The light in the upstairs bedroom

After two weeks and 46 witnesses, the two sides in the trial of Neil Entwistle finally rested their case. They’d presented two starkly different portraits of the defendant.

Which was it: a sexually-frustrated husband so drowning in debt that he murdered his wife and child? Or: A loving husband to the end, trying to preserve the memory of his depressed wife, from what he thought of as the shame of suicide?

Now it would be up to a jury to decide which version was the truth.

Ashley Sousa, juror: I tried to check for different emotions, I mean, just as a observation. There were a few times where I thought this man could be a genuine man and he could be telling the truth or he could be just a totally good liar.

It was a case that hit close to home for juror Ashley Sousa. She's 21, just a few years younger than the victim, and has a 2-year-old son.

Dennis Murphy: What was the most perplexing part of the story?

Ashley Sousa: I couldn't understand why he didn't call 911.  We didn't know if maybe things were maybe different in England.  Maybe they didn't know what 911 was.  I mean, that was what got me, why he wouldn't call 911.

Scott Parsons agrees.  He served as an alternate juror, but did not deliberate.

Scot Parsons: That had a very part of, you know, why he didn't-- why didn't he contact someone? 

The prosecution's portrayal of Neil Entwistle as would-be swinger who visited kinky websites didn't much matter to Ashley or her fellow jurors.

Ashley Sousa: The porn and the internet just-- it wasn't really any kind of evidence for us, really. 

Dennis Murphy: It was fantasy as far as you could tell, huh?

Ashley Sousa: Fantasy. Right. He wasn't getting what he wanted from his wife, but that doesn't necessarily make it a motive for him to kill his wife.

It was the prosecutor's crime scene investigators who presented the most compelling evidence for Ashley, but the defenses the murder suicide scenario also seemed plausible.

Ashley Sousa: I mean,  post-partum depression is real.  And as a mother, I can tell you it's real. And I’ve had post-partum, but we actually went through the crime scene in the deliberating room.  I mean, we reenacted it and we went through. 

Dennis Murphy: With someone portraying the part of Rachel?

Ashley Sousa: Yes.

Dennis Murphy: And the child, and how she would have to be and—

Ashley Sousa: Yep, how she was—

Dennis Murphy: --what things would—

Ashley Sousa: --holding Lillian and how far away she would be holding the gun. 

On the second day of deliberations, the jury sent word that they'd reached a consensus.

Judge: Have you reached a verdict? Please hand it to the court officer.

Neil Entwistle stood calmly facing the jury as he waited for the verdict.

Ashley Sousa: It was very hard.  Very, very hard.  To have him looking at us.  I mean, what is my fate?  My fate is in your hands.  What have you decided?

Court official: In the case of the Commonwealth vs. Neil Entwistle, charging the defendant with murder in the first-degree, is the defendant guilty or not guilty?

Juror: Guilty of murder in the first-degree of Rachel Entwistle.

Court official: On indictment number is the defendant guilty or not guilty?

Juror: Guilty of murder in the first-degree of Lillian Entwistle.

In the end, the jurors’ reenactment of the murder suicide convinced the last holdouts, including Ashley, that suicide just wasn't possible.

Ashley Sousa: We tried different positions of where she could have held the gun from her head. What different positions she could have been in with Lily.

Dennis Murphy: What made you decide that it wasn't a suicide?

Ashley Sousa: Rachel and I were both 5'2".  So if we had the same arm length and I held the gun from my head -- from my face -- and I shot myself, I would have burn marks all over my face.

After the verdict, outside the courthouse, Cliff and Ivonne Entwistle stood firmly behind their son, who plans to appeal his conviction.

Ivonne Entwistle: We know that our son Neil is innocent. And we are devastated to learn that the evidence points to Rachel murdering our grandchild. And then, committing suicide.

Later at a press conference, another couple, with a very different set of emotions. Rachel’s parents, Priscilla and Joe Materazzo stood hand in hand, relieved over the verdict they'd waited two and a half years to hear.

Joe Materazzo: Priscilla and myself would just like to thank everyone for the prayers and cards - and hundreds of cards that they sent us and support in this country and from Britain. Her students, friends, St. Augustine School sent cards and essays and it was greatly appreciated.

Neil Entwistle will be in prison, serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole, for the murders of his wife, Rachel and daughter Lillian.

Dennis Murphy: Ashley, any unanswered questions for you?  Missing pieces of the puzzle?

Ashley Sousa: What did Lillian do to him?  That's it.  Maybe we're not the love of your life anymore, but how can you un-love your child?

The Sousa family has set up a memorial scholarship in Rachel's name at her old high school.

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