A federal grand jury indicted a former Massachusetts police officer on Wednesday for allegedly killing his 23-year-old pregnant mistress, with whom he had sex since she was 15, according to authorities.
Sandra Birchmore was murdered on February 1, 2021, at her residence in Canton, a suburb of Boston, by Matthew Farwell, then a Stoughton Police Department officer, according to Josh Levy, acting United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. Levy told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday that Farwell sought to prevent the pregnant Birchmore from disclosing the statutory rape that occurred when she was 15.
Birchmore had endured “years of grooming, statutory rape, and then sexual violence all at the hands of Matthew Farwell,” Levy stated. When Birchmore began telling acquaintances about his abuse and their years-long romance, the walls began to close in on Farwell, who was now 38. Someone had also reportedly informed Stoughton police about Farwell’s misdeeds when Birchmore was underage.
“When it became clear to Mr. Farwell that he could no longer control Sandra Birchmore, he allegedly silenced her permanently,” Levy recalled.
According to the indictment, Birchmore started attending the Stoughton Police Explorers, a program for young people interested in law enforcement, when she was 12 years old in 2010. Farwell joined the program as an instructor in 2012. By the age of 15, her pleasant relationship had turned unlawful, according to authorities. He allegedly sneaked off duty to have sex with her.
The relationship lasted until Birchmore’s maturity. “After years of grooming, Farwell developed a dominating and sometimes abusive relationship with Birchmore. “He tracked her location with his cell phone and, as evidenced by voluminous text messages, he engaged in sexual violence,” prosecutors claimed in a letter supporting pretrial detention.
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The violence included Farwell’s fantasies about sexual assault and an interest in minors, according to the feds. In a 2020 text conversation, he allegedly discussed how he wanted to pin her down during sex and asked her, “Will you say Matt stop? I’m 13 and I’m not ready for this OMFG please stop.”
According to federal authorities, she told him around the end of 2020 that she wanted to have a child with him. The two “reached an agreement” that he would impregnate her “in exchange for her silence about his criminal conduct,” according to the indictment.
But when he got her pregnant in December 2020, he didn’t seem delighted about it. “He grew violently angry with Birchmore. She informed several acquaintances that Farwell had pushed and shoved her, seized stuff from her hands, and placed her in a chokehold, according to the indictment.
Then, in January 2021, Farwell learned that a tipster had told a Stoughton police official about his criminal activities with Birchmore while she was a juvenile. The feds also discovered Birchmore had told a buddy about the statutory rape.
Prosecutors claim that on Jan. 24, Farwell began to “take important steps” toward killing her, including obtaining and receiving a key to her apartment and scouting around the house for places to kill her.
“He examined her bathroom and closet, where goods may be hung. His behavior was unusual enough that Birchmore informed several acquaintances that she was concerned,” the document stated. “On February 1, 2021, Farwell decided to take action.
For him, that day had at least two advantages: a snowstorm was approaching greater Boston, assuring that no one would notice Birchmore’s absence from work for several days; and Farwell’s wife was hours away from giving birth to their third child.”
Farwell allegedly texted Birchmore saying he was on his way to her apartment and arrived wearing a face mask to hide his identity. He then strangled her and “staged her apartment to make it appear Birchmore had committed suicide,” according to prosecutors.
According to the feds, he seated her and secured a strap around her neck and doorknob. Canton Police officers discovered her dead on February 4 while conducting a welfare check after she failed to show up for work.
A Massachusetts State Police investigation and autopsy showed she died by hanging and deemed it a suicide. In the following days, he lied to MSP investigators, claiming that he began having sex with Birchmore in 2020 when she was an adult, authorities said. He also allegedly said he hadn’t had intercourse with her in over a year, implying he wasn’t the child’s father.
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According to the indictment, the state recruited a second medical examiner, who discovered irregularities with the suicide determination and concluded that she was strangled.
Feds also reportedly discovered text messages and Google searches that he attempted to delete.
After the murder, Stoughton police launched an internal inquiry into Farwell and placed him on leave. He resigned in April 2022. In a statement, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara described Birchmore’s murder as 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,” she told the audience.
Farwell was seized by federal agents on Wednesday on suspicion of murdering a witness or victim. If found guilty, he may face life in prison.