Farwell asks for more time to review situation – NECN

Matthew Farwell, the former Stoughton police detective accused of grooming Sandra Birchmore as a teenager and then killing her when she became pregnant with his child as an adult, has asked to cancel an upcoming hearing so his attorney can have more time to review his case.

Farwell faces federal charges in the death of Birchmore, who was found dead in her Canton, Massachusetts, apartment in 2021. She was three months pregnant. Farwell is accused of strangling her and then staging her body and apartment to make her death appear to be suicide.

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Farwell has requested a “voluntary order of detention without prejudice,” which, if granted, would allow him to remain in custody while retaining his right to request a detention hearing at a later date. A detention hearing is currently scheduled for September 12, but the filing requests that it be canceled so Farwell’s attorney can review the details of the case.

The Sandra Birchmore Case

Sandra Birchmore joined the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy in 2010, when she was 12. She died 11 years later, with the state medical examiner’s office ruling the death a suicide.

An internal investigation followed, and the department said in 2022 that Farwell and two other Stoughton officers had inappropriate sexual relationships with Birchmore, with Farwell accused of starting seeing her when she was 15.

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office has not filed charges against Farwell or the other two officers — both have denied any wrongdoing and they do not face charges in federal court.

The department turned over the results of the investigation to prosecutors. Investigators said at the time that there was no foul play in Birchmore’s death.

All three officers resigned before being interviewed in the Stoughton police investigation, police said. County prosecutors eventually turned the investigation over to the Massachusetts attorney general’s office; their investigation was ongoing Wednesday.

But the U.S. attorney’s office said it reviewed existing evidence and uncovered new evidence that led to the grand jury indicting Farwell on a charge of murder of a witness or victim.

In the indictment against Farwell, federal prosecutors allege that he killed Birchmore with the intent to cover up possible federal crimes.

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement Wednesday that the investigation remains open and active, that it has cooperated with investigators, including the FBI, and that two officers assigned to the office participated in Farwell’s arrest in Revere.

A spokesperson also told NBC10 Boston that the office was limited by the medical examiner’s ruling that the death was a suicide.

Evidence supporting the theory that Birchmore was killed was first presented in court proceedings earlier this year. In June, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara wrote a statement to the Stoughton community about a report that left her “deeply disturbed and troubled” from a pathologist hired by Birchmore’s family as part of a civil suit.

While NBC10 Boston has not reviewed the report, the Boston Globe reported that in the report, a former New York City chief medical examiner concluded that Birchmore’s death was a homicide, not a suicide. Without mentioning his findings, McNamara said the report deserves further high-level review.