# Woman and baby killed - dad leaves the country - but he's not a suspect?!? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 1, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561 "2006-02-01T20:07:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/1 "2006-02-01T20:07:54Z")
This story has been running for a few days but I can’t get my head around what’s going on: > [@](#): > > The husband of a woman found shot to death with their baby daughter did not attend a funeral service for the two that drew about 500 mourners Wednesday… > > Massachusetts authorities recently questioned the woman’s British-born husband, Neil Entwistle, in London as a “person of interest,” but they have not labeled him a suspect. It was unclear whether Entwistle left the country before or after the shootings. The above from [CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2006/US/02/01/entwistle.funeral.ap/index.html). Flying overseas around the time your wife is killed strikes me as suspicious. There may be a good reason he’s not a suspect but the newspapers aren’t speculating. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/2 "2006-02-01T20:10:01Z")
> [@snorlax](#): > > Flying overseas around the time your wife is killed strikes me as suspicious. There may be a good reason he’s not a suspect but the newspapers aren’t speculating. Any ideas? Well, it says that they haven’t determined if he left the country before or after his wife’s death. If he left before, then that’s a pretty rock solid alibi, wouldn’t you say? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/3 "2006-02-01T20:17:17Z")
Besides **Neurotik** ’s comment, it also seems like (from my admittedly slim recollection) a number of police representatives seem to be using “person of interest” as a term for “maybe a suspect, maybe a witness, we’re not telling the press and public which, if any.” Besides, the police can always use that as a fall-back so that they’re not labeled as prematurely pinning the “suspect” label on a truly innocent and grieving family member, etc. (Considering that this guy hasn’t even tried to return to the US, even for their funeral, and cancelled a planned meeting with police from Massachusetts, I do feel safe enough in prejudging him as having done it, but that’s beside the point.) ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/4 "2006-02-01T20:17:36Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Well, it says that they haven’t determined if he left the country before or after his wife’s death. If he left before, then that’s a pretty rock solid alibi, wouldn’t you say? Not if he arranged to have them killed, no. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/5 "2006-02-01T20:29:52Z")
> [@UrbanChic](#): > > Not if he arranged to have them killed, no. If you don’t have any evidence that he did that, he can’t really be a suspect yet. The whole situation looks suspicious, but that’s not enough to declare someone a suspect, apparently. You need some evidence that he did something illegal first, and it appears that the police don’t have that yet. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/6 "2006-02-01T20:33:09Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > If you don’t have any evidence that he did that, he can’t really be a suspect yet. The whole situation looks suspicious, but that’s not enough to declare someone a suspect, apparently. You need some evidence that he did something illegal first, and it appears that the police don’t have that yet. I was answering Neurotik’s question about his being out of the country before they were killed as being a rock solid alibi. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/7 "2006-02-01T20:51:30Z")
It isn’t clear when the murders happened. The bodies were found on 1/22, but a day after police first visited the house in response to a neighbor’s concern. Entwistle apparently flew to England on 1/21. He has refused to talk to police, and did not attend the funeral service. [Wiki sez](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_interest) > [@](#): > > Normal Justice Department parlance for subjects of investigation includes “suspect,” “subject” and “target.” Each has specific meanings relevant to different levels of investigation…Instead, the department meant “to deflect media scrutiny”…there is no … formal definition for the term ‘person of interest’” Obviously media attention is not diverted by not calling him a “target”. The police have to go by the book or else risk making evidence inadmissible. They have time to proceed with caution, even if it looks excessive. Entwistle isn’t going anywhere soon. If the police can’t make a solid case against Entwistle without his confession, they have to treat him carefully, and using a meaningless term might be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/8 "2006-02-01T20:54:11Z")
I don’t understand a few things about this… 1. The time of his departure should be pretty easy to determine. Either check the check-in time with the airline, or the time that he cleared customs/immigration in the UK and track backwards. 2. What kind of husband doesn’t return for the funeral of his wife and child? I could see, perhaps, not attending the wife’s funeral, if you were really angry with her/divorced/seperated etc, but for the funeral of your own kid??? Seems fishy to me. Also seems like extradition wouldn’t be a big deal from England to MA. No death penalty to fight (if that’s an issue for the UK). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/9 "2006-02-01T21:00:32Z")
It all sounds highly fishy, but there are potentially logical explanations; for example: if he’s fleeing for his life from the people who killed his family; moreso if the pursuers are (or appear to be) government or law enforcement agents - that would explain his reluctance to return for questioning. ---
**Author:** ![snorlax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@snorlax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snorlax)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/10 "2006-02-01T21:07:44Z")
> [@butler1850](#): > > The time of his departure should be pretty easy to determine. Either check the check-in time with the airline, or the time that he cleared customs/immigration in the UK and track backwards. I’m guessing that they can’t determine if he left prior to the shootings because they can’t determine when the wife and child were killed, since they may have been dead for over a day before they were found. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/11 "2006-02-01T21:10:29Z")
> [@butler1850](#): > > 1. The time of his departure should be pretty easy to determine. [It is](http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/02/01/hopkinton_mother_baby_laid_to_rest/). The time of the \*murders \* isn’t determined. > [@](#): > > What kind of husband doesn’t return for the funeral of his wife and child? Um, a guilty one? Here in the court of public opinion, that is. > [@](#): > > Also seems like extradition wouldn’t be a big deal from England to MA. Got to have a charge first. > [@](#): > > No death penalty to fight (if that’s an issue for the UK). True, and it is. **Mangetout** , [this sounds imaginative](http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1697411,00.html): > [@](#): > > Last night the police announced they were investigating a possible vendetta against the Entwistle family after threatening emails against Rachel were discovered. One, posted just weeks before the double murder, read: ‘Rachel Entwistle is a thieving liar.’ Fellow-users of the internet auction site eBay warned buyers to go nowhere near the internet interests of Rachel and her husband, Neil, from Britain. They’d been selling porn and apparently had recently stopped delivering merchandise. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/12 "2006-02-01T21:16:10Z")
Come on back home dude, you’re not a suspect…_realllllly._ ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/13 "2006-02-01T22:08:28Z")
> [@butler1850](#): > > Also seems like extradition wouldn’t be a big deal from England to MA. No death penalty to fight (if that’s an issue for the UK). The death penalty may be a problem, even if MA doesn’t have the death penalty (and for some embarrassing reason I can’t remember if we do or not) because if he ends up charged with a federal crime, we do have a federal death penalty that he could be subject to, no? Of course, this all hinges on some things I am unclear about: - AFAIK, the UK won’t extradite if the person is going to face being tried for a capital crime (if this is true, I’m not sure if they are picky about whether or not a particular US state practices capital punishment, since the US does on the federal level) - Does the accused have to be indicted, or just charged with the crime? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/14 "2006-02-02T06:09:33Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > The death penalty may be a problem, even if MA doesn’t have the death penalty (and for some embarrassing reason I can’t remember if we do or not) because if he ends up charged with a federal crime, we do have a federal death penalty that he could be subject to, no? I’m pretty sure that this is state jurisdiction. The federal death penalty would only be involved if certain criteria were met. If one of the children were a USDA Chicken Inspector, for example. I am not a lawyer, though. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/15 "2006-02-02T06:47:08Z")
I don’t know the details of this case but my first thought was people morn in different ways. The guy lost his wife and kid. Perhaps being “home” is what he needs right now. Not everyone feels closure from a funeral. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/16 "2006-02-02T07:00:16Z")
I saw some talking heads rambling about this on MSNBC and one lawyer said that if this guy was her client she might tell him to stay in England because if he shows up in the US th police would probably just arrest him on the spot. Kinda hard to go to a funeral when you are in jail. I have no idea, obviously, if this guy did it. At the same time, if someone was out to kill the wife the timing makes perfect sense. Wait until the husband leaves. My understanding, though I could be wrong, is that this trip wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/17 "2006-02-02T07:17:46Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > The death penalty may be a problem, even if MA doesn’t have the death penalty (and for some embarrassing reason I can’t remember if we do or not) because if he ends up charged with a federal crime, we do have a federal death penalty that he could be subject to, no? > > Of course, this all hinges on some things I am unclear about: > > - AFAIK, the UK won’t extradite if the person is going to face being tried for a capital crime (if this is true, I’m not sure if they are picky about whether or not a particular US state practices capital punishment, since the US does on the federal level) > > - Does the accused have to be indicted, or just charged with the crime? People are regularly extradited from other countries even if they are going to be charged with a capital crime, the U.S. just has to agree not to seek the death penalty in the given case. It took awhile to find (just the _list_ of current treaties in force with the UK is over 9 pages long, with 3 columns in each page) but I found the UK-US extradition treaty’s number and such, but apparently it has yet to be published to the web via THOMAS in the U.S. or via the British government web pages I searched, so I’m not sure on the specific terms. ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/18 "2006-02-02T09:02:37Z")
> [@Seven](#): > > I don’t know the details of this case but my first thought was people morn in different ways. > > The guy lost his wife and kid. Perhaps being “home” is what he needs right now. > > Not everyone feels closure from a funeral. Honestly, if my wife and kid died, whatever the cause, I might flip my shit and stumble to the airport to go back home to my secondary family - my friends in Colorado. And if I was innocent, I wonder if I’d even consider what the police would think. Me innocent = me innocent. I’ve thought about this before, and up until recently I felt that if they were not around, I’d probably move back to Colorado. Now, however, that has changed and I’m not leaving no matter what. But a homing instinct is pretty strong, especially in times of stress. -Tcat ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/19 "2006-02-02T09:56:04Z")
I’m a little surprised that ebay has left his account and item history visible; you can see it [here](http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=srpublications). He was selling dodgy software and get-rich-quick scams. Not great, but rather common on ebay. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2006, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561/20 "2006-02-02T10:14:50Z")
It’s all a little unclear, well beyond the “reasonable doubt” level anyway. Did he do it himself and go home, knowing that then he’d escape the death penalty? Did he order a hit to occur while he had an alibi? Did he leave in an attempt to protect his wife and child (and if he did, can you imagine how he’s feeling now)? Did he merely discover the bodies and panic? Was the trip planned anyway and the killer took advantage of his absence? There is very little evidence that he had a motive for killing them himself, and planty of evidence that there were disgruntled customers who were a tad unhinged. I don’t think “suspect” would be the right description until they’ve heard his story. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-and-baby-killed-dad-leaves-the-country-but-hes-not-a-suspect/342561.md?page=2)