Briton spammer extradited to US over murder charge
February 16, 2006
Neil Entwistle, 27, was transferred into the custody of US Marshals at Gatwick Airport, Sussex. He agreed to return to the U.S. following his arrest on Feb. 9 in London on an extradition warrant alleging that he killed his wife, Rachel, 27, and nine-month-old daughter, Lillian Rose.
Entwistle arrived at Hopkinton Police Station in Massachusetts last night wearing handcuffs and leg shackles. He will appear at Framingham District Court at 2pm local time (7pm GMT).
Rachel Elizabeth Souza was a College of the Holy Cross exchange student in England in 1999 when she met Neil Entwistle, a computer specialist who wooed her after the two joined the rowing team at the University of York.
They married in 2003, lived for two years in England, moved to the United States last summer, and lived 5 months with her parents in Carver, before settling last month in a $2,700-per-month rented house at 6 Cubs Path in Hopkinton, a suburb of Boston, and bought at least $6,000 of new furniture. Neil Entwistle drove a BMW, and the family basked in the attention of nearby relatives from Rachel's side of the family, a seeming picture of suburban contentment.
Early in the investigation it became apparent that the façade Entwistle so carefully tried to erect of "the happy family," as seen on the couples' family site (www.rachelandneil.org) was perhaps meant to conceal uglier truths. Journalists, bloggers, and amateur cybersleuths alike combed the Internet for more background on the handsome Brit in the weeks between the murders and his arrest.
The 151 pages of affidavits filed in support of 10 search warrants or filed after the searches portray Entwistle as a man of secrets whose Internet business ventures were in trouble, who was deeply in debt, and who was unable to find a job. After he and his family moved from his native England last year, they spent lavishly on new furniture, a leased BMW, and a four-bedroom rented house.
The documents show that the jobless computer programmer claimed he had a secret government job that even his wife Rachel knew nothing about.
He never talked about where his money came from and used a credit card all the time. His mother-in-law Priscilla Matterazzo said she never saw him use cash.
According to Rachel's parents, Rachel told them she tried to use one of Neil's English credit cards, but the account had been frozen.
His secretiveness was said to have led to rows with his wife. Rachel told her mother most of the couple's money was in offshore accounts. It led Priscilla and her husband Joseph to believe that Entwistle was a spy.
Unable to find a job, Entwistle apparently turned to the Internet. He has been linked through public records to a British website (www.millionmaker.co.uk) that offered to make people millionaires by hosting pornographic websites, in return for upfront payments. It claimed clients could earn £1million in under two years from a £2,000 fee. That website has been shut down, and it is not clear if he ever collected any money.
Here is an example of what Entwistle was selling on eBay — "££ The MILLIONAIRE MONEY MAKER ££ Quick Setup."
"With MillionMaker you can be sure your investment will pay off, and best of all, there’s no waiting years for your return on investment (ROI). We will show you, step-by step, how to successfully promote your adult Internet business and generate at least $6000 per month, within the first six months…"
Millionmaker.co.uk, was shut down three days after the murders.
Entwistle was also linked to an organization called SR Publications, registered in his wife's name, which was kicked off eBay last month over a computer scam.
One of Entwistle's eBay IDs was found especially noteworthy. S R Publications, which Entwistle apparently used to sell pirated copies of legitimate software as well as manuals and software related to various Internet-based get-rich-quick schemes, had been closed in early January of 2006, after numerous instances of negative feedback from buyers.
The related website srpublications.co.uk, now offline, said "We specialise in a varied range of electronic publications, from Internet Business Manuals to our flagship product, the Big Penis Manual. Our range of Business CD's and E-books have been compiled based on independent reviews. While we can not guarantee to make you your first million by the end of the month, the resources here will provide enough information to allow you to be in full control of your finances and earnings."
In December and January, about 200 British customers complained that Entwistle had promised to deliver heavily discounted software he sold them on eBay. Entwistle appears to have collected at least $10,000 through these offerings, which angry customers called a scam.
Complaints about the eBay sales have been listed on the Internet, including one from a woman called Anne who said she agreed there was a link to eBay scams "as the user SRpublications". She wrote: "SRPublications activity stepped up massively over the holidays and a really large scam has been organized that has earnt SRPublications thousands of pounds in a couple of weeks. It was a very well run and well timed scam, using the holidays to buy extra time, and I think was planned in advance.
"Some of the software was being sold under the name Neil Entwistle, some under the name Rachel — whether that means both were involved or whether only one, I don't know," she continued.
In addition to srpublications, Entwistle registered another Web site for a company called Embedded New Technologies and listed a Carver address for contacts. The address was the home of his wife Rachel's mother and stepfather, where the couple lived until moving to Hopkinton 11 days ago.
The Web site for the company says it develops specialized software and hardware, but much of the site, including product information, is incomplete. According to court documents a business card for Embedded New Technologies company which Entwistle gave the Matterazzos was just a folded piece of paper held together with tape.
Websites registered in Entwistle's name were uncovered, as were sites registered to a "Mark Smith" who somehow managed to share the same address as the already-married Neil Entwistle when some of these domains were registered.
Curiously, the webpages registered in "Smith's" names were the most openly salacious, with URLs like www.deephotsex.com, and www.thebigpenismanual.com. The former page purported to sell access to online videos of "barely legal" teen girls performing sex acts, the latter website touted "methods" by which the user could increase the length and girth of an erection.
Among several get-rich-quick schemes -- including those linked to adult Web sites and even a site dedicated to bringing "swingers" together for sex -- Neil Entwistle appears to have tried his hand at an e-mail spam scam.
Among the pitches on Entwistle's spam site, www.srpublications.50megs.com, is one where he apparently believes he struck Web gold.
"I can show you how to Make REAL Money with Paid to read e-mail programs! Not pennies per month but DOLLARS per day! You will learn, absolutely FREE, how to mulitply your paid to read e-mail earnings so that you will get a paycheck EVERY month from ALL of your paid to read programs.
"It didn't take ANY money to get it started — just some time on a computer hooked up to the Internet. My juices were flowing now! I had discovered THE magic bullet ... THE free business ... THE income opportunity," he wrote.
Neil and Rachel
Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said that on Friday, Jan. 20, sometime around 7 a.m., Entwistle shot his wife in the head with a .22-caliber gun. Then, he shot Lillian Rose in the abdomen, the bullet passing through the infant's body and into Rachel Entwistle's chest. Mother and daughter were wearing "sleepwear" and Entwistle left them lying under a thick pile of comforters. Coakley said it is unclear if they were awake or asleep when killed.
Lillian was found lying in the bed next to her mother with "indications of trauma" to her face, including a contusion to the left eye, nose, and mouth area. It was unclear how the baby received those injuries.
Entwistle allegedly viewed an online document on January 16 and 17 which "describes how to kill people by various methods."
Enwistle knew he could get a gun from his father-in-law Joseph Matterazzo's collection, because he had used the .22-caliber handgun while target shooting together, said Coakley. Entwistle also knew where Matterazzo kept the key to his gun cabinet, the prosecutor said.
An arrest affidavit released last week said that Neil Entwistle's DNA was found on the gun's handgrip and that Rachel Entwistle's DNA was found on the muzzle.
With his family dead, Entwistle drove about 50 miles to Carver and placed the gun back in Matterazzo's gun cabinet while his in-laws were apparently at work, Coakley said.
The night of Jan. 20, after prosecutors say Entwistle returned the gun, he was captured by surveillance cameras parking near Logan Airport's international terminal, where he apparently failed to get the last night flight to London, instead sleeping overnight in his car.
It was reported that Entwistle appeared "calm and composed" on security video seized from Logan Airport in Boston.
Early the next morning, Entwistle bought a one-way ticket to London on British Airways on his credit card, ending up with his family in the town of Worksop, about 150 miles outside London, where he holed up for weeks.
On Monday, three days after the slayings, Matterazzo told Entwistle in a phone conversation that his family had been killed, prosecutors said. Neil Entwistle decided not to attend Rachel and Lillian Entwistle's funerals.
A day after the bodies of his wife and daughter were discovered, Neil Entwistle spoke for two hours to a State Police detective who called him at his parents' home in England. He told the investigator that he found his family killed after returning from errands around 11 a.m., grabbed a knife from the kitchen to kill himself, "but then put it down because it would hurt too much."
The Entwistle's only car was found at Logan Airport. Among the items inside, was a set of keys to Rachel's parents' home. Entwistle told police he went to their home after he found Rachel and Lillian dead, but they were not home and he could not get into the home.
Neil Entwistle will plead not guilty to murdering his wife and baby when he appears before a US court later.
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