STOUGHTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Twenty-three-year-old Sandra Birchmore’s death was originally determined to be a suicide, a finding those closest to her never believed.
“I never for a second thought it was a suicide,” said Michael Varner, Birchmore’s former self defense instructor. “But we had to let everything play out.”
Now, news that Matthew Farwell has been accused of killing her and making her death look like a suicide has her friends looking for answers and wondering if more charges related to her death are coming. Prior to her death, Birchmore claimed she was pregnant with Farwell’s child.
“She had a passion for life,” Varner said of Birchmore. “Sandra always had a good day – there wasn’t a bad day. There wasn’t a day when she didn’t have a smile on her face. She was always happy.”
A spokesperson for the DA says in 2021 the state’s medical examiner determined she took her own life — and because of that no criminal charges were filed in connection with her death.
Birchmore’s family hired an investigator, who determined her death was not a suicide.
In 2022, the police department conducted an internal review of the case and uncovered inappropriate conduct between Birchmore and Farwell dating back to when she was 15 years old, prompting Farwell to resign.
The US Attorney’s Office got its own expert to take a second look and determined her death was a homicide.
“Its not the last time you’ll see medical examiners disagreeing about something but it doesn’t happen that often, said 7NEWS legal expert Tom Hoopes. “And I personally had cases moving from suicide to accidental but moving from suicide to murder … is more than a little disturbing.”
The shocking case now has some people in town questioning those in positions of authority.
“I think they need to do an investigation on the people they are hiring to make sure they’re qualified to be police officers,” said Michael Modest.
A spokesman for the DA’s office says they have been and will continue to cooperate with the feds on the case. They haven’t said whether there will be other charges filed against other Stoughton police officers.
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