Overview
- A federal grand jury filed a new count accusing former Stoughton detective Matthew Farwell of causing the death of Birchmore’s male fetus, estimated at 8 to 10 weeks’ gestation.
- The original federal charge of killing a witness remains, and Farwell has pleaded not guilty while being held without bail in Rhode Island.
- DNA testing has excluded Farwell as the fetus’s father, and investigators have not publicly identified paternity.
- Authorities say lobby video shows Farwell entering and leaving Birchmore’s building on Feb. 1, 2021, and her phone stopped moving shortly before his departure, with the scene allegedly staged to look like a suicide.
- The Justice Department must decide by Jan. 20, 2026 whether to seek the death penalty, and trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 5, 2026.