23-Year-Old's Death: Federal Trial Seeks to Overturn 2021 Suicide Ruling

Federal prosecutors concluded their case on Wednesday against Matthew Farwell, a 40-year-old former Massachusetts detective charged with murdering Sandra Birchmore in February 2021. The government argues that Farwell strangled the 23-year-old with a duffel bag strap and manipulated the initial police investigation to label the death a suicide. This move, they claim, was designed to hide a long-term sexual relationship that began when Birchmore was 15 and to prevent her from revealing that she was pregnant.

The trial in federal court in Boston has scrutinized the original response by Norfolk County state police. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Torey Cummings, investigators never wavered from their suicide conclusion. Farwell was interviewed for only 15 minutes in a parking lot. Officers did not take notes, check him for injuries, or collect DNA samples. They examined his phone after he had already deleted texts with Birchmore.

Cummings told jurors that the police quickly informed the medical examiner that there was no foul play. This assurance reached Billy Farwell, the defendant's twin brother and a friend of the lead investigator. Billy Farwell testified that the investigator told him he wanted the case closed immediately, comparing the need to end the investigation to needing a "bullet in the head."

The FBI opened its own inquiry in 2023, prompted in part by Brian Holmes, a former deputy chief at the Stoughton Police Department. Holmes had led an internal affairs review, but Farwell resigned before Holmes released findings confirming a sexual relationship between the two. An expert hired by federal authorities, Dr. William Smock, later determined that Birchmore was strangled with a duffel bag strap and struggled before dying.

Text messages read into evidence outlined the dynamic between the pair. Birchmore, who dreamed of becoming a police officer, had participated in a local mentoring program at age 12 when Farwell, then 24, added her on Facebook. By 2020, they had exchanged 40,000 texts. In one message from 2013, when Birchmore was 15, she called their first sexual encounter the "best day of my life." Farwell replied, "Me too." Other messages included Farwell describing choking or strangling scenarios, writing, "I’ll grab your throat and say you won’t say a word to anyone or you will be sorry."

Defendant's attorney Kimberly Stevens argued that Farwell made regrettable mistakes but is not a killer. Stevens told jurors that Birchmore was a troubled individual who took psychiatric medication starting at age 6 and had attempted suicide as a teenager. The defense stated that Birchmore was desperate, alone for the holidays, and had less than $3 in her bank account. Stevens characterized Farwell's visit to her apartment as an attempt to break up with her rather than to kill her.

A key piece of evidence for the prosecution was a tip in January 2021 from a woman who reported Farwell's relationship with Birchmore. Farwell was visibly upset, telling Birchmore in a text, "You have no idea how bad what she did is." Twelve days later, on February 1, 2021, Farwell asked to stop by her apartment. Security camera footage showed him entering at 9:14 p.m. Birchmore's phone stopped moving at 9:40 p.m., three minutes before Farwell left the building.

A paternity test determined that Jason Pickard, an Army recruiter who had a sexual relationship with Birchmore in 2019, was the biological father of the unborn child. Pickard testified that Birchmore told him Farwell was the father and that their relationship began when she was underage. The state medical examiner has since changed the official cause of death from suicide to undetermined.

The defense is scheduled to call witnesses for a third day on Friday. If the schedule holds, the case will go to the jury as early as the following week.