How Old Sandra Birchmore Was When She Met the Cop Charged With Killing Her

Sandra Birchmore was 12 years old when she applied to the Stoughton Police Explorers in March 2010. Matthew Farwell, the former Stoughton officer charged with killing her, was an instructor there. Part 1 of the Sandra Birchmore story is what the department's own records, the FBI, and the state's police-standards commission say happened inside that program, and how it ended on the night of February 1, 2021.

The Explorers post was run by Robert Devine, who rose to deputy chief, was demoted after an internal probe found he'd lied, and stayed on the force. The department's 2022 report found Devine, Matthew Farwell, and his twin William all had inappropriate relationships with Sandra. It dated Matthew's to the spring of 2013, when she was 15. A fourth town employee, the animal control officer, admitted an encounter of his own. The state has charged none of them.

Prosecutors cite texts in which Farwell told Sandra to clear out their messages in 2019 and confirmed he'd be on the clock when he came by in November 2020. In December she told him she was pregnant. Friends told the FBI about a headlock, a shove over a sonogram, and a wish that she would die. She scheduled her OB appointment for February 10 and planned a Valentine's Day announcement.

On January 20, 2021, a friend called the Stoughton Police Department to report Farwell; the FBI says the call reached him within the department. On February 1, the night before his wife gave birth, building video shows him walking into Sandra's building hooded and masked and walking out less than half an hour later. Prosecutors allege strangulation and a staged hanging. Farwell has pleaded not guilty and says she died by suicide. His federal trial opens October 5, 2026.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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