Police officers testify against Entwistle

Today at Middlesex Superior Court, three police officers gave testimony against Neil Entwistle. The first witness was Sgt. Michael Sutton, a Hopkinton police officer who twice searched Neil and Rachel Entwistle's house. Sutton and Officer Aaron O'Neil conducted a "wellness check" on January 21, 2006 at the request of Rachel's friend, Joanna Gately. During this initial search, the officers used a plastic card to open the locked front door, walked through the house, and briefly looked inside all the rooms to see if there was anyone inside who was in need of assistance. Sutton said he observed various lights on in the house, heard music playing in the nursery, and saw that there was water in an upstairs bathtub. In the master bedroom, he noticed that the bedding was in a pile in the middle of the bed. However, he did not find any blood, broken objects, or anything out of the ordinary.

The next day, January 22, after Rachel's family and friends filed a missing persons report, Sutton and Detective Scott Van Raalten searched the house again. This time Sutton noticed a smell that had not been there before, and followed the smell up to the master bedroom on the second floor. He saw a pair of glasses and a woman's watch on the floor near the bed, and then lifted the comforter slightly and saw a woman's foot. Sutton and Van Raalten lifted the comforter near the head of the bed and discovered a baby's face and a woman's face. After discovering the bodies of Rachel and her baby Lillian, the officers searched the house more thoroughly in an attempt to find a third victim, but Neil was nowhere to be found.

On cross examination, Elliot Weinstein criticized Sutton for breaking into the house and pointed out that he found nothing wrong on the first search. "And you learned that things aren't always as they appear to be?" he asked. Weinstein also criticized Sutton for failing to contact Neil's parents to see if they knew where he was and for neglecting to have any police officers drive by the house during the night of January 21 to check the property.

After Sutton's testimony, Sgt. Steven Bennett, a state police officer who works at Logan Airport, described how he photographed the white BMW X3 that Neil left in an airport parking garage after flying home to England.

Next, Sgt. Mary Ritchie, a state police trooper who works with the crime scene services unit, testified about the crime scene and began to describe fingerprint evidence in the case. She and other officers processed the crime scene in the Hopkinton home in the early morning hours of January 23. Rachel and Lillian were covered under layers of bedding and were both wearing sleepwear. Lillian had a bullet hole in her chest and another in her back, as well as bruising to her face. Rachel was struck in the chest by the bullet that passed through Lillian, and it was discovered later that she was actually killed by a gunshot to her head, just above the hairline. In addition to testifying about the crime scene, Ritchie explained how fingerprints are formed and said that there were 9 to 10 prints on the .22 Colt revolver that is the alleged murder weapon. The court got to see the gun for the first time, although it was difficult to get a good view of it because it was in a box. None of the prints found on the gun were complete enough to be matched to any particular person, however. Ritchie will continue her testimony tomorrow as the prosecution attempts to link the gun to Neil Entwistle.