Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of murder and mentions suicide and child sexual abuse. Please take care while reading.
In 2021, 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore was found dead in her Stoughton, Massachusetts apartment. Birchmore was pregnant when she died, and suicide was determined to be her cause of death. Three years later, however, an independent pathologist’s report, commissioned by Birchmore’s family, said she died from strangulation.
Moreover, a 2022 Stoughton police department internal investigation revealed that Birchmore had inappropriate sexual relationships with at least three officers: William and Matthew Farwell, who are twin brothers, and former Stoughton Deputy Chief, Richard Devine. CBS News says all three men left the police force before the internal investigation was complete.
The three former officers — and possibly at least one other officer in another department and a military recruiter — allegedly groomed Birchmore beginning when she was 15 years old, had sexual contact, and had inappropriate sexual communication with Birchmore when she was a minor, according to NewsNation. Birchmore’s friends have said she told them she was pregnant with Farwell’s child.
“I have reviewed the findings of the outside doctor retained by Sandra’s family,” Chief Donna McNamara said in a statement regarding Birchmore’s cause of death. “I was profoundly disturbed and troubled by what I read. While I am not a trained medical examiner, and I am not qualified to draw any direct conclusions, the findings certainly warrant further examination at the highest level.”
Matthew Farwell was the last person to see Birchmore alive
Matthew Farwell, a married father, was reportedly captured on surveillance footage at Sandra Birchmore’s apartment complex a few days before she died, making him the last person to see her alive. Farwell spent 20 minutes inside. Birchmore was seated when her body was found, which is unusual in cases of suicide by hanging. She also had a fractured bone in her neck consistent with strangulation, the pathologist said.
So far, Richard Devine, William Farwell, and Matthew Farwell have not been charged with any crimes. The same year the Stoughton investigation revealed the sexual misconduct, however, Birchmore’s family filed a wrongful death suit against all three men. The men were placed on a list of officers who had engaged in questionable behavior upon their departure from the Stoughton Police Department. Matthew Farwell was decertified.
” … [T]he Stoughton Police Department has assisted and continues to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies. Sandra received not so much as a sliver of justice during her life, and we will not cease in our efforts to ensure our duty to administer justice, and she is not forgotten in the aftermath of her death,” Chief McNamara’s statement added.
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