The Sandra Birchmore Case: Cop on Trial for Alleged Staged Suicide

A former Massachusetts police detective is on trial for allegedly killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore and staging her death to look like a suicide.

Federal prosecutors say Matthew Farwell began sexually abusing Birchmore when she was just 15 years old while he was a volunteer instructor in the Stoughton Police Explorers youth program. The relationship allegedly continued for years, including while he was on duty, until she became pregnant in late 2020.

Prosecutors allege he strangled her with a bag strap in her Canton apartment on or about February 1, 2021, then staged the scene as a hanging suicide so she could not expose the underage abuse and other crimes.

Her death was originally ruled a suicide by state authorities. The medical examiner later changed the manner of death to “undetermined.” DNA testing later showed Farwell was not the biological father of the unborn child, though prosecutors say he believed he was at the time.

Surveillance footage, thousands of text messages, forensic findings (including injuries consistent with strangulation rather than hanging), and testimony from friends who said Birchmore was excited about the pregnancy are central to the federal case. Farwell has pleaded not guilty.