SANDRA BIRCHMORE: 2021 murder and cover-up *ARREST*

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I used to start a fair amount of case threads but life has me not doing so in quite awhile. The title will likely need more info, date, etc. and an intro.

I don't know enough yet to have an opinion but keep running into this case. Of course it jump started due to being the same area as Karen Read with LE involvement and yet nothing about them is similar. Night and day different.

An issue I have with cases of suicides or drownings, some various things like that is when they rule such accidental or suicide when it cannot be known. Not saying they aren't right in a lot of cases but short of solid proof it is such, I think they should in many cases be ruled undetermined.

It seems this one is heating up and I think a thread should be started but a mod may have to tweak my title and intro.

 
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SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:
www.bostonglobe.com

Murder or Suicide? Breaking the Sandra Birchmore Story - The Boston Globe

The Globe reporters who stuck with the Sandra Birchmore story reveal years of uncovered mistreatment that left Sandra’s loved ones demanding accountability for a system that failed her.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com

Murder or Suicide? Breaking the Sandra Birchmore Story​

The story of Sandra Birchmore may never have made headlines if it wasn’t for Laura Crimaldi, a Boston Globe reporter who spent years following the trail of Birchmore’s life and tragic death.

While Birchmore’s death was originally ruled as a suicide, follow up investigations showed she was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a married Stoughton police officer, starting when she was a minor. This new line of investigation uncovered years of mistreatment by multiple officers and had Birchmore’s loved ones asking why nothing was done to protect her while she was alive. Guest host Jazmin Aguilera speaks to Globe reporters Laura Crimaldi and Yvonne Abraham about what it took to unravel this story.

Listen to more “Say More” episodes at globe.com/saymore and wherever you get your podcasts. If you like the show, please follow us and leave us a review. You can email us at saymore@globe.com.

www.bostonglobe.com

Say More with Shirley Leung

Big ideas are born in Boston.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
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The Boston Globe does good work. I believe they are the paper that unearthed the Priest molestation story.
 
www.nbcboston.com

Canton police audit released: Full 200-page report, analysis and reaction

An independent audit of the Canton Police Department commissioned amid the backlash over how it handled the investigation into Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe‘s death and the Sandra Birchmore case was released Tuesday. The audit began last year and was conducted by the investigative firm 5...
www.nbcboston.com www.nbcboston.com

Canton police audit released: Full 200-page report, analysis and reaction​

An independent audit of the Canton Police Department commissioned amid the backlash over how it handled the investigation into Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe's death and the Sandra Birchmore case was released Tuesday.

The audit began last year and was conducted by the investigative firm 5 Stones Intelligence at a cost of just under $200,000.

Prosecutors accused Karen Read of killing O'Keefe, her boyfriend, and leaving him to die in the snow in January of 2022. Read argued she was framed in a wide-ranging coverup, and the actions of law enforcement — including members of the Canton Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police — have been heavily scrutinized since the onset of her trial.

The murder trial against Read ended with a hung jury over the summer, and her second trial got underway Tuesday morning in Norfolk Superior Court.

The Birchmore case has brought even more attention to law enforcement in the town.

Federal prosecutors brought charges against Matthew Farwell, a Stoughton police officer, accusing him of killing Birchmore and staging her Canton apartment to make it appear she had died by suicide. Canton police found her body during a wellness check.

FULL REPORT AVAILABLE AT LINK
 
www.masslive.com

Closed-door hearing for officer involved in Sandra Birchmore case begins Thursday

Robert Devine, one of the key former Stoughton Police officers involved in the Sandra Birchmore case, will fight to keep his police certification at a secret hearing beginning Thursday.
www.masslive.com www.masslive.com

Closed-door hearing for officer involved in Sandra Birchmore case begins Thursday​

The state’s police oversight agency will make its case at a closed-door hearing beginning Thursday for why one of the former Stoughton Police officers involved in the Sandra Birchmore case should never again work in law enforcement in Massachusetts.

Robert Devine, the former Stoughton deputy police chief, is among a trio of former Stoughton officers, along with brothers Matthew and William Farwell, accused of having inappropriate sexual relationships with Birchmore after she joined their police youth program as a teenager.

Devine is fighting efforts from the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, or POST, to revoke his certification for police work, a requirement for all officers employed in the commonwealth.

Beginning Thursday, his case will play out in secret at the commission office in Boston after a retired judge presiding over the hearing ruled last week that protective orders covering sensitive evidence necessitated closing proceedings to the public and press.


www.bostonglobe.com

Ex-Stoughton deputy police chief in Sandra Birchmore case says he wanted public hearing - The Boston Globe

A retired Superior Court judge closed the hearing, citing that there is “no reasonable method” for holding any part of the hearing in public “without a substantial risk of disclosing confidential evidence.”
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
 
All I have to say is at some point this stuff should be public and people need to not forget that and push for it later on. Right NOW it may be necessary, I will give the benefit of the doubt there because of a case/s going on.
 
SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:
www.masslive.com

Closed-door hearing for officer involved in Sandra Birchmore case begins Thursday

Robert Devine, one of the key former Stoughton Police officers involved in the Sandra Birchmore case, will fight to keep his police certification at a secret hearing beginning Thursday.
www.masslive.com www.masslive.com

Closed-door hearing for officer involved in Sandra Birchmore case begins Thursday​

The state’s police oversight agency will make its case at a closed-door hearing beginning Thursday for why one of the former Stoughton Police officers involved in the Sandra Birchmore case should never again work in law enforcement in Massachusetts.

Robert Devine, the former Stoughton deputy police chief, is among a trio of former Stoughton officers, along with brothers Matthew and William Farwell, accused of having inappropriate sexual relationships with Birchmore after she joined their police youth program as a teenager.

Devine is fighting efforts from the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, or POST, to revoke his certification for police work, a requirement for all officers employed in the commonwealth.

Beginning Thursday, his case will play out in secret at the commission office in Boston after a retired judge presiding over the hearing ruled last week that protective orders covering sensitive evidence necessitated closing proceedings to the public and press.


www.bostonglobe.com

Ex-Stoughton deputy police chief in Sandra Birchmore case says he wanted public hearing - The Boston Globe

A retired Superior Court judge closed the hearing, citing that there is “no reasonable method” for holding any part of the hearing in public “without a substantial risk of disclosing confidential evidence.”
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
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Copy of the ruling from the article.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
PEACE OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF ) Case No. 2024-003-P
ROBERT DEVINE )
ORDER
Pursuant to 555 CMR 1.10(4)(a)2., “[a]n adjudicatory hearing conducted under 555 CMR 1.10
. . . shall be public except where the presiding officer . . . determine that closure is necessary to
protect privacy interests and will not be contrary to the public interest.” Furthermore, “the [P]residing
[O]fficer and [C]ommission shall make all reasonable efforts to protect the confidentiality of any
documents submitted or considered during the course of an adjudicatory hearing, to the extent
permitted by law and as described in 555 CMR 1.10(4)(a)1.”
A protective order and supplemental protective order have been entered in this matter to protect
confidential discovery materials and the identity of an individual. Many of these same materials are
being offered as exhibits at the adjudicatory hearing scheduled for June 5 and 6, 2025. Moreover, the
contents of these exhibits, the identity of the individual whose name remains confidential, and other
information that is confidential under the protective orders, will be the subject of testimony presented
at the adjudicatory hearing.
On May 27, 2025, the Hearing Officer notified the Parties that due to the protective orders entered in
this case, portions of the arguments and evidence presented at the hearing scheduled for June 5 and 6,
2025, must be protected from disclosure to the public. The Hearing Officer has been considering the
feasibility of structuring the presentation of evidence to enable an efficient proceeding between the
closed, and, if any, open portions of the hearing. The Parties were instructed to confer and provide
suggestions on the potential for structuring the hearing to accomplish this goal.
The Parties have advised the Hearing Officer that “it is likely that the entirety of the hearing will
include interspersed discussions of the confidential exhibits covered by the protective order . . . [and
that] all witness testimony, opening statements, and closing arguments will include analysis of those
exhibits.” The Division of Police Standards further stated that “it’s unlikely that any testimony
regarding the substance of the allegations would cover topics outside of the protected evidence.”
The Hearing Officer concurs that there is no reasonable method for opening any portions of this
hearing to the public without a substantial risk of disclosing confidential evidence. Accordingly, it is
hereby ORDERED that the adjudicatory hearing in this matter, to be held on June 5 and 6, 2025, be
CLOSED to the public. To further protect the closed proceeding, it is hereby ORDERED that any
witnesses to be called at the proceeding must appear and testify in person. Witnesses will not be
permitted to testify over Zoom or any other electronic method.
____________________________
Hon. Kenneth J. Fishman (Ret.)
Hearing Officer
Date:
 
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Tresir said:
Copy of the ruling from the article.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
PEACE OFFICER STANDARDS AND TRAINING COMMISSION
IN THE MATTER OF ) Case No. 2024-003-P
ROBERT DEVINE )
ORDER
Pursuant to 555 CMR 1.10(4)(a)2., “[a]n adjudicatory hearing conducted under 555 CMR 1.10
. . . shall be public except where the presiding officer . . . determine that closure is necessary to
protect privacy interests and will not be contrary to the public interest.” Furthermore, “the [P]residing
[O]fficer and [C]ommission shall make all reasonable efforts to protect the confidentiality of any
documents submitted or considered during the course of an adjudicatory hearing, to the extent
permitted by law and as described in 555 CMR 1.10(4)(a)1.”
A protective order and supplemental protective order have been entered in this matter to protect
confidential discovery materials and the identity of an individual. Many of these same materials are
being offered as exhibits at the adjudicatory hearing scheduled for June 5 and 6, 2025. Moreover, the
contents of these exhibits, the identity of the individual whose name remains confidential, and other
information that is confidential under the protective orders, will be the subject of testimony presented
at the adjudicatory hearing.
On May 27, 2025, the Hearing Officer notified the Parties that due to the protective orders entered in
this case, portions of the arguments and evidence presented at the hearing scheduled for June 5 and 6,
2025, must be protected from disclosure to the public. The Hearing Officer has been considering the
feasibility of structuring the presentation of evidence to enable an efficient proceeding between the
closed, and, if any, open portions of the hearing. The Parties were instructed to confer and provide
suggestions on the potential for structuring the hearing to accomplish this goal.
The Parties have advised the Hearing Officer that “it is likely that the entirety of the hearing will
include interspersed discussions of the confidential exhibits covered by the protective order . . . [and
that] all witness testimony, opening statements, and closing arguments will include analysis of those
exhibits.” The Division of Police Standards further stated that “it’s unlikely that any testimony
regarding the substance of the allegations would cover topics outside of the protected evidence.”
The Hearing Officer concurs that there is no reasonable method for opening any portions of this
hearing to the public without a substantial risk of disclosing confidential evidence. Accordingly, it is
hereby ORDERED that the adjudicatory hearing in this matter, to be held on June 5 and 6, 2025, be
CLOSED to the public. To further protect the closed proceeding, it is hereby ORDERED that any
witnesses to be called at the proceeding must appear and testify in person. Witnesses will not be
permitted to testify over Zoom or any other electronic method.
____________________________
Hon. Kenneth J. Fishman (Ret.)
Hearing Officer
Date:
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Hmm. She's not with us any longer so who is the individual? Another victim? Or am I reading into it wrong?
 
GrandmaBear said:
That's an interesting thought.... Was she that clueless as an adult, I know they took advantage of her when younger or the one did anyhow and yes it seemed to me both did but this latest article you put up, sounds like the brother only had a relationship with her the last two years and I had thought otherwise but never had time to go back and check...

Yes once she was murdered, they probably were able to test the fetus but I mean I wonder even how either guy knew which one should be worried before that etc. about the pregnancy and so forth.

Perhaps one is fixed...? They should be, in more than one way... Imo.
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Maybe the father of the unborn child was the third guy, not either of the twin brothers.
 
Tresir said:
Maybe the father of the unborn child was the third guy, not either of the twin brothers.
Click to expand...
I guess no matter who, or whether they could know, he still knew as one of the possibles it would all come out.

It's sad that these creeps taught he to think this was her value in life.
 
SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:
www.bostonglobe.com

Former Stoughton police officer charged with killing Sandra Birchmore did not father her unborn baby, DNA shows - The Boston Globe

Matthew Farwell is accused of killing Birchmore to prevent her from implicating him in her rape when she was a teen.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
Former Stoughton police officer charged with killing Sandra Birchmore did not father her unborn baby, DNA shows

Paywall

Click to expand...

Non-paywall article with this info:

www.masslive.com

Ex-detective charged with killing Sandra Birchmore was not her baby’s father, report says

A DNA analysis indicates that Sandra Birchmore’s unborn child was not fathered by a former Stoughton police detective who is charged with killing her in February 2021, The Boston Globe reports.
www.masslive.com www.masslive.com

Ex-detective charged with killing Sandra Birchmore was not her baby’s father, report says​

A DNA analysis indicates that Sandra Birchmore’s unborn child was not fathered by the former Stoughton police detective who is charged with killing her in February 2021, according to original reporting from The Boston Globe that cited two anonymous sources familiar with the case.

Text exchanges between Birchmore, a 23-year-old Canton resident, and 39-year-old North Easton resident Matthew Farwell suggests both Birchmore and Farwell believed he was the father of her unborn child. But DNA testing of the fetus and Farwell rules out the possibility that the former police detective was the unborn child’s father, the anonymous sources told the Globe.

Farwell has pleaded not guilty to a charge of killing a witness, in connection with Birchmore’s death in federal court. The Globe’s requests for comment from Farwell, the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office and others were not returned Wednesday afternoon.

Birchmore is known to have had multiple sexual partners, but it is unclear whether investigators have determined who fathered her unborn child, the Globe reported Thursday. It was approximately three months along in development when she died.

Instead of a murder charge, which would normally be filed by a district attorney, Farwell was indicted on the killing a witness charge in Birchmore’s death last summer. Her 2021 death was initially ruled a suicide, but the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office opened an investigation into the matter in 2023 after learning of new information suggesting her death was actually a homicide.

The Massachusetts Chief Medical Examiner’s Office has so far stood by its original determination and declined to change the manner of death on her death certificate.



Legal experts told the Globe that the criminal case against Farwell does not hang on whether he is the father of Birchmore’s unborn baby.

Prosecutors assert that he killed her because she had evidence he’d committed crimes — at least some of which were supposedly committed long before she became pregnant. Birchmore’s insistence that Farwell act as a father to her unborn child simply caused him to feel increasing pressure to kill her.

“He doesn’t have to be the father — he just has to think he’s the father,” former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Cohen told the Globe. “That’s what gives him the motive to be homicidal.”
 
ME still considers suicide? And has not changed it?

Well said that he doesn't have to know he is the father of the child. That's what I thought when I first saw it the other day. Anything coming out about him and her, what he had been doing, even aside from her, all of it would risk his job.
 
www.bostonherald.com

Stoughton cop accused of killing Sandra Birchmore adds death penalty specialist to defense team

The federal case against a Stoughton cop accused of grooming, impregnating and then killing a Canton woman named Sandra Birchmore has been delayed again — as the accused killer adds a death penalty…
www.bostonherald.com www.bostonherald.com

Stoughton cop accused of killing Sandra Birchmore adds death penalty specialist to defense team​

The federal case against a Stoughton cop accused of grooming, impregnating and then killing a Canton woman named Sandra Birchmore has been delayed again — as the accused killer adds a death penalty specialist to his defense team.

“The defendant requests that the conference be continued for approximately thirty days and the government does not object,” U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley wrote this week.

Kelley approved the request, stating that allowing “the parties time to prepare the case for trial or other disposition, outweigh the best interests of the public and defendant for a trial within seventy days of the date of indictment.”

It was the first docket entry in nearly two months in the case against Matthew Farwell, 38, of North Easton. It was quickly followed by the addition of two attorneys to his team: Joanne Daley of the Rhode Island Federal Public Defender office and Kimberly Stevens, an assistant federal public defender specializing in death penalty defenses.
 
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