Detective Matthew Farwell charged in death of Sandra Birchmore

The indictment accuses Farwell of killing a witness or victim by strangulation on or about February 1, 2021, and of “staging” her Canton apartment “to make it look like Birchmore committed suicide.”

Farwell is accused of killing Birchmore “willfully, intentionally, wantonly, and with intent” to prevent law enforcement from learning that he may have violated federal law. The crimes Farwell could have faced, according to the indictment, included deprivation of Birchmore's rights, coercion and enticement, and wire fraud. The charge carries the death penalty.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said authorities have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty. The decision will be made by the Justice Department in Washington, DC. Farwell must serve at least a life sentence.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Levy said Farwell relied on his “knowledge and experience as a law enforcement officer” in the cover-up.

“He allegedly tried to cover his tracks so he could literally get away with murder,” Levy said. “And he almost succeeded – until today.”

FBI agents arrested Farwell in Revere on Wednesday morning without incident, according to Stephen J. Kelleher, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in Boston. Kelleher called Farwell's alleged actions “depraved and a gross betrayal of his sworn oath and the public trust.”

Prosecutors asked that Farwell be held in custody until his trial under federal dangerousness laws. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 10. Farwell pleaded not guilty during a brief court appearance Wednesday, tucking a paper copy of his indictment into his pants pocket as he was led away. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Angelique Pirozzi, a cousin of Birchmore, told the Globe after learning of Farwell's arrest, “We are grateful that justice has turned in Sandra's favor. However, we remain shocked and saddened by how difficult it has been to get to this point. Justice is not blind, especially when law enforcement is involved, and this is not the end, but the beginning of finally getting justice for Sandra.”

Julia Perlin, who was 6 or 7 years old when she met Birchmore, had a message for her friend: “Sandra, we can't bring you back, but we're fighting for you.”

She said she “knew my friend would never have killed herself or harmed her unborn baby. I feel like he's finally getting what he deserves. And at the end of the day, it was all about getting justice for Sandra.”

Birchmore met Farwell around 2010, when she was 13 and signed up for the Stoughton Police Department's youth program called Explorers. Farwell, who is nearly 12 years older than Birchmore, was an instructor and had participated in the program as a teenager.

The Globe reported that Farwell allegedly had sex with Birchmore on April 10, 2013. At the time, Birchmore was 15 and Farwell was a 27-year-old Stoughton police officer who was due to be engaged the following month. The age of consent in Massachusetts is 16.

Farwell has denied having sex with Birchmore as a minor, but has admitted doing so as an adult. Investigators found they exchanged 32,709 text messages between December 2019 and her death. Farwell and two other former Stoughton police officers are accused of wrongful death, assault and negligence in a lawsuit brought by Birchmore's estate for allegedly abusing Birchmore as a teenager.

The federal indictment states: “During several shifts when Farwell was supposed to be performing his duties as a Stoughton police officer, he instead engaged in sexual conduct with Birchmore.”

Birchmore found out she was pregnant in December 2020 and told Farwell she believed he was the father, the indictment says. She was excited to be pregnant, prosecutors wrote.

But “Farwell reacted poorly,” prosecutors wrote. “He became physically violent toward Birchmore. She told several friends that Farwell pushed and shoved her, ripped items from her hands, and put her in a chokehold.”

On Jan. 20, 2021, Stoughton police received a tip from a friend of Birchmore's that Farwell and Birchmore were having sexual relations, the indictment states. A Stoughton police officer informed Farwell of the tip, according to the indictment, which does not say who told him.

Within two weeks of the call, according to federal authorities, Farwell strangled her and then hung her body from a doorknob he had examined a few days earlier.

Three months after Birchmore's death, the medical examiner's office ruled that she had committed suicide. But in June, Dr. Michael Baden, a medical examiner hired by Birchmore's estate, wrote in a report that she was a homicide victim and died of strangulation.

A forensic expert hired by the FBI also concluded that Birchmore's death was a homicide, citing the nature of her injuries, which included a mark on her chest.

According to state police records, officers found Birchmore dead in her bedroom, her body hanging from a doorknob by the strap of a duffel bag.

The office of Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey led the initial investigation into Birchmore's death. On Wednesday, Morrissey's spokesman said the federal investigation had turned up more information but offered no further comment. Spokesmen for the state police and the state medical examiner's office did not respond to questions about the gap between their findings that Birchmore died by suicide and the federal government's claim that she was murdered.

Farwell was the last known person to see Birchmore alive on February 1, 2021, three days before her body was found. Surveillance cameras recorded him arriving at and leaving Birchmore's Canton residence.

Farwell, a married father and former president of the patrol officers' union, had previously stated in an interview with investigators that he went to Birchmore's apartment to end their relationship and told her he was not the father of her unborn child, according to a state police report.

On the morning of February 2, 2021, the day after Farwell visited Birchmore's apartment, his wife gave birth to the couple's third child in Newton, according to the child's birth certificate.

The Globe was the first newspaper to report on concerns about Farwell's interactions with Birchmore in April 2022 when he resigned from the Stoughton Police Department.

The charges are the latest criminal case against a former member of the Stoughton Police Department, which has faced state and federal charges against its officers for decades, including convictions of a former police chief and a sergeant in a racketeering plot.

Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara ordered an internal investigation into Birchmore's interactions with Stoughton police officers on February 5, 2021, one day after her body was found.

“Sandra's alleged murder is an appalling injustice,” she said in a statement Wednesday. “It is imperative that justice is served in her death, and today's actions appear to bring our society one step closer to justice.”

The wrongful death lawsuit brought by Birchmore's estate targets Farwell, his twin brother and former Stoughton police officer William, and their mentor Robert C. Devine, a former Stoughton deputy police chief and attorney who ran the Explorers program from 2002 to 2014.

Birchmore's estate claims the men exploited her “significant mental and emotional problems” and her reverence for police by engaging in “a nearly decade-long system of grooming and repeated assaults” that culminated in her death. William Farwell and Devine also deny the allegations.

Birchmore grew up in Stoughton, where she was raised by her mother and grandmother. Both women died in 2016, and Birchmore told a colleague at Sharon Elementary School, where she worked, that her father was “never in the picture,” according to state police records. An aunt who also helped raise Birchmore died in 2019.

Birchmore participated in the Stoughton Police Explorers Program until she graduated from high school in 2015, officials said. According to the police internal report, her mother wrote a letter in 2014 thanking the police and Devine for the program.

Globe writers Sean Cotter and Travis Andersen contributed to this report.

You can reach Laura Crimaldi at [email protected]. Follow her @lauracrimaldiShelley Murphy can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @shelleymurph.