WOBURN - The gun used to kill Rachel and Lillian Rose Entwistle was less than two feet away when it was fired, a state police chemist testified Friday. Gunshot residue proves the gun was fired within 18 inches of the bloody pillow Rachel Entwistle's head was on when she was killed more than two years ago, said chemist Deanna Dygan.

Chemist: Gun less than two feet away when fired

By Norman Miller/Daily News staff

WOBURN - The gun used to kill Rachel and Lillian Rose Entwistle was less than two feet away when it was fired, a state police chemist testified Friday.

Gunshot residue proves the gun was fired within 18 inches of the bloody pillow Rachel Entwistle's head was on when she was killed more than two years ago, said chemist Deanna Dygan.

In the 10th day of the Neil Entwistle murder trial in Middlesex Superior Court, chemist Dygan testified that the some of the blood on the pillow was high-speed spatter.

Entwistle, 29, is accused of murdering his wife, Rachel, 27, and infant daughter Lillian Rose on Jan. 20, 2006. The pair were found laying on a bed in the master bedroom of their Hopkinton home, and Dygan and other criminologists investigated the room.

She was assigned to perform forensic testing on that pillow case, as well as a second pillow case from a pillow found covering Lillian Rose's head.

Dygan said the gunshot residue test showed that lead vapor was on the pillow case.

"The lead vapor usually doesn't travel more than 18 inches from the muzzle of the gun,'' she said.

Solid lead particles were also found on the pillow case, Dygan said. The particles are actually tiny shavings that fall from a bullet after it shoots out of a muzzle. She said particles could travel for up to four feet.

The blood on the pillow was consistent with high-velocity spatter, she said. Spatter is split into three categories - high speed, medium speed and low speed.

Dygan said high-velocity spatter is typically from a gunshot or a wound caused by an explosion. Medium spatter is typically caused by stabbings and low speed spatters are from blows, she said.

In the past, prosecutors said Rachel Entwistle's DNA was found in and on the muzzle of the .22 caliber Colt revolver they say was used to kill the pair.

At 6 Cubs Path on Jan. 23, 2006, she said she tested a hole on Lillian Rose's pajamas and detected gunshot residue on it.

Fellow state police chemist John Soares told Entwistle's lawyer, Elliot Weinstein, neither he, nor any other chemists, checked any portion of 6 Cubs Path for unseen blood. Weinstein questioned if it was a complete investigation.

"You weren't as thorough as you might have been, don't you agree?'' Weinstein asked. "You made a decision, a conscious decision, not to search occult (non-visible) blood?''

Soares said, "I made a decision not to search for non-visible blood when there was visible blood.''

Also on Friday, Jeremy Robal, a keeper of records from the online auction site, eBay, testified that there were several PayPal accounts opened in the name of Neil Entwistle with various e-mail addresses.

PayPal is owned by eBay and is used to pay for items online.

In the weeks leading up to the murders, one of the accounts received several complaints for not fulfilling orders. The company paid automatic refunds because the buyers could not contact the seller.

It is unclear what was being auctioned off and was not discussed in court.

In another PayPal account, one registered to the name of Rachel Entwistle, several people complained to the seller about not receiving their promised items.

The seller promised full refunds and also defended its services as not being fake.

"I'm sorry you may feel this is a scam. I can assure you this is legitimate,'' the seller wrote to one buyer.

Dygan's testimony is scheduled to continue Monday morning.