The federal trial of former Stoughton, Massachusetts, police officer Matthew Farwell opened Friday with a brief 9 a.m. hearing, after jury selection began Tuesday, according to Fox News and CBS News. Farwell, 40, who was arrested in August 2024, is accused of killing Sandra Birchmore, 23, a woman he allegedly met years earlier through the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy, a youth program for teenagers interested in law enforcement. Farwell has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Birchmore died in her Canton apartment on Feb. 1, 2021, and her death was initially ruled a suicide, according to CBS News. Authorities later pursued the case as a homicide, leading to Farwell’s arrest in August 2024, more than three years after her death.
What Happened: The Allegations Against Farwell
Prosecutors allege Farwell began a sexual relationship with Birchmore when she was 15 years old and he was 27, according to CBS News. They allege the relationship continued for years after Birchmore joined the youth Explorers program that Farwell helped run as a Stoughton officer.
At the time of her death, Birchmore was between eight and 10 weeks pregnant, according to Fox News. Prosecutors allege she had told Farwell she intended to keep the baby and planned to announce the pregnancy publicly two weeks before Valentine’s Day. They allege Farwell killed her to stop her from speaking out, strangling her inside her Canton apartment that February.
Court filings cited by Fox News include a prosecution allegation that Farwell told Birchmore she was “the worst person on the face of the earth.” Prosecutors have pointed to text messages exchanged between the two from Dec. 28, 2020, through the day Birchmore died, which they say show Farwell believed he was the baby’s father. Both the prosecution and the defense agree that DNA testing later excluded Farwell as the father of the unborn child, according to Fox News.
CBS News also reported that a friend of Birchmore’s contacted the Stoughton Police Department in January 2021, about two weeks before her death, to report that Farwell and Birchmore were having a sexual relationship.
Charges And Court Response
Farwell is charged with killing a witness in connection with Birchmore’s death. In October 2025, a superseding indictment added a second count against him under the state’s protection of unborn children law, according to CBS News. The Department of Justice announced in December 2025 that it would not seek the death penalty in the case.
Farwell has pleaded not guilty to all counts against him.
What It Means
The case is being tried in federal court because of the witness-killing charge and the unborn-victims count added last fall. The Justice Department’s decision to rule out the death penalty means Farwell faces the possibility of life imprisonment rather than execution if convicted. Because jury selection only began this week, the bulk of testimony and evidence presentation is still ahead.
What’s Next
With proceedings underway as of Friday, the trial is expected to continue with testimony in the coming days. Readers following other true crime cases can also see Total Apex’s coverage of the Jill Maiorca case and the dramatized Trial of Louise Woodward for HBO.
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