Sword and Scale - Episode 121

Episode Date: September 2, 2018

On July 21st, 2006, an entire family seemingly disappeared from their home in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. When police searched the residence, there were no signs of a break-in. Nothing was disturbed, and nothing of value appeared to be missing.But there was no sign of Neil, Rachel, or Lillian Entwistle.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised Someone's like it is doubles and I am Obvious that they were, they were not alive anymore. Welcome to Season 5 episode 121 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Do you ever wonder what you would do in an emergency? It's hard to predict.

There's no telling exactly how we will act when we're presented with a tragic, sudden, life altering situation. You really just can't imagine what you'll do. You can if you try, however, to think of a few things you probably wouldn't do. A few things that would seem very strange and out of character. A few things which may raise suspicion your way. We don't know what we do in a tragedy, but we sure as hell know what we wouldn't. Stay tuned. Music At 8.25pm on Saturday January 21, 2006, police in Hopkinson, Massachusetts receive a phone call

from a woman named Priscilla Madarazo. I've been in place to call the call, Sergeant Walts. Hi, this is Priscilla Madarazzo. I'm calling because my daughter moved to Hockington about a week ago. Yes. I haven't heard from her in two days. I was up there today. She was expecting me.

There was nobody there. I just heard from her girlfriend. She was expecting for supper tonight. There's no one there. We can't reach her by cell phone. It's really unusual for her to do this. Okay, what's her name, ma'am? It's Rachel, Antwistle, and her husband, Neil.

Okay, hang on, Rachel. Antwistle, E-M-T, W-I-S-T-L-E. Okay, and her husband's Richard. No, Neil. Neil, I'm sorry, same last name. Yes. Priscilla provided Sergeant Wallace the address of her daughter, 27-year-old Rachel and Whistle, where she lived with her husband, 27-year-old Neil, and their infant daughter, Lilian.

Okay, and what type of vehicles do she have, do you know that? They have a white BMW Y3. Okay, is it registered to either one of them? It's registered to Rachel. Okay. All right. It's a nine month old baby. Okay. And I know that's kind of a...

There's not many houses up there, so... And you said she just moved in a couple weeks ago? Yeah. Okay. You know, she's having a met the neighbors or anything. Yeah, there were... I don't think so. No, she hasn't mentioned that she'd met the neighbors yet. OK. For the previous six months, Rachel and Neil

had been living with Priscilla and Carver Massachusetts. But on January 12, nine days prior to this phone call, the ant whistles finally moved into a place of their own, a large modern colonial house at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in Hopkinson. On the afternoon of the 21st, Priscilla was supposed to meet Rachel for lunch at the new house, but when she arrived, no one was home. She put a note on the front door and left.

That evening, Joanna Gatley and her sister, Maureen, had plans with the end whistles. They were originally scheduled to arrive at 5pm, but they'd left Rachel a voicemail letting her know they'd be running a couple of minutes late. They ended up arriving at the at whistles home at around 7pm. When they went up to knock on the door, some of the lights were on inside, and the family's dog was barking. But nobody came to let them in. Now an hour and a half later, they were waiting outside the home, trying to contact Rachel and Neil while Priscilla spoke with the police.

Okay. And if you make contact, you just wanted to have your daughter give you a call. Yes. Okay. Now Joanna and her sister Maureen are still you a call. Yes. OK. Now, Joanna and her sister, Maureen, are still at the house. OK. And inside and waiting in the driveway.

OK. Does the house have a garage on it? Yes, does. OK. And they were supposed to, her sister was supposed to be over there for dinner tonight. Joanna? No.

No. No. The girlfriend, Joanna. Oh, I'm sorry. But I said there was a sister. OK. No. I was there today okay she was expecting alright all right now I haven't been able to reach her by

cell or the house phones of 10 o'clock this morning both Joanna and I last heard from her spoke to her on Thursday okay and everything was fine then yeah Okay does the house does it garage have windows in it? No. No windows. Okay and there is a dog Sally, she's a bastard how and we heard her barking. Okay all right what will do is will the dog barking? Will somebody out there and take a peek around for windows? We're able to see in any windows or anything? No, so fine, bind the all drawn. Okay. And to get around on the basement floor to the slider, I could see in there and Neil had an office down there.

Okay. That was there were no lights on it. Joanna said there's a light on in the hallway down there. You can't see in any other. All right. And it was confirmed for the dinner engagement tonight. Yeah. You telling me?

Okay. All right. The last time you spoke with her, everything seemed alright. She didn't tell you that she was going away unexpectedly or anything like that. No. No. Okay. She's a type of girl that calls me whenever she does anything.

Sure. Okay. And if edge water, a state, edge water, a state that comes past is him water states, it comes past his hand. Well, it comes. It moves it out. Yeah, it moves it out. Right, it moves it out of the states. It moves it out of the five, which is what it is.

Yep. Right, yep. Okay, we'll send somebody up. We'll check it, and then I'll give you a call back. I'll let you know how we make out. All right, thank you. Okay, you're welcome. Officers were dispatched to the antwistle home.

We do a 6-unit-6 at number 6 Cubs Pat on a first-in-check. The family that lives there, the last name is Antwistle. The new resident of the town, it's a Rachel and a Niel Antwistle. When you get there, there Maureen in the driveway. They told him that Neil and Rachel never would have left their dog in the home alone for this long. Sargent Sutton walked around the house to try to look inside, but all the blinds were drawn.

He also noticed that some of the lights were on and decided to go ahead and enter the home, in case Rachel and Neil were in need of help. Officer Aaron O'Neill arrived on scene and accompanied Sergeant Sutton into the home. They picked the lock in the front door and went inside. Officer O'Neill went into the garage where he noticed that the end whistle's vehicle was missing. Meanwhile, Sergeant Sutton searched the rest of the main floor. The family's bass at Hound Sally was in a kennel in the living room. The television was on. Sergeant Sutton went upstairs, where he heard the sound of classical music coming from Lillian's bedroom.

Inside he found a radio that had been left on, tuned to a Boston classic station. The bathtub in the upstairs bathroom was filled with water, and a few toys were left floating in it. Sergeant Sutton stepped into the master bedroom. A white comforter was heaped on top of the queen-sized fore-poster bed in the middle of the room. But other than the bed not being made, the room was fairly organized. Nothing in the house seemed out of place. There were no signs of a struggle. Aside from the car, nothing appeared to be missing, but Rachel, Neal, and Lillian Entwistle were nowhere to be found. It was as if they had just disappeared.

Sergeant Sun went back downstairs to meet with Officer O'Neal. They allowed Joanna and Marine to enter the home, leave a note, and take Sally for a walk. Then everyone left the residents and the officers locked Workshop, England. A former coal mining community located just outside Sheffield. His father Clifford worked in the mines. His mother, Ivan, was a school cook. Growing up, Neil was a smart kid who seemed to carry with him an innate curiosity about the world around him.

Neil, from a very young age, had a natural interest in electronics. He would buy bits and pieces that he needed to put together to make up little lights and it led on from there. He attended high school at Valley Comprehensive School in the workshop, where faculty remembered him as bright and enthusiastic. One of his teachers would later call him the ideal student, stating that he was gifted academically and socially. On school opening, we were told that Neil was very academic, had university potential. Of course, this was something new to us. Nobody in the family had previously been to university.

And so it was something fresh, something to be very proud of to think that Neil could attain such a level of education. After graduating high school in 1997 near the top of his class, Neil became the first in his family to attend college. He enrolled in University of York, where he studied electronic engineering and business management. It was during this time that he met a young American student named Rachel Soza. Rachel grew up in Kingston, Massachusetts, about an hour south of Boston. She graduated from Silver Lake Regional High School in 1997.

She then decided to stay home and attend the college of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she pursued a double major in English and American studies. Rachel spent her junior year studying abroad at the University of York. In 1999, during her first semester in England, she joined the University of York Boat Club, where she crossed paths with Neil and Whistle. Rachel and Neil got to know each other on long boat rides down the river Oos, and before long they began dating.

Perhaps because Rachel would be leaving at the end of the year, their relationship moved quickly. Reportedly, Neil even began introducing Rachel as, quote, the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, end quote. In the summer of 2000, Rachel returned to Massachusetts for her senior year at Holy Cross, but this modern day fairy tale wasn't over. She kept thinking about Neil, even telling a close friend that he was her, knight and shining armor. After graduating in 2001, she moved to England to start a life with him, even telling a close friend that he was her night and shining armor.

After graduating in 2001, she moved to England to start a life with him. Within a couple of years, they decided to get married. In the summer of 2003, on a British social networking website called Friends Reunited, Neil wrote, quote, getting married to the most amazing woman in the world this summer. End quote. getting married to the most amazing woman in the world this summer." Their wedding took place in Plymouth, Massachusetts on August 10, 2003. Following the wedding, the couple had a reception in England on November 1, and moved into a two-story brick house in Droidwitch, England.

Rachel got a job as a teacher at St. Augustine School in the nearby town of Reddich, and Neil worked for a technology company called QNIDQ. Around this time, Neil and Rachel set up a website, Rachel and Neil.org, which they used to share photos and updates with family and friends back in the United States. In the winter of 2004, they uploaded a couple of dozen photos from their Mediterranean honeymoon, many of which showed them smiling and holding hands.

They were happy together, and they were excited to spend the rest of their lives with each other. On August 9th, 2005, Rachel gave birth to a baby girl, whom they named Lillian Rose. Months after Lillian was born, Rachel and Neil decided to uproot their life in England and move to the United States, where they would be closer to Rachel's family. We always knew we'd live in both, you know, try living in both places. And really what pushed for this particular time is on Twitter was born Rachel wanted to

be closer to her mom. So that was it really when the leader was born Rachel wanted really in power. I'm correct, I'm a grandmother, you know, a mom. That summer they moved in with Rachel's mother and stepfather, Priscilla and Joe Madorazo, in Carver Mest, Tussitz. After moving to the United States, they continued uploading photos to their website, most of which were of Lillian. There was an album for Lillian's first weeks in the United States, her first Halloween, and her baptism. She was beautiful, happy baby girl, smiling and giggling in most of the photos.

At some point that winter, Rachel and Neil posted the following update to the site. Dearest friends and family, welcome. We hope you're enjoying our photos of Lillian. We aim to change the photos at least once a month, so do check often. The three of us are doing well and are looking forward to the coming holiday season. The baptism was wonderful and Lily looked perfect. She even managed to recite the Lord's prayer with us. Lilian is now crawling with confidence.

She's enjoyed three meals a day of her mummy's home-cooked food and is already eating a variety of finger foods. Enjoy the newest photos of Lilian's baptism and build up to Christmas. Be in touch. We love hearing from you. Love the Happy Family. In early 2006, the Ednawistle family signed a three-month lease on a home in Hopkins and Massachusetts.

They moved out of Rachel's parents' house on January 12th. They were last heard from seven days later on January 19th, two days before Priscilla Marrazo called the Hopkins and police. After investigators searched the home, Joanna and Maureen Gailey, who were supposed to have dinner with the ant whistles, spent the entire night waiting for them on their driveway.

But Rachel and Neal did not return home. The next day, January 22nd, Priscilla called the police department again. We're gonna do the dress I go from here. I don't know, I mean, it's, I don't know, I guess, I'm assuming it's a bizarre, you know, she's, Oh yeah. And I had to get a phone or whatever. Oh, this is so, really out of character.

I was too expecting me to lunch just today. She was in the Asian Secondary Girl's Fountains 7 o'clock. Just felt like she wasn't there. At around 5 p.m., Joanna and Marine went with Priscilla and Joe Marrazo to file an official missing person report. After interviewing the antwistles neighbors, investigators decided to conduct a second search of the home, in case they had missed anything significant the first time around.

Sergeant Sutton and Detective Scott Van Roughton entered the home through the basement and made their way upstairs. At this point, they noticed something that wasn't there the night before. It was... A smell. They couldn't quite tell what it was, but they would later report the odor was similar to that of dirty diapers. They went into the master bedroom where the smell seemed to be emanating from.

As they entered the room, everything appeared the same as it had the night before. Blankets were still piled in the center of the bed. When they walked closer, however, they noticed a pair of reading glasses and a watch on the floor next to the bed. Sergeant Sutton peeled back a corner of the comforter to reveal an adult female foot. He went around the bed and began to pull back the other end of the comforter. At this point, he would later state, I first observed a small baby's face. I was looking down at the top of the head, forehead, eyes, nose. I looked to the right of the baby's face and saw a woman's face. It was clear to the officers that both Rachel and Lilian and Whistle were dead.

At first glance, they didn't appear to have any obvious signs of foul play. It almost appeared as though the mother and daughter had died in their sleep from carbon monoxide poisoning. But when the comforter was taken off the bed, and the bodies were removed, investigators found blood stains on their clothing and on the bedding. The front of Lillian's onesie exhibited a small hole, and the back was stained with blood. Almost the entire backside of the item was red-brown stained, and this whole number two was right here,

basically on the center back. That was approximately an eighth of an inch in diameter. It would later be determined that Lillian had died from a single bullet wound to her torso. Forensic analysis would reveal that the gunshot was a contact shot, meaning the muzzle of the gun was pressed against the infant's chest when the gun was fired. The same bullet, after exiting Lilian's body, had lodged itself into Rachel's torso. There didn't appear to be any other injuries to Rachel's

body, but an autopsy would later reveal that this wound did not kill her. Rather, she died from a 22 caliber gunshot wound to her forehead, which went undetected by officers on scene because the bullet was so small. After finding the bodies, officers searched the rest of the residents for a possible third victim. But Neil Entwistle was not in the home. On January 23rd, the District Attorney's Office announced that both deaths had been ruled homicides. Police began searching for Neil

and quickly located the family's white BMW SUV parked at Boston Logan's International Airport with the keys locked inside. They would eventually discover that at 5am on January 21st, Neil had purchased a one-way ticket to London on British Airways, Flight 0238. The plane left Boston at 8.20 am and landed in London's Heathrow Airport at around 7.40 pm. After arriving in England, Neil rented a car and drove around for about 800 miles. He finally stopped at a hotel an hour from his parents' home in workshop, which is located less than 200 miles away from London. Then, over 36 hours after arriving in England, he showed up at his parents' house.

Hello. Is this the end-twistles? Yes. Is this Mr. End-twistle? Yes. Hi, Mr. End-twistle. My name is Bob Manning. I'm a trooper with the Massachusetts State Police over in the United States. Can I just stop here a minute please?

Yes, sir. I'm on the father. Okay, I know that. The reason I'm calling is, I'm trying to get in touch with you, son, because we have some very bad news of a situation that took place over here. Right. Is he around? Yes, hold on. On January 23rd, the day after the bodies were discovered, Massachusetts State Police

Trooper Bob Manning called the antwistle residents in workshop to speak with Neil. Hello. Hello. Hi. Is this Neil? It is, yes. Neil, my name is Bob Manning. I'm a trooper with the Massachusetts State Police. Hi. How are you?

Well, I'm calling you because we had some bad news from over here. Yeah, and We have some bad news about your wife and your daughter. Yeah, okay. Yeah, we responded to the house and that did deceased Yeah, do you know that? I did you You did. Yeah. Okay. I was calling to notify you of that because we were able to get some phone numbers out of the house. Because well, sorry, panamie, sure. What did you just say? Well, I'm calling you to notify you with that. I didn't know if you knew that or not. Oh, okay. To permanding, make sure Neil is aware the call is being recorded, and then begins to ask him a few questions. And I'm sorry to tell you about your wife and your daughter.

Thank you. Okay. Can you talk to me a little bit and tell me how you knew that? Yes. Yeah. I need to wait a second. Sure. Neil sets the phone down for a few seconds, comes back on the line and starts to share his side of the story.

I'm sorry about that. Oh, that's OK. No, it's a very difficult time. I mean, OK, I just walked you through. I told you through what I kind of how I got to this situation. And then you'll know that I went out. It was Friday morning, we got up about 7 o'clock, which is what we normally do and I fed a little in.

The recording briefly cuts out and then comes back on as Neil continues to describe what happened on the morning of January 20th. having been with Rachel, I thought, Rachel was going to get open, put Lily into her bed and go into the showers, that's been all we did about then. And I went out, I was gone, maybe I think I came back about 11, 11-ish. And I walked in the house, didn't look any different. I walked in, I called out to them. There's no reply. I thought maybe they were, you know, I couldn't hear the shower,

I thought maybe in the bathroom or something. So I didn't, I just got a few things together downstairs. When Neil got back from running errands, the house was quiet. But I would just show you, show you, start cleaning up a little bit. I went into the big, what we call the playroom, the big one, the big room at the end. Okay. And they were in there. So I went into the kitchen. I still got all. I'd given my leg breakfast. I was shocked, but all the stuff was still out. You know, kind of the chair was still in the kitchen, there were chairs on the floor. So it's just about start cleaning that open. I was actually a little mad that the legs were not that open and done that.

You know, what did she do for the last two hours? So that went up stairs to find out where they were. I mean, was it a shoe they were in the house because I didn't think they would have gone out. They wouldn't have gone out for like a walk or anything. But it's not been able to tell me that they'd gone out. So I didn't really think of them being in there. So I went upstairs just to see if they were up there. No, maybe they'd not heard me or... Awesome.

Was it uncommon for you to be normal on a normal day, been up and about at that time of the day? No, I mean we didn't really have a routine. It was not uncommon for rage. We had a very set routine with Lillian, she would get up at 7, she would go to sleep at 9 and then again at 12. At 9 she went down for half an hour at 12, she went down for 2 hours and that was regular, she's always had that. It was not uncommon for Rachel to go back to bed, and I, if she'd not, got on up before.

Because I mean, quite often what we do is, I would always get up with Lily to let Rachel have a little line, and I would feed her. Rachel would feed her some breast milk when she first woke up, and then I would let Rachel stay in bed, while I fed her a rubber breakfast. Okay. And then sometimes, if I had stuff to do, I would bring her back up, I'd shower,

and then go out and do whatever I did. Okay. Or if I had more time, I would play with Lily, and let Rachel stay in bed now sometimes, sometimes Rachel would get up when I put Lily down at nine. And she would get up and shower them because he was a break, but sometimes she stayed in bed as well. Neil realized that he hadn't heard any noise coming from upstairs.

No shower running, no shuffling around, nothing. I went upstairs just to figure out the way and told me, you know, wasn't sure what there was, and that's when I found them. Now, I know this is difficult and I appreciate you you're talking no I mean I the the state that I'm in at the moment is just I've not done the right thinking what I've done here you what I don't feel that I've done the right thinking that I've done here by not letting you know by not being the one to call and say what has happened I just couldn't get it clear in my head to do it.

I mean it's such a relief to be able to actually talk to people about this. It must have been difficult to see what you saw. Do you mind if I ask a couple of questions in the CV, could help us out and tell me what you saw? No, I know it's going to be difficult, but you think you could explain to me what you saw? I came up the stairs and I first went into Lily's bedroom, the yellow bedroom. Okay, and they went in the eye.

I thought, you know, maybe they just found the floor changing planar. I think they weren't there. We didn't use any of the other rooms, so I just went straight into our bedroom and I saw Rachel on the bed now. On the first look, she just I know it's difficult. I'm sure it's very difficult, but I need one. When I first looked, it just realized you were asleep. Okay, were they right on top of the bed? No, they were, the covers were partially up. Okay, so they remember the covers but not, kind of maybe, maybe half, half, and he caught it.

When I walked in, I couldn't see Lily, I could only see, I could only see Rachel, and she just looked asleep. You know, I'm not. But first, it didn't look anything wrong, but why would she have been embedded that time and where it was Lily? So as I went to a pie, the first thing I noticed was just a color she was in a pale and then, and then as I got closer, I see the back and that's what I saw. Lily was such a mess. Where did you see some blood, sir? Well, there wasn't any on Rachel. I couldn't see anything on Rachel. It was all on Lily.

I mean, she's... You want to speak, see? And then it cheats. You know what it speaks here. My mind is that a whole mouth, mouth and nose, covered. There was almost like it was doodles. And I am, I am, obvious that they were. Is it? It's obvious that they weren't alive anymore. Neil has asked what he thought had happened to Rachel and Lilian while he was out of the house.

Well, I didn't know what. I'm looking back on it. Now is. I don't remember seeing the house Disturbed it doesn't look like we were Loved I don't see why anyone would have had the opportunity to do that it was such a Small window of time that I was out and Not a time that we had no routine no one

Would know that I was going to be out at that time. There was no regular, it would only be in the house a little while. There was no regular work pattern. Everybody was doing everything at home, so if we route it was erratic back and forth. I mean, I didn't look to check, but the house didn't seem disturbed. When you came in, how did you come into the house? Through the basement, through the garage. Through the garage door?

Yeah. Okay. What did it, did you, when you came into the garage, did the house appear to be all locked up? Now it was open. The house, what, what part of the house was all of it? The, the front door would have been locked. Okay. But I, when I left, I thought there you were locked, so I didn't lock the garage door. I left open. The garage door, the main garage door was a door leading into the house from the garage. Well, the main garage door would have been up the one. I used to park in the one that, if you're outside outside the house you're looking at it the one on the left

what would it be no so when you left the house that garage door was open it was up and i know the door wasn't locked the inside door yeah the door that then gets you into i mean it was shuddered but i i'm positive it wasn't locked. According to Neil, anyone could have just walked into the home while he was away, but when he returned to the house, it didn't look like the scene of a robbery. Nothing seemed

out of place. That didn't work, Dr. Over. Now it didn't, it didn't want any different to when I'd left I couldn't see any difference. It's still a minute of, you know, it's a minute of a lot of plays I probably wouldn't have thought because I did just assumed it was Rachel. I mean, it certainly, I didn't think it looked any different. I was a little annoyed when I got back because I thought Rachel had not done anything whilst I'd been out. And then when you went back, when you went upstairs and you found them, you found them in the bed and you said you saw some blood on your

daughter, right? Once. Yeah, because I didn't, when I first just kind of bought it in the room, it was just Rachel. Okay. And then I got close to the air, but it didn't light. It was anything on Rachel. But you could see Rachel from the door. Yes. Okay, but you really clushed, really? No.

Until you moved a little closer and then you could really see her. Yeah. And what, this is a very difficult question, but what, what do you think, what happened to them? I don't know. I eat. It is being, I've been trying to just work out, but I mean, it seems so clear-cut and yet just doesn't make sense. I mean why did you shake them? Did you touch them at all? To see if they weren't just sleeping. I let well I was obvious with

Lillian but I can't land over to Rachel. Okay, but I just I knew it. There was, you know, no mistake, you know, I let over. I just, I just, I know the stars are like weird, but have you ever seen somebody dead like that before? No. Nothing said, don't TV. But you know, you just know that they were dead. Yeah, I can't really try to describe what he wants. Did it ever cross your mind that when you came back home and you found your wife and daughter like that in bed? And you said that you pretty much were right away, you thought they were dead.

It never crossed your mind whatsoever to call 911. No. And call for an ambulance. Or call the police. No. No. No. And I...

No. I'm looking... I don't know why. Now, but now he... That's just no... No, what I did. Play along for a minute. You place yourself in the position that Neil is describing on his phone call with trooper Bob Manning.

You come home from running a few errands, you walk upstairs and check on your wife and baby daughter. When you get to the bedroom, you immediately realize that something isn't right. They aren't moving. And you start to fear the worst. What do you do next? Of course, there's no way for any of us to really know how we're going to react if we found ourselves in such a horrific situation.

There's just no way to prepare for something like that. But once you at least try to do something to wake them up? Maybe, I don't know, shake them a little bit, check for a pulse, maybe call 911, things like that. Maybe something else popped in your head. But whatever it was, it probably wasn't anything like what Neil says he did after finding Rachel and Lilian. before you left. Yeah. Okay. I show another way to pull the bitchie over and cover him up. Yeah. Not awful. No, to cover them up. Okay.

Why did you do that? I don't know. It just seemed like I don't know why. I just almost felt like I was closing them off. I don't know why I don't know why I did it. Okay. You've been in this country since the summer, right? And I think it was like the 31st of August, yeah. Okay, when you came all over and you got married in this country. We did, yeah.

Right. You came over and you lived for a little while and you guys, you said you just moved into this house, right? We moved, yeah, I mean, we'd been living with Piscilla and Joe until we found a room place. Okay. And we moved in. Do you know about the 9-1- 911 system we have in the town here?

Yeah, I do okay. I don't get it ever crush your mind to to call 911 well my The first Look looking back on it. I know it's I don't't know why I did things the way that I did my first. I mean, my first thought, I once had kind of realized what happened. You think in those situations that I would just look and break down and, but that just not went through my head. I, what did go through your head? Well the first thing I wanted to do was do something to myself. After putting the comforter over Rachel and Lillian, rather than calling 911, Niel's first instinct

was to find a way to kill himself. I don't know whether that would be shock or... It's time, maybe trance like it, just... But I... All I remember, everything seemed so ordered after that. I pulled the covers over them. And the only thing I could think of was the knives that we've got downstairs. Okay. We've got, there's a big set of nights downstairs.

And, you know, I thought about that, but I pulled the big, I think it's like, well, you call them midnight, the wide one out, but I just kind of held it towards me. I just couldn't do it. I think it was almost the fourth of how much it was going to hurt. I couldn't do it. And then I realized that what I needed to do was to get to Facilim. I got to let for Cilla, no, they were gonna help me. They were gonna help you. I don't know why I didn't think, you know, to call you. In this whole time now, you knew your wife and daughter were dead in the bed, but did you know what happened to them?

You mean I was in being shocked? Is that what happened? That's what I think. I mean I saw it on Lily. And look when where did you see it on Lily? Kind of on the chest. And what did you see? There's like a hole, kind of like a a burnt mark hole. And what did you see on your wife? I didn't see anything on on Rachel what you think happened around well I just I mean I just I just I just issued the same they were they just seemed so much and just seemed so much blood around Lily. We're about around Lily.

All over her body? Kind of like the top half. Yeah, there was just so much. Yeah, I mean, it was kind of on the mouth and on the chest bit because Rachel, I mean, Rachel had got her arm. I mean. Rachel has got a arm across her. Okay, but I didn't, did you move the heart? No, but you could see from just standing where on the side of the bed or up close, how close were you? I was kind of close to touching the bed. Okay, but you didn't touch the bodies at all.

I didn't touch now. Okay. So you don't know if they were even still slightly breathing or anything like that. I know. I just know. Did you leave the house right away? No. It was not long.

Neil put down the kitchen knife, went out to the car and started driving to Carver, where Rachel's parents lived. Did you try and call for a show or a show? Well, I don't know. The numbers. I only know the house number, so I just got in the car and started to drive there now. But you didn't try to call them. Well, no.

It's strange because I didn't call them because I knew they wouldn't be in, but I wanted to drive there to see them. Neil claims that he didn't call Priscilla and Joe because he knew they wouldn't be in but I wanted to drive that to see him. Neil claims that he didn't call Priscilla and Joe because he knew they wouldn't be home. He also claims that he drove to their house to speak with them in person. Perhaps realizing the faulty logic of his explanation, Neil offers another reason for driving over to their home. I know that Joe has guns in the house. Okay.

And I did think that if I went to the house, I could, you know, do what I kind of just loaded the gun and shoot myself. And so you just were sort of said about what you saw that you wanted to hurt yourself. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I understand. And you drove, you didn't call anybody. No. You didn't call, you didn't go grab a neighbor and you didn't call 911. No. Okay. And you drove, did you stop on the way to cover? Did you drive straight to cover? No, I just drove straight there. And what happened when you got there?

Well, I got there. And the key to the house used to be on the... ...cocky. We put it all together. All right. We put them all together, but when I got to the door, there was... ...the key wasn't on there. Any purpose or go on a job or so as far as was to get a gun?

Yeah, that was, I mean, it was... I don't know what kind of how it developed to that. When I left, it was all... I'd got in my head, I was going there to feed them to tell them but now the reason I was there was to get the gun. Okay, to hurt yourself. Yeah. According to Neil, he wasn't able to get into Priscilla and Joe's house to get one of their

guns. So he tried to find Priscilla's workplace. He drove around for a while, got lost lost and ended up driving to Logan Airport. So what time did you head up to the airport? It was dark. It was dark when you got to the airport. When I got to the airport, I don't know. I don't know what time.

How did you park the car and get out? I park. Yeah. Then where did you go? I. Well, I. I parked, yeah. From where did you go? I...well I park with Carol. And I park because I think I just sat there for a while. In the bigger range? Yeah.

Like, pulled into the space and just... Kind of sat there for a while. I don't know what was going through my head at that point. And then, yeah, I got out and I watched him out. I went into one of the terminals and then did you buy anything did you get a couple coffee did you get something to eat I think so no I did you know okay did you ask for help now did you talk to anybody now did you make any calls now did you call now and

and then you stated the report uh... i was there for a while and then i thought i think that it it was kind of coming together and i realized that i mean it i mean being a while by this point you know since I've found that we were talking a lot of hours and it was great. Then I wanted to kind of get

home and do something about it and I got back in the car and left the airport. Okay. And what did you do? Well then I started to drive to, how I thought to get back to Hopkinston. After wandering around the airport for a while, Neil started driving back to Hopkinston. But once again, he got lost along the way. But you never made it back to Hopkinston? No, I... I mean, that's where I was going and I was driving around more than mine, I just got more and more frustrated and then. Would you get frustrated over?

I'm not even sure. Okay. Were you frustrated or were you scared? You're supposed to scare me, yeah Just the...just the what I Then I got to the point that I just needed to Be with someone Okay, so what did you decide to do to be with somebody?

To come home to my parents Okay, how did you make the arrangements to get home? I eventually got back to the airport and took it in time. Okay. And did you call your folks at all? No, not for a while. But before you left, before you left the United States, did you call your folks? No. You just got on a plane and came home.

Yeah. The only explanation Neil offers for flying back to England is that he wanted to be with his parents. Because of what you saw, you felt like you needed to go be with your parents. Yeah. I feel, I'll feel so bad about it. That'll be because it, it looks like you don't facilitate anything and that's just not right.

They are always close to me as my parents are but it's just what I felt. Okay. What made you feel that way? Was there anything? Did anything happen? No, this... I mean, No, this... just... nothing at all, these. You're right, I'm sorry. No, that isn't anything. No, without knowing this, I've never been to England. Where do you fly into London? He's...

He's for a airport? Yeah. Okay. So you went to the kind you drove up to see your folks? Yeah. Any mom and dad that both still alive? Yeah. Okay. So you went to the kind you drove up to see your folks. Yeah. Any mom and dad that both still alive? Yeah. Okay. And when you got, did you talk to any friends,

do you have a close friend that you might have confided in? No, not at all. You know, now I don't know that the only, the first people that I've spoken to are being a woman, dad and dad, the only people I've spoken to. Okay of a woman, and that the only people have spoken to. Okay. Aside from trooper manning, Neil hadn't spoken with anyone in law enforcement about the deaths of his wife and daughter.

He was apparently still trying to process what he claims he encountered. I haven't even cried yet. Do you have any even cried? No. Not properly. Neil tells Trooper Manning that because he's so far away, the situation doesn't even seem real to him.

It is real, and something happened over here. And I'm trying to get as much information as I can. And I'm taking you, I'm believing what you tell me. Only I can tell you I have a hard time understanding why you won't why you didn't call 911. Yeah, I can see that. At this point, Trooper Manning carefully begins to imply that he doesn't think Neil is telling the full story. I'm just sure that maybe, maybe just something totally out of character might have occurred.

That's it, kind of. Yeah, just out of character, I don't know. I mean, we're investigating this. We'll go investigate it. And you've been very helpful with the information that you've provided to us, okay? But I'm concerned because you said that you wanted to hurt yourself. You wanted to hurt yourself right away. Yeah, okay.

And I'm wondering if there was a reason for that. I don't understand. What Trooper Manning is getting at is that innocent people don't usually attempt suicide immediately after discovering something like this. Far more often, that is the reaction of a guilty person. But Neil is slow to comprehend what trooper manning is trying to convey. I'm wondering, okay, and I might get it, and you know we're talking over the phone, okay? And I'd like you to even know we're talking over the phone. Okay? If there was a situation that happened as completely out of character,

then we can deal with that and work with it from our end here. Okay? But I need you to talk to me about it. And I know it's difficult. You mean you think it was out of character? I mean, if you want to try and kill myself after seeing that. No, no, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying that I think it was out of character that you wanted to try and kill yourself after seeing that. I'm asking you, is there something that may have occurred

for you to want to do that? No, I don't know why that's what I wanted to do and I don't know why I didn't think to call the police first, but what? Well, you know, to say to want to do that is that a character is, I don't know if it is or not, I don't, you know, faced with being that, that's just what I, just what went through my mind. What went through your mind to go downstairs and get a knife and why I could kill yourself?

Yeah, I mean, not so much wanting to get the knife and kill myself, but mean, not so much wanting to get the knife and kill myself, but just almost, almost like wanting to be with them. Almost, you have a good, you're taking off a lot of steps, not to be with them. Eventually, Neil realizes what he's being asked. Do you mean, do you mean if I had anything? I'm asking it, was there any kind of situation that took place at the house because you don't immediately

instead of calling the police wanting to kill yourself no no you're sure i would i'm not saying you did anything i'm just asking you i'm trying to rule out all possibilities of what could have taken place there. I'm not saying you do anything, I'm asking you.

It's fine, I mean, no, no, no, no, I'm not, are you sure? Yeah, because, because why? Well, just, it's a coffee. No, I can't do that. Why would I do that? I don't know. It could be a million reasons. It could be no reason. I don't know. I'm not saying you did it. I'm asking you if a situation took place

that was out of character for you and your wife and the situation happened. No, nothing. It was just a normal day. It was just a normal day. You know, it was the tragedy. Yeah, but it was just an normal thing. After nearly two hours, the call comes to an end.

At some point after talking to Trooper Manning, Neil also opened up to some friends of his in England about the situation, telling them a similar story. So explain that on the day of the operation leading the died, he's gone out that morning, returned, them a similar story. There were some important differences between the two stories, however. According to Benjamin Prior, one of Neil's friends from college, Neil said that after finding the bodies, he went and told Priscilla Madorazo about it. He then said he reported the deaths to police before coming to England, which, as you already

know, was not the case. As the investigation continued in the United States, authorities began referring to Neil as a person of interest, and Rachel's family members also harbored some suspicions, choosing not to mention Neil's name in Rachel or Lillian's obituaries. A funeral was held for Rachel and Lillian on February 1, 2006. No photos of Neil were put on display, and Neil did not even show up to the service. Instead he ordered a flower arrangement of orange roses and white lilies. He sent a card along with the flowers that read,

My orange rose, and my lily for always, exo exo exo. Rachel and Lily were buried in a shared grave, which is marked with Rachel's maiden name Sosa instead of Entwistle. On Wednesday, February 8th, a week after the funeral, forensic analysis confirmed that the gun used to kill Rachel and Lilian was a 22 caliber cold handgun belonging to Rachel's stepfather, Joe Madorazo. Remember, Neil told police that he went over to the Madorazo home to get a gun after finding the bodies, but this discovery brought up the possibility that he had actually driven over to return a gun he'd previously taken from the home.

Around noon on February 9th, Neil was arrested by Scotland Yard at a London subway station after a provisional extradition warrant had been issued. When he was taken in a custody, Neil was in possession of a note in his own handwriting that read, what's of interest to us is what price you are willing to pay for exclusive rights to the full story.

There is no loyalty on any particular paper, so we are leaving it open to the highest bitter. There will be enough material to last a week. Apparently, he was trying to plan out how he could cash in from the murder of his wife and daughter. Instead, he was charged with the illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, and two counts of murder. Back in the United States, Middlesex district attorney Martha Cochley held a press conference stating, We believe possibly that this was intended to be a murder suicide,

but we cannot confirm that. The murder was affected, the suicide was not. Forensic evidence linked the gun to Mr. Entwistle and his wife, but she never had used it. What we believe happened next was that Neil Entwistle returned the gun to his father-in-law's home that he then made preparations to leave the country. On February 10th, Neil agreed to be extradited to Massachusetts, Rachel's family released a statement to the public,

which included the following. Rachel and Lily loved Neil very much. Neil was a trusted husband and father, and it is incomprehensible how that love and trust was betrayed in the ultimate act of violence. We are heartbroken and at a loss to understand how this happened, but as our pastor, Father McKenzie reminded us just eight days ago, God didn't do this. There is evil among us. Niel's trial began on June 6, 2008. He pleaded not guilty. The evidence will show you that Niel is not responsible for killing Rachel or for killing William.

Niel Antwistle is not guilty. The defense argued that Rachel was the one who had fired the gun, claiming that depression led her to kill her daughter and then turn the gun on herself. They argued that Neil only brought the gun back to the Marrazo's house because he loved his wife and wanted to protect her memory. The prosecution dismantled this image of Neil as a loving, dedicated husband by revealing that he had been keeping a few secrets from his family. On the surface, it looks like Rachel and Neil were living a young married couple's dream. They had moved into a beautiful home, they drove a BMW, and as far as Rachel knew, Neil had a substantial

amount of money saved up in an offshore account. In reality, however, they were broke. To fund their comfortable lifestyle, Neil had been taking on substantial amounts of credit card debt. And the secrecy didn't stop there. Neil's internet history revealed that in the days leading up to the murders, he had been exchanging messages with other users on a website called adult friendfinder. A photo posted to adult friendfinder showed Niels sitting nude on a beach chair with

the caption, I'm looking for one-on-one discrete relationships with American ladies. Within days after Rachel and Wisson had lived in leaving the United States, back then, joined a doubt friend find and started looking for sexual interest elsewhere. His records also show that that same neo-Nemisson who claimed to be the deep and loving husband of Rachel, the father of William, January 4th, I saw your listing and read with interest. I've only just joined the site, so I wanted to just start it with Brown's Haul of the Listens. Your picture stands out from the crown. I hope you don't mind me thing for you are truly beautiful. I'm currently in a relationship, but I would like a bit more fun in the bit. What happens in the future? We will not consider that.

Neil had also visited the websites of various escort services, including eye candy entertainment, sweet temptations, and blonde beauties escort SVC. On January 16th and 17th, a few days before the murders, he conducted internet searches regarding the best way to take someone's life, how to kill with a knife, and how to commit suicide. Perhaps the most compelling pieces of evidence were Neil's own statements. The prosecution played the entirety of Neil's phone call

with Trooper Bob Manning for the jury, arguing that there was simply no innocent explanation for his actions. I didn't even call 911 or call for help for his wife and his baby, that he claimed he found lying there in the bed that it's happened to him. On top of all of this evidence, a forensic chemist testified that while Rachel's DNA was only found on the muzzle of the handgun, Neal's DNA was found on the grip. I was able to determine that the major profile from the swab of the revolver gripped area of

handle matched the DNA profile from the alternate DNA standard of Neal antwistle. The jury struggled to reach an agreement, deliberating for roughly 13 hours. But on June 25th, 2008, they delivered their verdict, finding Neil sorted by the court. With the descendants of the Massachusetts correctional institution at Cedar Jackson for the term of life, this sentence to rank concurrent with indictment number 2006 387-001. As to indictments 2006 387-003 and 0, 0, 0, 4,

possession of a fire and possession of ammunition, that you reach a sentence to probation for a period of 10 years. This is to run concurrent with the sentence imposed in 0-0-1 with the following condition that you will not profit in any way from sale of your story. Rachel's mother and stepfather addressed the media. Neil, you have been judged in a way of jury of your peers on earth, but one day you will face the ultimate judgment of your horrific deeds and betrayals. Suffering does not begin to describe what we have been enduring without I be loved, Rachel

and Lillian, who gave our lives such purpose and meaning. I have lost two generations of my family. Outside of the courthouse, Niels parents, Evonne and Cliffordette Whistle expressed their disappointment in the verdict. We know that our s'meal is innocent, and we are devastated to learn that the editing points to Rachel murdering our fragile and then committed suicide. I knew Rachel was depressed. Our son will now go to jail for loving, honouring and protected his likes memory. How do you think you're making use of that? From the moment the Matarazzo spokesman, Jill Flatett stated and I quote, all we need now is a right jury pool. We knew Neil would not receive a fair trial.

We will continue to fight for our innocent son, with the hope that one day justice will prevail. Middle-sex district attorney Jerry Leon disagreed with their definition of justice. I'm happy that this jury held Neil and Tvisel accountable for his reprehensible acts and frankly the fact that not only is acts reprehensible but he's a coward. He's a coward and he blamed the entire death on his wife, vilifying his wife in the entire Maderoazo family. And because of that, the fact that he'll spend the rest of his life in jail is exactly the punishment he deserves.

That does it for this episode, thank you so much for joining us, we hope you've enjoyed it. If you love Sword and Scale, you can get more of it in our after show, Sword and Scale Rewind. It's a great way to listen to older episodes and get a fresh new perspective on each story. If you haven't yet, please sign up for Sword and Scale Plus. It's our premium show, available only to subscribers at patreon.com slash sword and scale for just five bucks a month. Oh and some of you've been asking about our store. That's down right now, but it's gonna be up really soon as soon as we take care of some internal logistics here.

That's it for me. Thank you so much. Until next time, stay safe. you