Boston Area News

CAMBRIDGE (WBZ) ― Prosecutors have released new details about the initial search of Neil Entwistle's Hopkinton home, shortly after he allegedly killed his wife and infant daughter.

In court documents made public Tuesday, Middlesex County prosecutors defended the decision by police to search the home twice without a warrant.

Prosecutors said officers were justified in entering the home because they were responding to pleas of family members.

Lawyers for Neil Entwistle had argued in court papers last month that any evidence taken from the home and car were seized illegally and should be suppressed at trial.

Entwistle, 28, is charged with shooting his wife, Rachel, and their 9-month-old daughter, Lillian in their rented home in Hopkinton in January 2006.

"Not only was it reasonable for the Hopkinton officers to enter the home, but the public would expect as much," the prosecutors court filing said. "The Entwistles disappeared suddenly, without notice, and without explanation. The people closest to them were highly alarmed and essentially begged police to help them figure out what happened to them."

According to the MetroWest Daily News, when police did their initial search, Hopkinton police Sgt. Michael Sutton and Officer Aaron O'Neil found the upstairs stereo was on, the television was on in the first floor living room, the family dog was in a cage in the family room, there was water in the bathtub, there were unwashed dishes on the kitchen counter and the beds were not made.

Those details had not been made public until Tuesday.

After that initial search turned up nothing, police were also justified in returning the next day to conduct a more thorough search, prosecutors said.

"The Entwistles' friends and family had become increasingly concerned regarding their continued disappearance, and Sergeant Sutton reasonably decided to check the home again while the missing persons reports were being completed," the filing said.

During the second search, The MetroWest Daily News reported that police became more concerned because they noticed an unpleasant odor in the home that had not been there the previous day.

They followed that odor to the second-floor bedroom, lifted the comforter on the bed and saw an adult foot.

For the first time, prosecutors revealed in the court documents released to the paper that "Sgt. Sutton lifted the comforter on the right side of the bed and they saw the face of a small child."

"He lifted the comforter further and they saw the head of an adult woman."

Even if the search was improper, which the prosecution wouldn't concede, the bodies and other evidence would eventually have been found, they said.

"The odor that was unpleasant on January 22, 2006, would have intensified; and eventually, the home would fall into disrepair," the response said. "Ultimately, the bodies of the victims would have been discovered, either by police or by civilians."

In their motion, Entwistle's attorneys argued the two initial searches "cannot be justified by any exigent circumstances."

Because police didn't have a warrant for the initial two searches, 10 subsequent searches of the home, Entwistle's car and his computer files were illegal, his attorneys argued. The motion sought to suppress evidence from those places as well as financial documents.

Entwistle's attorney Eliot Weinstein said late Tuesday that he could not comment because he had not yet read the prosecution's response.

Prosecutors have said they believe Entwistle killed his wife and daughter because he was despondent after accumulating tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and that he had expressed dissatisfaction with his sex life.

They also have said Entwistle may have planned to commit suicide, but instead fled to his parents' home in England.

The hearing on the defense motion to withhold evidence is set for Monday in Middlesex Superior Court.

Prosecutors also said Entwistle called his landlord in February 2006, a month after the murders, to ask for his rent and security deposit back.

The home owners put the house on 6 Cubs Path up for sale last July. It was listed then on realtor.com for $549,000.

The asking price now is $485,000.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)