Federal investigators have made explosive new allegations in the death Sandra Birchmore, a woman whose death in Canton, Massachusetts, in 2021 was initially ruled a suicide.
In an indictment filed this week in Boston's federal court, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts alleges that Matthew Farwell, who was at the time a detective in Stoughton, killed Birchmore, a 23-year-old who was pregnant at the time. The indictment says he was the child's father, and that they'd had sexual contact since before she turned 16 — she was in the Stoughton Police Department's youth Explorer program since she was 13.
"On or about February 1, 2021, FARWELL killed Birchmore by strangulation," the indictment reads. "Shortly thereafter, FARWELL staged Birchmore's Canton, Massachusetts apartment to make it appear as if Birchmore had committed suicide."
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.
Read the full indictment, for a single count of killing a witness or victim, below.
Editor's note: the allegations in the indictment may not be suitable for all readers.
