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AN expectant mom allegedly killed by a cop who groomed her from the age of 15 was stuck in a cycle of manipulation and fell pregnant with another of his children three years before her death, a friend claims.
Sandra Birchmore, 23, was found dead by police inside her apartment in Canton, Massachusetts, on February 4, 2021, in what investigators at first believed to be a suicide.
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However, on Wednesday, ex-Stoughton PD officer Matthew Farwell, 38, was indicted for her murder following a three-and-a-half-year investigation.
Farwell allegedly strangled Birchmore to death with the handle of a gym bag and staged the crime scene to make it appear as though she’d taken her own life, court documents state.
Birchmore was 10 weeks pregnant at the time of her death and had recently informed Farwell – who was married to another woman – that he was the child’s father, federal authorities claim.
Farwell is accused by federal investigators of having a years-long sexual relationship with Birchmore which purportedly began when she was 15 and he was 27.
He met Birchmore when she was 12 after she enrolled in a Stoughton PD youth program in 2010 where he worked as an instructor.
Prosecutors alleged Farwell groomed Birchmore over a period of three years and sexually abused her while she was underage.
In charging documents, it’s alleged that Farwell murdered Birchmore to “silence her permanently” and cover up the nature of their affair and his history of “grooming, statutory rape, and […] sexual violence.”
Farwell pleaded not guilty to killing Birchmore during a preliminary court appearance on Wednesday.
Tiara Martin, a close friend of Birchmore’s who tutored her in high school and went to college with the slain mother-to-be, told The U.S. Sun she is horrified by the allegations against Farwell but always suspected he was involved in Birchmore’s death.
“When it was announced that it was suicide, I knew that was f**king bulls**t, and I knew it was this person who she was obsessed with and who had manipulated, abused, and gaslighted her for years who was really to blame,” said Martin.
“Sandra had a hard life but she was never suicidal and she never spoke of being suicidal, but she was very vulnerable and easily manipulated.
“Everyone knows what it was. She was taken advantage of, she was gaslighted, she was molested, she was raped – and she was under-f**king-age when it all began.”
‘A SECOND PREGNANCY’
According to Martin, Birchmore began confiding in her about her relationship with Farwell around the time she was 15.
Birchmore told her that she was seeing an “older guy” who she had met at a police youth cadet program but never shared his specific age and didn’t tell her he was a working cop, shared Martin.
It was also around this time that Birchmore apparently became increasingly infatuated with becoming a police officer.
Martin said, “She would never say that she wanted to be a cop to protect the people or that she’d always wanted to become a cop, it was after the relationship started that she was like, ‘Oh, I want to become a cop because this guy’s there.’
“But she’d always lie about the guy’s age, even though we’d been friends forever, because obviously she was scared of getting in trouble, because she’d tell me all these bad stories of what they’d do.
“She’d tell me sometimes that he wasn’t being nice to her, and other times that they were in love and that he’d promised her he’d help her get a job in the police department once she graduated.
“So there was this bribery being held over her […] and anyone who knew Sandra knows she was easily taken advantage of because of her difficult upbringing.
“So getting in this cadet program where she believed people actually cared for her and loved her and gave her a sense of family and community only for her to be taken advantage of again by someone in a position of power […] it’s absolutely disgusting and disturbing.”
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As time went on, Martin says Birchmore’s conversations about Farwall and the cadet program became more frequent and more detailed.
Such conversations would include Birchmore telling Martin that Farwell had tried to kiss her, later than they’d “made out”, and only after they went to college she shared they’d actually already had sex several times.
Birchmore would also detail their arguments, which on at least one occasion turned physical, Martin claimed, with Birchmore allegedly telling her that Farwell had “laid a hand on her.”
Then, sometime in either 2017 or 2018, Martin said Birchmore, then between the ages of 19 and 20, made a startling confession: that she was pregnant with the cop’s baby.
Martin is unsure whether Birchmore was made to get rid of the baby, if she terminated the pregnancy by choice, or if she suffered a miscarriage – but the pregnancy was never carried to term, Martin said.
“But after, she would always say, ‘I want to get pregnant by him again. I want to have another kid with him, I want to get pregnant by him again and raise a family with him,'” claimed Martin.
“She was scared of telling her grandmother, that was her biggest thing, and that was a few years before her second pregnancy.
“Sandra really wanted a family of her own, because it’s something she always lacked, and that’s what this man did to her; he told her he would have a family with her, that he wanted to be with her, and he started doing this from when she was a minor right up until being a young woman.
“He promised her everything she’d wanted but he was just taking full advantage of her all while he had his own f**king family.
“Then when she fell pregnant for the second time, I think his tactic was, ‘I gotta get rid of this girl’ because it was threatening to mess his other family up.”
DISTURBING TEXTS REVEALED
Farwell was arrested on Wednesday morning at a shopping center in Revere, Massachusetts, and appeared for arraignment in federal court later the same afternoon.
So far, he was been indicted on one charge of killing a witness or victim.
The indictment alleges that Farwell began sexually abusing Birchmore when she was 15 and he was 27, having “used his authority and access to groom, sexually exploit and ultimately sexually abuse” her, the Department of Justice stated.
On several occasions, Farwell allegedly engaged in sex acts with an underage Birchmore while he duty as a police officer, per the DOJ.
Farwell is accused of falsely claiming he’d worked certain hours when he was “not working but engaging in sex acts with the then-minor victim,” a DOJ release stated.
A detention motion obtained by The U.S. Sun allegedly details texts shared been Farwell and Birchmore discussing the exact date he took her virginity.
“I had butterflies the day you took my virginity […] It was april 10, 2013,” wrote Birchmore in an exchange on January 11, 2010.
“Best day of my life,” she added with a heart emoji.
Farwell responded, “Me too,” before later continuing, “Lol if I pushed I absolutely could’ve f**ked you without condoms from day one.”
Birchmore responded, “Probably if you really pushed it.
“I was kinda scared to say no in the beginning not knowing how you’d take it so yeah you would’ve got no comdoms [sic] lol.”
In a similar exchange the following month, Farwell said he “absolutely would’ve f**ked” Birchmore in 2012, when she was 14.
Disturbing Relationship Timeline
Sandra Birchmore had a decade-long relationship with the Stoughton Police Department before her death in February 2021.
2010: Birchmore, then 13 years old, enrolls in the Stoughton police youth program, known as Police Explorers.
She eventually meets twin brothers Matthew and William Farwell, who had both been police explorers as teenagers, through the program.
March 27, 2012: Matthew Farwell becomes a Stoughton police officer after working with the Wellesley police force for several years.
April 10, 2013: Farwell, then 27 years old, allegedly begins a sexual relationship with Birchmore, who had recently turned 15.
The age of consent in Massachusetts is 16.
Farwell and Birchmore continue their relationship through at least 2020.
2015: Birchmore graduates from Stoughton High School, spends two months in the US Army Reserve, and enrolls in Massasoit Community College in Brockton.
2016: Birchmore’s mother and grandmother both pass away just over a month apart from each other.
The Stoughton police department ends its explorers program.
Robert C. Devine, the director of the program, is demoted from deputy chief to patrol officer after he’s investigated for harassing a woman he was having an affair with, according to an investigative report.
March 21, 2017: William Farwell, Matthew’s twin brother, becomes a Stoughton police officer.
September 1, 2019: Birchmore takes the statewide civil service exam in the hopes of becoming a police officer in Stoughton.
January 2021: Birchmore tells Falwell she is pregnant, and expecting her first child.
She tells her friends the baby’s father will not be involved in their lives, but is still excited to be a mother, prosecutors allege.
Farwell is reported to be the father by a call made to the police department, and he allegedly becomes enraged with Birchmore.
He then gets physically abusive with her, and plots her murder, prosecutors allege.
February 1, 2021: Matthew Farwell visits Birchmore’s apartment in Canton.
Surveillance footage allegedly shows him entering her building, and leaving 28 minutes later.
February 4, 2021: Birchmore, then 10 weeks pregnant, is found dead in her apartment by Canton police officers.
February 6, 2021: Farwell is interviewed by police officers.
He tells them he told Birchmore that he wasn’t the father of her unborn child, that their relationship was “over,” and that he was “blocking her from all forms of communication.”
February 24, 2021: Farwell is placed on paid administrative leave.
May 21, 2021: A state medical examiner rules Birchmore died by suicide.
April 1, 2022: Farwell resigns from the Stoughton police department.
He got a commercial driver’s license and started his own trucking business, DMJ Transportation LLC, while on leave.
August 15, 2022: Devine retires from the Stoughton police department.
He denies having a relationship with Birchmore outside of the program.
September 23, 2022: The Stoughton police department concluded a 19-month investigation, finding misconduct by Devine and the Farwell brothers.
December 29, 2022: Birchmore’s estate files a wrongful death lawsuit against the Farwell brothers, Devine, and the town of Stoughton, including its police department.
November 28, 2023: A search warrant affidavit reveals that Birchmore and Matthew Farwell exchanged 32,709 text messages between December 2019 and February 2021.
March 21, 2024: Matthew Farwell agrees to no longer work in law enforcement in Massachusetts.
June 18, 2024: A former New York City chief medical examiner rules Birchmore’s death a homicide.
August 28, 2024: Federal authorities indict Matthew Farwell on charges that he killed Birchmore, then 23 years old, in February 2021.
Their relations continued up until her death on February 1, 2021, while Farwell was married with children, according to prosecutors.
Birchmore was discovered dead three days later on Feb. 4.
According to prosecutors, Birchmore approached Farwell in October 2022 and told him she wanted a child of her own.
The pair apparently “reached an agreement” that Farwell would impregnate her in exchange for her silence about his past criminal sexual encounters with her and their years-long affair, court documents state.
Then, that December, Birchmore told Farwell that she was pregnant and wanted him to be more involved with the planning of the birth.
Prosecutors claim Farwell began angry and fearful he was “losing control” of the situation.
“The information she possessed about his illegal conduct was in danger of slipping out,” acting US Attorney Joshua Levy said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
“In fact, word started to get out about their relationship.”
Less than two weeks before Birchmore was discovered dead, a friend called Stoughton PD and reported Farwell’s sexual relationship with Birchmore, according to the DOJ.
Farwell was reported to have become “visibly angry” after learning about the call and “started to lose his patience.”
Birchmore also confided in friends that Farwell had become physically violent with her, Levy said.
In one instance, Farwell allegedly grasped a pregnant Birchmore in a headlock and told her that he wished she were dead, prosecutors claim.
SUICIDE RULING REVERSED
Levi told reporters that Farwell’s simmering anger “came to a head” on February 1, 2021.
That day, prosecutors alleged Farwell went to Birchmore’s apartment wearing a mask over his face and strangled her to death using a duffle bag strap, according to court filings.
He then “used his knowledge and experience as a law enforcement officer” to stage her death to look like a suicide, Levy said.
Surveillance footage from Birchmore’s lobby captured him arriving at the building and leaving alone some while later.
He also allegedly lied repeatedly about the nature of his relationship with Birchmore to state police detectives investigating Birchmore’s death, according to FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Steve Kelleher.
Farwell told detectives that their sexual relationship began in 2020, despite texts from Birchmore’s phone showing it began in 2013, according to court documents.
He also allegedly told detectives they last had sex in October 2020, “attempting to avoid suspicion about whether he was the father of Birchmore’s unborn child,” per court filings.
However, those text messages reportedly indicate that Farwell met with Birchmore to engage in sex after that date.
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Before Birchmore’s death, authorities further claimed that Farwell directed her to delete evidence of their sexual relationship.
“He attempted to cover his tracks to get away with murder – and he almost did, until today,” Levy said.
Birchmore’s death was originally ruled a suicide by state investigators.
However, an independent autopsy evaluation conducted by a family-hired pathologist found Birchmore’s death was in fact a homicide.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Levy said that over the last year, investigators uncovered critical new information that pointed to Birchmore’s death being a homicide.
Levy did not elaborate on what initially spurred federal authorities to re-examine Birchmore’s death.
However, Kelleher shared that in reviewing tens of thousands of texts, emails, and other records, investigators found “evidence inconsistent with someone dying by suicide.”
Such information included the fact that Birchmore had reached out to a photographer to ask about booking a newborn photo shoot and to a friend about obtaining baby clothes in the hours leading up to her death.
She also was in the middle of doing laundry when she died, Kelleher shared.
Calling Farwell “depraved”, Kelleher added, “Committing murder to eliminate victims and witnesses is heinous and it shakes the very core of our justice system, which depends on people truthfully testifying to what they know.”
FACING DEATH
Farwell worked as an officer for the police department in Stoughton, south of Boston, for 10 years, from 2012 until 2022.
He left in 2022 during an investigation into his relations with Birchmore.
He denied engaging in sexual relations with her while she was underage but acknowledged having sex with her after she was over the age of 16, the state’s age of consent.
Farwell faces a minimum sentence of life in prison if convicted of killing Birchmore.
The charge is also eligible for the death penalty should the DOJ wish to pursue execution.
Levy told reporters his office is sharing the information they have with local and state authorities to determine if additional charges may be warranted.
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In a statement, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara called Birchmore’s death a “horrific injustice.”
“The allegations against the suspect, a former Stoughton Police Officer, represent the single worst act of not just professional misconduct but indeed human indecency that I have observed in a nearly three-decade career in law enforcement,” McNamara said.
Two of Farwell’s former colleagues at Stoughton PD are also accused of molesting Birchmore.
His brother, William Farwell, along with former Deputy Police Chief Robert Devine, were all accused of sexual abuse in a wrongful death suit filed by Birchmore’s relatives, which remains ongoing.
All three cops resigned from the department in 2022.
No criminal charges have yet been filed against William Farwell and Devine.
‘IT’S NOT FAIR’
Tiara Martin, meanwhile, told The U.S. Sun she will not stop fighting for justice in Birchmore’s name.
Martin said she will remember Birchmore as a friendly, loving, and outgoing friend who deserved so much more than she got out of life.
“All I can say is that I wish she truly had the family she always dreamt of, I think she thought she was finally going to get that moment, which is the most sickening thing,” shared Martin.
“I don’t know where to begin, I just feel so angry and so upset.
“I feel that in a world full of so many angry and mean people, people take advantage of those who can’t take care of themselves, and that’s what happened here.”
As for Birchmore’s alleged killer, Martin said she hopes he “rots” in a prison cell for years to come.
“I hope he’s fully incarcerated for the rest of his life,” she added.
“Death is the easy way out and he deserves to rot like he made Sandra rot for all those years and made her become this person that wasn’t truly herself.
“If she never met him she’d be happy now with a family of her own.
“She was such an amazing person, and for this to be the outcome, it’s still just so hard to accept.
“It’s not okay and it never will be.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or chat at thehotline.org.
