Pregnant Woman's Death Was Ruled Suicide. Now, Police Think a Married Cop Killed Her: 'We Knew She Didn't Kill Her Baby'
Sandra Birchmore, 23, was found dead at her Canton, Mass., home on Feb. 4, 2021
When she learned she was pregnant in late 2020, Sandra Birchmore contacted her cousin in Seattle with the exciting news. "She woke me up at o'clock in the morning to tell me," recalls Barbara Wright, 68. "She was over the moon."
Unmarried, Birchmore immediately began preparing for the birth, buying toys, and looking in advance for a photographer to take pictures of her newborn. She was planning a social media announcement on Feb. 14, 2021—Valentine's Day. "She had a friend make a sign that said, 'I'm expecting a new little one to love. My own little Valentine,'" says Wright.
But, on Feb. 4, the news Birchmore's friends and family received was tragic. That day, police officers performing a welfare check after Birchmore didn't show up for work found the 23-year-old teaching assistant's body at her Canton, Mass., apartment. She was seated on the floor with a luggage strap looped around her neck and tied to a closet doorknob. Following an autopsy, Birchmore's death was officially ruled a suicide—but those who knew her vehemently disagreed. "I knew she didn't kill her baby," says Wright. "I knew that above all else."
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Authorities investigating Birchmore's suspicious death agreed. They searched her home and phone and, they said, found evidence of an eight-year sexual relationship between Birchmore and a married police officer. On Aug. 28, 2024, prosecutors charged former Stoughton, Mass., police Det. Matthew Farwell, 38, with strangling Birchmore to death to stop her from exposing their relationship and then staging the scene to look like a suicide.
Related: Death of Woman Who Accused Cop of Sex Abuse Was Ruled Suicide. But Prominent Pathologist Doesn't Think So
"Sandra Birchmore survived years of grooming, statutory rape and then sexual violence, all at the hands of Matthew Farwell," Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in Boston on the day of the arrest. "And when it became clear to Mr. Farwell that he could no longer control [her], he allegedly silenced her permanently." (Farwell has pleaded not guilty to premeditated killing a victim. His attorneys declined to comment.)
Raised by a single mother in the Boston suburbs, Birchmore was outgoing and curious about the world around her. From a young age she showed an interest in law enforcement and, when she was 12, joined the Stoughton Police Explorers, a mentorship program. Birchmore developed a friendship with Farwell, then 24, a volunteer instructor in the program. By 2012, the pair were exchanging messages on social media and meeting for tutoring sessions at the local library.
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FBI investigators say they discovered that Farwell first had sex with Birchmore when she was 15 and claim that he became controlling and abusive: Text messages allegedly exchanged by the pair show that Farwell tracked the location of Birchmore's cellphone and punished her with violent sex acts when she told lies or got bad grades. Several times he allegedly asked her to play the role of victim in rape scenarios.
Prosecutors believe that in the fall of 2020—after Farwell's wife became pregnant with the couple's third child—Birchmore told Farwell she wanted a child of her own. Farwell allegedly agreed to impregnate her and, in return, she promised to keep quiet about their relationship.
Yet when Birchmore told him she was pregnant on Dec. 28, Farwell was angry, according to prosecutors. Birchmore told a friend, "He wants nothing to do with the baby," they say.
On Feb 1, 2021, the day prosecutors believe Birchmore was killed, Farwell allegedly texted her at 9:08 p.m. asking if he could "come by for a second." By 9:43, authorities claim, Birchmore was dead.
She will never be forgotten, according to her friends. "Sandra was fun, gentle. All she ever wanted was to be loved," says pal Tiara Martin, 29. Adds Natalia Pimentel-Alves, 56, who had coffee with her every week, "She wanted to be a teacher or a nurse, and to have a child. She didn't deserve this."
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
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