Overview
- A federal jury in Boston found former Stoughton detective Matthew Farwell guilty of killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child, and he faces a mandatory life sentence at sentencing scheduled for early 2027.
- Prosecutors presented evidence that Farwell groomed and sexually abused Birchmore beginning when she was underage and that he staged her death to look like a suicide to silence her.
- New digital, surveillance, DNA, ligature and timeline evidence, together with an FBI review, led the state medical examiner to revise the manner of death from suicide to undetermined and reopened the case for federal prosecution.
- Former Stoughton deputy chief Brian Holmes says he pressed the Norfolk DA’s office and state police for an investigative grand jury before referring his findings to the FBI, and critics have sharply faulted DA Michael Morrissey for the earlier handling and lack of public engagement.
- The conviction has triggered calls for accountability, including incoming Norfolk DA Djuna Perkins’s planned grand‑jury review, pending civil wrongful‑death suits, and renewed discussion of reforms to how police and prosecutors investigate deaths involving officers.