Killing of Sandra Birchmore

Sandra Birchmore (May 13, 1997 – February 1, 2021) was found dead in her Canton, Massachusetts apartment on February 4, 2021. Her death was initially ruled a suicide by asphyxia, but federal authorities later determined it was a homicide allegedly carried out by a local police officer.

Birchmore was born and raised in Stoughton, Massachusetts, by a chronically ill single mother. At age 12, she joined the Stoughton Police Explorers program, a youth program for those interested in law enforcement careers. There she met Matthew Farwell, then 25 years old, who allegedly began grooming her and spending time with her outside the program. Federal prosecutors allege that in 2013, when Birchmore was 15 and Farwell 27, he raped her for the first time; he married his wife about a month later, and the abuse is alleged to have continued for nearly a decade, including while Farwell was on duty. Birchmore's mother died of a stroke in 2016. In December 2020, Birchmore learned she was pregnant and believed Farwell was the father; a paternity test in June 2025 later determined he was not.

At the time of her death, Birchmore worked as a teacher's assistant at an elementary school in Sharon and had begun nursing courses at Massasoit Community College. On February 4, 2021, her colleagues alerted police after she missed several days of work, and her body was found in her apartment that day; first responders believed she had been dead for days. Surveillance video from February 1 showed Birchmore entering and leaving her building in the afternoon, and Farwell entering the building that evening and leaving about 30 minutes later. When found, she was wearing the same clothes seen in the February 1 footage.

In 2022, the Norfolk County District Attorney's office stated its investigation found no evidence of foul play in her death, and it remained classified as a suicide by asphyxia. Birchmore's family disputed this finding, stating she was not suicidal, and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Matthew Farwell, his twin brother William Farwell, and their supervisor Robert Devine, alleging all three had sexually assaulted her during her time in the Explorers program and accusing the Town of Stoughton and its police department of negligent hiring and supervision.

In 2024, a federal investigation concluded that Birchmore's death was a homicide, alleging that Matthew Farwell strangled her and staged the scene to look like a suicide in order to conceal their relationship and her pregnancy. Farwell was federally indicted on a murder charge in August 2024; his trial is scheduled for October 2026, and federal prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty. On December 18, 2025, Robert Devine, who had supervised Birchmore in the Explorers program starting when she was 13, was decertified by a police oversight board, barring him from serving as a police officer in Massachusetts; the board found he had groomed her and that the two later had a sexual encounter.