Former police officer Matthew Farwell charged with murder of Sandra Birchmore

A former police detective was arrested by a SWAT team on Wednesday on charges of abusing an underage girl, forcing her into a years-long, abusive relationship and then murdering her when she became pregnant.

Matthew Farwell could face the death penalty at the federal level if he is found guilty of strangling Sandra Birchmore to cover up the abuse.

Birchmore was 23 and three months pregnant when she was found dead in her Canton, Massachusetts, apartment in February 2021. Her death was initially ruled a suicide, but an FBI investigation initiated by her family, which hired its own medical examiner, led to federal charges against Farwell.

Federal prosecutors allege Farwell began the sexual relationship with Birchmore when she was 15 and then used his position of power with the Stoughton Police Department to manipulate and control her. After she announced her pregnancy in 2021, Farwell is accused of strangling her and staging the scene to make it look like Birchmore had taken her own life.

Prosecutors allege that Farwell met Birchmore while participating in a police program designed to give young people an insight into a career in law enforcement.

Farwell, then 27, “used his authority and access to groom, sexually exploit, and eventually sexually abuse Birchmore when she was 15 years old and continued to have sex with her as she grew into adulthood,” prosecutors allege.

“When it became clear that Mr. Farwell could no longer control Sandra Birchmore, he allegedly silenced her permanently,” Joshua Levy, acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, said at a press conference, according to WBZ-TV. “He allegedly tried to cover his tracks, to literally get away with murder. And he almost succeeded, to this day.”

A pathologist hired by Birchmore's family initially contested the medical examiner's suicide finding, which led to an FBI investigation that uncovered new evidence, including alleged attempts by Farwell to destroy evidence of the relationship.

Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara condemned the former officer's actions on Wednesday as a “horrific injustice” and vowed to support federal prosecutors to ensure justice is done.

“As I have said before, Sandra Birchmore did not receive justice during her lifetime,” McNamara said. “It is imperative that justice be served in her death, and today's actions seem to move our society one step closer to justice.”

Farwell is not the only officer allegedly involved in the abuse at Birchmore. His twin brother, William, and another Stoughton officer, Robert C. Devine, were also accused of improper conduct in a civil lawsuit, although only Matthew faced criminal charges.

Farwell was arrested by a SWAT team at a Revere mall where he was driving a gravel truck. The federal charges carry a life sentence, punishable by the death penalty. During the Biden administration, prosecutors sought the death penalty only once, in the case of mass murderer Robert Gregory Bowers, who killed 11 people and injured six in an anti-Semitic mass murder at a Pittsburgh synagogue.