Accused Killer Entwistle Indicted

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday March 28, 2006 02:50 PM EST

Neil Entwistle after his Feb. 16 arraignment

Stephan Savoia/AP

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Neil Entwistle, the British man accused of killing his wife and 9-month-old daughter in January, was indicted today by a Massachusetts grand jury on first-degree murder charges, the Middlesex, Mass., district attorney's office said in a news release.

Entwistle, 27, who pleaded innocent at his February arraignment, has been held in a Cambridge jail without bail for the deaths of his wife, Rachel, also 27, and their daughter, Lillian Rose.

Prosecutors allege Entwistle, despondent over mounting debts, shot his wife and daughter in their rented home in the Boston suburb of Hopkinton on Jan. 20. A day after the shootings, Entwistle flew home to his parents in England.

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The bodies of Rachel and Lillian Entwistle were discovered on Jan. 22, after friends and family members became concerned.

On Feb. 9, Entwistle was arrested in England and agreed to return to the U.S.

Neil Entwistle, with Rachel and newborn Lillian

Entwistle Family Web site / AP

Entwistle reportedly told a state police detective that he returned home after running errands to find his wife and daughter dead. According to investigators' affidavits, Entwistle claimed he'd considered suicide but couldn't go through with it.

The case now moves to Middlesex Superior Court, where a new arraignment is expected in coming weeks.