Ex-cop Matthew Farwell, accused of killing former teen cadet Sandra Birchmore and unborn child, now on trial

The federal trial for former Stoughton, Massachusetts, police officer Matthew Farwell is set to get underway with jury selection on Tuesday. He is accused of killing Sandra Birchmore while she was pregnant in 2021 and attempting to make her death look like a suicide.

Prosecutors say Farwell met Birchmore when she was a 13-year-old cadet in a Stoughton Police Department youth program. They say he started a sexual relationship with her when she was 15 and he was 27.

It's alleged that Farwell killed Birchmore after she told him she was pregnant with what she believed was his child. The defense argues that Birchmore died by suicide after Farwell told her that it wasn't his baby and the relationship was over.

Farwell is set to stand trial inside the Moakley Courthouse in Boston's Seaport District. He has been held at a Rhode Island detention center without bail while he awaits trial, despite a request in April to be released from the facility.

The jury selection process will take several days. On Tuesday, jurors filled out a questionnaire. The next day, they'll find out of if they need to return to the courthouse on Thursday to be questioned. Each side will get a chance to challenge certain jurors. Opening statements could take place as early as Friday. 

The goal is to reach 16 jurors, with four serving as alternates and 12 deliberating.

Farwell had filed a motion for a change of venue for the trial, but it was rejected last week. Opening statements could start as soon as Friday once 16 jurors are seated, and it's anticipated that the trial will last five weeks.

He faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if found guilty on the federal charge of killing a witness or victim. In October 2025, a superseding indictment also added a second count under the state's protection of unborn children law. Farwell has pleaded not guilty.

Federal prosecutors allege that Farwell strangled Birchmore inside her Canton apartment in February 2021.

Her death was originally ruled a suicide. In August 2024, Farwell was arrested on allegations that he killed the 23-year-old woman.

What is Matthew Farwell accused of?

According to prosecutors, Farwell allegedly began having sex with Birchmore when she was 15 and he was 27 years old. Farwell was a volunteer for a youth program called "Stoughton Police Explorers Academy" that Birchmore attended.

Farwell is accused of grooming and sexually exploiting Birchmore. Prosecutors said a friend of Birchmore's called the Stoughton Police Department in January 2021 to tell an employee that Farwell and Birchmore were having sex.

According to the prosecution, the employee told Farwell about the call, and several days later Birchmore was found dead. Farwell allegedly killed Birchmore the day before his wife was scheduled to give birth to their third child.

Farwell's defense argues that he went to Birchmore's apartment where they had an argument, he told her he was not the father of the child and ended their relationship. The defense also argues that DNA tests later showed he was not the baby's father.

The defense says that Birchmore died by suicide, as was originally determined by local investigators. 

"So this is an interesting case, because when Sandra Birchmore was originally found dead, the coroner initially said it was a suicide," WBZ-TV legal analyst Jennifer Roman said. "Her family hired a private investigator and had their own autopsy done, and that autopsy revealed that it was not in fact a suicide and it in fact looked like a murder homicide. And that's what opened this case up three years later."

What sentence does Matthew Farwell face?

Farwell was eligible to stand trial with the possibility of facing the death penalty.

In December 2025, the Department of Justice announced that they would not seek capital punishment in the case.

Instead, if convicted, Farwell faces life in prison.

"The prosecution needs to establish here that Matthew Farwell did in fact kill Sandra Birchmore, that he did it intentionally, he knew, that he was trying to cover something up, that she was a witness to this illicit relationship that they had," Roman said.

Will the Matthew Farwell trial be live streamed?

Because the trial is taking place inside a federal courtroom, cameras are not allowed, so it can not be watched live by the general public.

Restrictions on electronic media inside federal courtrooms have been in place since 1946.

Reporters inside the courtroom are allowed to take notes and describe what is happening. Sketch artists regularly release drawn versions of what is happening inside the courtroom during trials.