Evidence surrounding Sandra Birchmore's death is “inconsistent with suicide,” authorities say

Former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell was charged with the murder of Sandra Birchmore on Wednesday. He is accused of sexually exploiting the 23-year-old woman when she was a teenager.

While Birchmore's death was initially ruled a suicide, federal officials concluded that Farwell had staged her body after strangling her on Feb. 1, 2021. She was found dead in her Canton apartment a few days later and had told Farwell she was pregnant with his child, prosecutors said.

On Wednesday, federal investigators said some evidence was “inconsistent” with the theory that Birchmore committed suicide.

In the hours before her death, Birchmore contacted a photographer to take pictures of her newborn and asked a friend if he could get baby clothes, said Stephen Kelleher, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office.

He also said that Birchmore had a load of laundry in the washer and another in the dryer at the time of her death.

U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy, whose office is prosecuting Farwell, said he killed Birchmore to prevent her from revealing information about his possible violations of other federal crimes.

Farwell, 38, of North Easton, was arrested Wednesday morning at a shopping center in Revere, Kelleher said.

He is accused of killing a witness or victim, which carries a minimum sentence of life imprisonment and a maximum sentence of death.

Levy declined to comment during a press conference on Wednesday on whether prosecutors would seek the death penalty, saying such decisions would be made “at the highest levels” of the U.S. Justice Department.

In a brief arraignment Wednesday afternoon, Farwell pleaded not guilty. He was taken into federal custody and will appear in court again on September 10.

Farwell, a Stoughton police officer from 2012 to 2022, groomed Birchmore as a teenager after she participated in a police youth program that showed teenagers career opportunities in the police force, prosecutors said.

He began sexually exploiting Birchmore when she was 15, Levy said. Farwell was 27 at the time.

Levy said Farwell met Birchmore for sex “regularly,” including while he was on duty.

While Birchmore was excited when she found out she was pregnant, Levy said, Farwell was significantly less excited. She became angry when Birchmore made requests for doctor's visits and information for the baby's birth certificate.

“In late 2020 and early 2021, Mr. Farwell lost control and the information Sandra Birchmore had about his illegal conduct threatened to leak out,” Levy said.

Less than two weeks before Birchmore's death, a person called Stoughton police with information about Farwell's relationship with Birchmore.

When Farwell learned of the call, he became “visibly angry” and became violent toward Birchmore, including pushing, shoving and choking her, Levy said. He noted that Farwell, at 6-foot-4, towered over the 4-foot-6 Birchmore.

Prosecutors said Farwell first asked for a key to Birchmore's apartment. She told friends he “oddly inspected” the apartment. Levy said Farwell planned Birchmore's murder.

After strangling her to death, “he used his knowledge and experience as a law enforcement officer to stage her death to make it look like a suicide,” Levy said.

Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara called Birchmore's killing “a horrific injustice” on Wednesday.

The allegations, she said, “represent not only the worst case of professional misconduct but of actual human indecency that I have witnessed in my nearly thirty-year career in law enforcement.”

Levy said federal investigators received new information last year suggesting Birchmore's death was not a suicide.

In June, a medical examiner hired by Birchmore's family concluded that her death was a homicide. The Boston Globe first reported on this finding.

David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office, which initially investigated Birchmore's death, said the investigation “remains open and active” but the prosecutor's office “cannot comment comprehensively on ongoing investigations.”

“We look forward to assisting and assisting federal authorities in the prosecution of this criminal case,” Traub wrote in an email. He said two Massachusetts State Police officers assigned to the prosecutor's office assisted in Farwell's arrest in Revere.