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Murder suspect searched Web for ways to kill

Days before his American wife and baby daughter were shot to death, Briton Neil Entwistle searched the Internet for ways to kill people.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Days before his wife and baby daughter were shot to death, Neil Entwistle searched the Internet for ways to kill people, authorities said.

He also looked for escort services and Web sites that offer help finding sexual partners, according to search warrant documents released Monday.

Entwistle, 27, was arrested in his native England last week and charged 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.

U.S. marshals are expected to bring Entwistle back to Massachusetts this week. A spokesman for the office said Tuesday he had no information on the date or time.

The documents depict Neil Entwistle as a secretive man who was sinking deep into debt without telling his family. He had not worked since he and his wife moved to Massachusetts from England with their daughter about five months before the deaths. His wife, who had been a teacher, also was not working.

“It appears that Neil and Rachel Entwistle had accumulated a sizable amount of debt and may have been living well beyond their means,” State Trooper Michael Banks said in an affidavit.

Internet searches
A judge ordered the search warrant documents released at the request of news organizations, over the objections of the district attorney, who said the material could compromise her investigation.

A search of Entwistle’s computer revealed he searched the Internet for information about suicide, euthanasia and “killing people with a knife,” on Jan. 16 and 17, investigators said.

The same week, he obtained the names and addresses of various escort services. He also visited a Web site called “Adult Friend Finder,” which investigators said helps subscribers find sexual partners.

Entwistle is accused of using his father-in-law’s handgun to shoot Rachel in the head and Lillian in the abdomen. Authorities said he may have planned to commit suicide, but instead fled to his parents’ home in England.

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.