A jury in Boston is poised to begin deliberations to decide the fate of Matthew Farwell, a disgraced former Stoughton detective accused of killing Sandra Birchmore. Birchmore was allegedly groomed by police officers, sexually abused from the age of 15, and then murdered in 2021 when she became pregnant.
Prosecutors claim Farwell, 41, killed Birchmore and staged her death to look like a suicide to prevent her from revealing their affair and his years of abuse. The defense, however, contends that Birchmore died by suicide shortly after Farwell visited her apartment to end their relationship.
The trial, which has lasted nearly four weeks, has heard conflicting accounts of the 23-year-old’s death. The jury is expected to begin deliberations after closing arguments scheduled for Friday morning.
Farwell did not testify, but his defense team presented 12 witnesses, including a former medical examiner who testified that Birchmore's injuries were consistent with suicide. The prosecution called 38 witnesses, including experts and those close to Birchmore, who testified she was excited about her pregnancy and showed no signs of suicidal ideation.
Farwell's twin brother, William "Billy" Farwell, who was also a police officer, testified that he had a sexual relationship with Birchmore as an adult and stated she seemed happy and gave no indication she planned to harm herself. He also testified that Matthew told him he had wiped his phone after Birchmore's death and that the initial police investigation into the twins' connection to Birchmore was cursory.
Both Matthew and Billy Farwell resigned from the police force amid an internal investigation into their relationships with Birchmore. Matthew Farwell has pleaded not guilty to charges of killing a victim or witness and killing an unborn child.
The case has been marked by controversy, with the initial death being ruled a suicide and the local district attorney declining to bring charges. Federal authorities eventually launched their own investigation, leading to Farwell's arrest more than three years after Birchmore's death. DNA testing later revealed that Farwell was not the father of Birchmore's unborn child; the father was a married military recruiter with whom she was also having an affair.