Federal investigators have made new explosive allegations in connection with the death of Sandra Birchmore. The death of a woman in Canton, Massachusetts in 2021 was initially classified as a suicide.
In an indictment filed this week in federal court in Boston, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts alleges that Matthew Farwell, then a Stoughton detective, killed Birchmore, who was 23 at the time and pregnant at the time. The indictment says he is the child’s father and that the two had sexual relations before she turned 16 – she had been in the Stoughton Police Department’s youth program since she was 13.
“On or about February 1, 2021, FARWELL killed Birchmore by strangulation,” the indictment states. “Shortly thereafter, FARWELL staged Birchmore’s Canton, Massachusetts apartment to make it appear as if Birchmore had committed suicide.”
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide resources for victims of sexual assault.
Read the full indictment below on a single count of killing a witness or victim.
Editor’s note: The allegations in the indictment may not be appropriate for all readers.
The family of Sandra Birchmore is suing the city of Stoughton. Birchmore was the young woman who state investigators determined died by suicide several years ago. After her death was ruled a suicide, her family hired a pathologist whose findings contradict the official report. The pathologist says Birchmore was killed. The police chief responded to those findings on Monday.
