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Ex-Stoughton Officer Set to Be Arraigned on Federal Charge in Death of Sandra Birchmore’s Unborn Child

The added count follows a federal reexamination of a 2021 death initially deemed a suicide.

Overview

  • Matthew Farwell is scheduled to appear in federal court at 11 a.m. Friday to face the new charge tied to the fetal death.
  • He was previously indicted in 2024 in Birchmore’s killing, with prosecutors alleging he strangled her and staged the scene as a suicide.
  • Birchmore, 23 and three months pregnant, was found dead in her Canton apartment on Feb. 4, 2021 after a relationship investigators say began when she was a minor.
  • Court documents describe alleged grooming through the Stoughton Police Explorers Program, on‑duty sex acts, and falsified work records to conceal the conduct.
  • Farwell has pleaded not guilty in Birchmore’s death and is expected to do the same on the new count; his lawyers seek a venue change, and trial is set for next October.