Sunday, December 28, 2014

Memories and misconceptions | Herald Bulldog | First On The Street

Herald Bulldog First On The Street

Memories and misconceptions

If the eyes are windows into the soul, then Joe and Priscilla Matterazzo are tormented by a bottomless betrayal. You can see it as the tears well up and the dark circles tell of sleepless nights. They had no idea, no hint no nothing their son-in-law would rip apart their dreams.

Sitting down with them at the Braintree Moose Lodge last night they shared what they could of the pain they live with every day knowing their daughter -- Rachel -- and granddaughter -- Lillian Rose -- were taken by an obsessed and murderous Neil Entwistle.

It's a list of precious memories and a few misconceptions linked to the murders of Rachel and Lilly at the hands of Neil on a bitter Jan. 20, 2006, at 6 Cubs Path in Hopkinton, Mass. ...

* * * * * *

What was it like to have so many pictures of Rachel and Lilly out in the public? "It didn't bother me," said Priscilla. "You can see a mother's love ... Lilly was her whole life."

And Priscilla's favorite photo was this one (at left) of Rachel, 27, and Lilly on a Plymouth beach on a cold day not long before they died arm-in-arm.

This same photo is on the "Run for the Roses" flier asking any and all who care about victims to come help raise money for a new child advocate building in Foxboro. (Go to the family's Web site here for more on the Oct. 3rd run.)

This photo, Priscilla added, speaks from the heart: "Look! Mommy loves me!' That's what that picture says," Priscilla said. A photo is what's left of the good times. The days filled with smiles.

* * * * * *And what about Joe's favorite photo? (Or the one most talked about?)

It's this one (at right.) "Papa" and his little Lilly tucked into a safe place watching the Patriots on an easy Sunday afternoon.

"Babies will break," Priscilla teased Joe last night when asked about this photo. That was Joe, she said, full of love but worried his tiny girl would someone come to some harm in his burly arms. Impossible!

"That was Rachel," Priscilla said about this photo. "Rachel reached out and drew everybody into her life." She plopped Lilly right into her dad's embrace and everybody is the better for it ... for eternity.

It's a memory now, one that let the couple laugh last night for a moment at Joe's expense. He didn't mind. He loved it.

* * * * * *Listen up, Joe reminded, he loves the Brits. Yes, son-in-law Neil Entwistle is British and Neil's folks, who came over for last summer's trial to rub more salt into the wounds, are back in Worksop, England, still making excuses. Yet, Lilly is half British.

"She was born in Britain," Joe said of his granddaughter. "Don't forget, Lillian has dual citizenship," Priscilla added.Joe added he wore cufflinks that had an American flag and a British flag to honor Lilly's lineage. "Rachel loved the English people," Priscilla said.

* * * * * *Joe and Priscilla also said a book of essays from Rachel's former teen students at St. Augustine's High School in England keeps them going every day. The essays on "What Rachel meant to me" are the stuff memories are made of, they say. "What a great thing the essays are for us," said Priscilla. They thumb through them when they need a lift.

* * * * * *The murders of Rachel, 27, and Lillian "Lilly" Rose, 9 months, are on Joe and Priscilla's minds "24 hours a day," they said, nodding in agreement as Joe started the interview last night. They lean on each other for support, they added, when one is having a bad day and the other is feeling stronger.

* * * * * *They have nothing to say to Neil, who turns 31 in prison on Sept. 18. The Matterazzos also have nothing to say -- in public, at least -- to Neil's parents, who still cling to the defense theory that Rachel committed murder-suicide.

* * * * * *Neil Entwistle is serving two concurrent life sentences without parole in the Old Colony Correctional Center in Bridgewater. He refused to see this reporter on a recent visit one Sunday morning. His automatic appeal is not expected to be heard until this summer, a source tells the Herald.

* * * * * *As for being dropped into a media storm, Joe Matterazzo said the media was respectful ... except for one British gal who tried her best to break into the family's life. "I thought I was going to turn over one night and she'd be there," Joe joked. The reporter was kicked out without her scoop.

* * * * * *As for the case itself, Joe and Priscilla -- always inches away last night almost holding each other up -- praised the police and prosecutors assigned to the case.

They also couldn't stop thanking their friend Joe Flaherty, their guardian through all this hell. Flaherty, a former Suffolk homicide detective and now a lawyer, is an unsung hero in this case. (Along with other friends and family who have stuck close to this couple.)

Nobody can understand what it's like to lose a loved one to murder. Mix in an international media pack, heartbreaking details spilling out almost by the day and it's a miracle the Mattaerazzos didn't buckle. Enter Joe Flaherty, stage right.

Joe Flaherty, a no-nonsense guy steeled against the horrors of murder, has stood tall beside Joe and Priscilla ... as only a true friend would.

As for telling their story to help a new Norfolk center for abused kids, Joe put it best: "It helps me feel like I'm doing something. It's better than sitting tearing my heart out."

* * * * * *As for reporting a notebook full of details, isn't it the little things that make up a life? The one photo you can never forget. The one kiss or hug you can still feel?

Most of us are lucky to keep adding to the list of little things that make up a life. Priscilla and Joe don't have that opportunity. It was snatched away. I can report they'd do anything to keep someone else from missing out ... and feeling the pain they endure "24 hours a day."


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