Former police officer charged with murder of pregnant Sandra Birchmore in 2021

A Massachusetts police officer is accused of murdering a 23-year-old pregnant woman. He allegedly began sexually abusing her when she was just 15 years old and a volunteer with his police department.

Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton police officer, has been charged with strangling Sandra Birchmore in her Canton apartment in February 2021 and then staging the scene to make it appear as if she had committed suicide, according to court documents obtained by NBC Boston.

At the time of her death, Birchmore was three months pregnant and had recently told Farwell that she believed him to be the father.

She was just 13 years old when she met Farwell in 2010 while participating in the Stoughton Police Department's Explorers youth program.

After her death, an internal police investigation found that Farwell began abusing her when he was 27 and she was 15.

He denied the allegations but admitted to having sex with her when she was over the age of 16 in Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reported.

Farwell is just one of three police officers accused of sexually harassing her.

His brother William Farwell and Robert Devine were charged with wrongful death in a lawsuit brought by Birchmore's family.

All three police officers resigned from their positions in 2022, but no criminal charges have been filed against them so far.

Farwell is the last known person to see Birchmore alive.

Just three days before her body was discovered, surveillance footage from Birchmore's lobby showed him arriving with a hood over his face and then leaving alone some time later.

The indictment accuses Farwell of killing Birchmore “willfully, intentionally, maliciously and with intent.”