A former Massachusetts police detective has been found guilty of murdering a young pregnant woman prosecutors say he had been grooming since she was a teenager.
Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton Police Department detective, was convicted of killing Sandra Birchmore inside her Canton apartment in February 2021. Investigators say he staged the scene to make her death appear to be a suicide.
The U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts confirmed Farwell, 41, was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering Birchmore, 23, and causing the death of her unborn child. He will be sentenced on Feb. 3.
Jurors began deliberating Friday after hearing more than three weeks of testimony in the federal murder trial.
On Monday, the jurors sent a note to the judge saying that they were deadlocked, but the judge sent them home for the day and instructed them to return Tuesday to continue deliberating.
In a news conference following Tuesday's verdict, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said, "The evidence presented at trial was both shocking and clear. Matthew Farwell was supposed to be a trusted figure in Sandra's life," she said.
She went on to say, "He was a police officer working as an instructor for the Stoughton Police Department's Explorer Program, a program designed to mentor young kids and introduce them to the world of policing. However, instead of mentoring, Farwell used his position of power to prey on Sandra, a vulnerable child who was only 12 years old when she entered the explorer program."
Farwell had been charged with killing a witness or victim and causing the death of an unborn child.
Prosecutors said Farwell killed Birchmore after she became pregnant and threatened to expose their years-long relationship, which they say started when he began grooming her when she was just 15 years old and he was 27. They both believed that he was the father of the child, though DNA testing revealed that he was not the father.
Ray Cosgrove, a family member of Birchmore, also spoke at Tuesday's news conference. He said, "There are conversations we will never get to have with her and memories we will never have the opportunity to make," he said.
He went on to say, "Our family grieves another future we will never get to experience. Sandra was expecting a baby boy. We will never have the opportunity to meet him. We will never watch him grow up, celebrate his birthdays, or see this person he might have become. We lost that future too."
Birchmore was found dead with a strap around her neck inside her apartment. Her death was initially ruled a suicide, but the medical examiner later changed the official manner of death to undetermined.
During closing arguments, prosecutors portrayed Farwell as a former police officer who feared Birchmore would expose his alleged misconduct.
Meanwhile, Farwell's defense argued Birchmore died by suicide and pointed to her history of mental health struggles and previous suicidal statements. Farwell’s attorneys acknowledged the extramarital relationship but maintained he did not kill her.
A defense medical expert also disputed the prosecution’s conclusion that Birchmore had been strangled.
Farwell faces mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.