands — and that when he returned he found his wife in the master bedroom, partially covered with a comforter.

"Neil said that he pulled down the comforter, saw his wife was pale, saw blood on the baby and that the baby had been shot, and they were dead," Manning recounted.

The trooper said Entwistle decided to drive to his wife's parents' home in Carver, 50 miles away, "since he had no number to call them." Authorities say they believe Entwistle used a .22-caliber handgun owned by his father-in-law to kill his wife and daughter, then drove back to Carver to return the weapon before catching a flight to England.

The court filings released Monday at the request of news organizations include affidavits filed in support of search warrants for Entwistle's home, car and computer. Investigators spell out their reasons for seeking warrants, as well as lists of items found during the searches.

Framingham District Court Judge Robert Greco agreed Monday to make public more than 200 pages. Some information remained sealed.

Entwistle visited the Web sites of several escort services and sought out directions to at least one two days before the slayings, according to the documents.

Prosecutors said Monday they did not know if Entwistle had hired an attorney in Massachusetts. He may be assigned a lawyer if he declares himself indigent.

Last week, hours after British authorities arrested a man in the shooting deaths of his wife and baby daughter at a London subway station, U.S. officials shed new light on the slayings, which shattered a peaceful Boston suburb last month and neighbors' perception of a happy family.