For whatever reason, nothing captures the national imagination like the trials of handsome young men who kill their families. So expect Massachusetts to be propelled into the national spotlight for a while now that Neil Entwistle, the British man whose wife and infant child were found shot to death in the family's Hopkinton home a few weeks ago, has finally been arrested and is being brought back to the United States from England.

Entwistle turned up at his parents' place in the English town of Worksop (to which Bostonist's spell-checker strenuously objects) on January 21 and the next day the bodies of his American wife and child were discovered. For what seemed like an inexplicably long time, the Middlesex County DA's office would only call Entwistle a "person of interest." The more cynical among news observers might speculate that it was the inevitable national attention to the case (People magazine put the story on its cover this week) that moved the Middlesex DA to action, but Bostonist gives Martha Coakley more credit than that.

While a sudden, unplanned trip can be used against someone in court ("evidence of consciousness of guilt," the lawyers call it), it's probably not enough to support an arrest by itself - especially since Entwistle did go to visit his actual family, rather than, say, hijacking a plane and flying to Cuba. It seems that local authorities were gathering evidence on details like Entwistle's access to a gun (father-in-law's house), his motive (financial difficulties and plan to commit suicide), and the like before finally going to get the warrant last night.

Given that Entwistle was under surveillance this whole time and unlikely to go anywhere, the delay in arresting him isn't so shocking. Still, it would be cool (in a grotesque, nafarious sort of way) if Martha Coakley, who is running for Attorney General, figured out how long a trial would take and what would be the best moment for a verdict with respect to her campaign - close enough to the election that a guilty would really help, but not so close that a not-guilty couldn't be overcome. But honestly, we don't really think she did any such calculus. Anyway, the wheels of justice are now turning, so we can expect to see shocking revelations about "Neil," "Rachel," and "Lillian" on the pages of newspaper tabloids for the next couple of months.

The smiling picture of the Entwistle family that all the news outlets have been using is just too depressing, so we went with Middlesex DA Martha Coakley, seen here rocking the mic.