Karen Read and Sandra Birchmore cases cast doubt on Massachusetts police and prosecutors

Weeks after a mistrial in the high-profile murder case of Karen Read was declared, new allegations of police misconduct have surfaced in the same Massachusetts county where a former police detective was charged in the 2021 death of a pregnant woman, once again casting a spotlight on the relationship between police and prosecutors.

Criminal justice experts say both cases appear to involve investigative errors that underscore the need to abandon the Massachusetts model for investigating high-profile crimes.

“It’s the understatement of the century, but Massachusetts has a serious problem with murder investigations involving suspects, witnesses and police leads,” criminal justice reporter Susan Zalkind wrote on X Wednesday. “Poor Sandra Birchmore. Beyond depraved.”

Federal prosecutors allege that former detective Matthew Farwell groomed Birchmore, 23, and began sexually abusing her when she was a teenager while he worked with the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy, a youth program she was enrolled in. He was arrested Wednesday, Prosecutors allege he killed Birchmore, who had told him she was pregnant with his child, and tried to stage the scene as a suicide so the sexual abuse allegations would remain hidden.

Farwell has pleaded not guilty.

Birchmore was killed in Canton, the same Norfolk County town where Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46, was found dead on Jan. 29, 2022. His girlfriend, Read, was tried in his death. A jury failed to reach a verdict after her legal team argued that Read was framed by other law enforcement officers who were trying to cover up O’Keefe’s death. She will be retried next year on those charges.

Federal investigators have been involved in both cases, but authorities have not announced any connection between the two. At the heart of both cases: allegations of botched investigations and misconduct by law enforcement.

“Incompetence or corruption?”

“Given these two cases, I would say this is not just the case in Norfolk County, but certainly throughout Massachusetts. The question is, is this incompetence or corruption, or both?” said Tom Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant and criminal justice professor.

In Massachusetts, state police detectives are assigned to district attorneys’ offices, which can lead to bungled cases, Nolan said.

One alternative, he said, is the model used in other states, including Florida and Georgia, where there is an independent investigative agency to oversee cases, rather than relying on an agency that enforces highway laws.

“We saw for several weeks during the Karen Read trial the gross incompetence of the Massachusetts State Police, who were assigned to the Norfolk district attorney’s office. Her attorney simply eviscerated the state troopers who were testifying as witnesses and experts, ‘expert witnesses.’ Their credibility was completely shattered,” Nolan said.

State police did not respond to requests for comment.

Hours after Read’s trial was declared a mistrial, the top Massachusetts State Police official said the lead detective in the case had been relieved of duty after allegations of “serious misconduct” were raised in court.

After the agency launched an internal investigation into the allegations, the detective was suspended without pay last month.

Zalkind, who wrote “Waltham Murders: One Woman’s Pursuit to Expose the Truth Behind a Murder and a National Tragedy,” which focuses on a triple murder in Massachusetts and the Boston Marathon bombing, told NBC News that without an independent investigative agency and proper checks and balances, prosecutors and police can become complacent and politics can come into play.

“When you bring that culture into the good old boys club, into homicide cases, it creates serious problems,” she said. “Our homicide investigations are politicized. The state prosecutors, all but one, are Democrats. Our attorneys general are Democrats. (…) Our government is Democrat. So there’s no incentive to follow up rigorously.”

Regardless of the legal outcome of the Read and Birchmore cases, public trust has been compromised, Zalkind said.

A staged suicide

In announcing the indictment Wednesday, more than three years after Birchmore’s death, Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy called the arrest of Farwell, a police officer sworn to protect the public, “disheartening.”

Sandra Birchmore sought direction in law enforcement. — Sandra Birchmore.by Facebook

Farwell is federally charged with killing a witness or victim.

“Giving voice to the voiceless, ensuring that no one is above the law, protecting the vulnerable in Massachusetts—this is the highest calling of law enforcement,” Levy said. “Mr. Farwell violated these principles and now faces very serious consequences.”

Farwell’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

State police initially led the investigation into Birchmore’s death. Nolan said it was “surprisingly unusual” that the case was taken over by federal authorities because homicides are typically prosecuted as state crimes.

Federal authorities have not said why they took the case, saying only that investigators had received new evidence that made an indictment and arrest possible.

David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office, said the office has long worked with other law enforcement agencies to secure an arrest.

“This office has been working with the Massachusetts Attorney General and the FBI on the Birchmore investigation for months. Two of our detectives were present at the command post… as federal authorities attempted to arrest Matthew Farwell,” Traub said.

“A lot of the information that they (federal authorities) relied on came from our investigation, which included collecting thousands of text messages and then reviewing those text messages to see what criminal conduct might be corroborated by their content,” he said.

Matthew Farwell. Stoughton Police Department via AP

Prosecutors allege Farwell killed Birchmore on February 1, 2021, in his apartment when he could no longer control her and rumors began to spread that he had been having sex with her for years. Authorities initially ruled Birchmore’s death a suicide.

Prosecutors say that after Farwell strangled Birchmore, he repositioned her body and staged her apartment to make it appear as if she had committed suicide.

The medical examiner determined that Birchmore’s death was the result of “asphyxiation by hanging” and that she was eight to 10 weeks pregnant when she died, according to an affidavit supporting Farwell’s detention motion.

The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which issued the ruling, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. A spokesperson for the agency told Boston’s WFXT-TV that the office was aware of Farwell’s indictment and had been cooperating with the U.S. attorney’s office.

An expert commissioned by federal prosecutors, Dr. William Smock, concluded that the death was a homicide, arguing that some of Birchmore’s injuries are more common in strangulation than hanging, such as the abrasions on Birchmore’s nose, according to the affidavit.

Farwell’s arrest comes nearly two years after the Stoughton police chief announced that Farwell and two other former officers had inappropriate relationships with Birchmore. That finding is the result of a lengthy internal investigation sparked by Birchmore’s death, said Police Chief Donna McNamara, who called the former officers’ behavior “deeply troubling.”

The chief said the three men resigned before they could be interviewed. The department has recommended that their police officer certifications be permanently revoked so they cannot serve in law enforcement anywhere in the country, McNamara said.

Lawyers for the other former officer did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the status of their decertification.

deadline — Karen Read and John O’Keefe.by Dateline

Questions in the Read Survey

After a nine-week murder trial that garnered national attention, a judge declared a mistrial for Read on July 1.

Prosecutors said Read’s relationship with O’Keefe was deteriorating when she hit him with her SUV. She has been charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.

She has maintained her innocence and is expected to be retried early next year. Read’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

A spokesman for the Norfolk County district attorney said prosecutors were preparing for Read’s upcoming trial and that the only appropriate forum to determine his innocence or guilt was a courtroom.

No federal charges have been filed in the case.

At the original trial, Read’s attorneys said she saw her boyfriend enter the Canton, Massachusetts, home of a now-retired Boston police sergeant for a party after a night out with other current and former law enforcement officers. Hours later, the defense team said at trial, she discovered that O’Keefe had never returned home and rushed to the house, where she found his body.

Read’s lawyers said O’Keefe was likely beaten inside the home and left outside in the snow.

The defense criticized authorities for failing to conduct a “real” investigation and instead focusing on Read.

They said the lead investigator in the case, Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, was a major reason the investigation was flawed. They say he manipulated evidence and made disparaging comments about Read.

Proctor denied the allegations and said his comments were unprofessional and regrettable, but did not jeopardize the case.

Proctor did not respond to requests for comment.