FBI Accuses Stoughton Detective of Killing Pregnant Girlfriend

A federal jury in Boston is weighing whether a former Massachusetts police detective killed a pregnant woman and staged her death as a suicide. Matthew Farwell, 40, faces charges of murdering Sandra Birchmore, 23, and lying about her death to hide a long-term sexual relationship. The case has drawn sharp attention to the original police investigation, which federal prosecutors argue failed to question the officer’s role in the death.

Prosecutors said state police in Norfolk County closed the case quickly after Birchmore was found in her Stoughton home. Assistant U.S. Attorney Torey Cummings told jurors that investigators interviewed Farwell for only 15 minutes in a parking lot. They did not take notes, examine him for injuries, or sample his DNA. Police reviewed Farwell’s phone only after he had deleted his texts with Birchmore. Cummings stated that officials told the medical examiner there was no foul play, a conclusion that allowed the case to rest for years.

The FBI reopened the investigation in 2023 after Brian Holmes, a former deputy chief at the Stoughton Police Department, raised concerns. Holmes had led an internal affairs review that found Farwell had a sexual relationship with Birchmore, but Farwell resigned before the findings were released. A forensic expert for the federal government concluded that Birchmore was strangled with a duffel bag strap and struggled before dying. The state medical examiner has since changed the official cause of death from suicide to undetermined.

Evidence presented to the jury includes 40,000 texts exchanged between the two. In one message from 2020, Birchmore noted that she would never forget April 10, 2013, when she first had sex with Farwell at age 15. He replied that it was the best day of his life. Other messages showed Farwell describing violent fantasies involving choking. Birchmore’s friend Leslie Davis testified that the pair fought after Birchmore asked Farwell to sign a birth certificate. Davis said Birchmore reported that Farwell pushed her to the ground and claimed the baby was not his.

Farwell’s attorney, Kimberly Stevens, argued that Birchmore was a troubled woman who was suicidal. Stevens pointed to Birchmore’s history of psychiatric medication and a teenage suicide attempt. She told jurors that Farwell went to Birchmore’s apartment to break up with her, not to kill her. A paternity test later showed that Jason Pickard, an Army recruiter, was the biological father of the unborn child. Prosecutors finished their case on Wednesday. The defense is expected to call witnesses on Friday before the case goes to the jury as early as next week.