Content warning: This story contains details of sexual abuse and suicide.
Matthew Farwell brought ginger ale.
Sandra Birchmore, 23, texted a friend the news in late January 2021. Farwell, then a police officer in Stoughton, Massachusetts, near Boston, had visited Birchmore’s apartment the night before, according to an affidavit accompanying Farwell’s indictment and arrest for killing her.
She thought Farwell bringing soda might be a sign that their relationship was improving. “He’s coming around,” her friend texted. “A lot more than I thought he was going to yes,” Birchmore wrote back. His behavior toward her that night had been markedly different, a “complete 180 from where we were at,” Birchmore texted another person, according to the affidavit filed in federal court this week.
The court records allege in disturbing detail that Farwell had, for about a decade, groomed, controlled and finally killed Birchmore. The indictment of Farwell, 38, this week is a major twist in a case that has garnered national speculation into the circumstances of her death. The two met when Birchmore was a 13-year-old participant in the Stoughton Police Department’s Explorer post, a mentorship program created by Scouting America (formerly known as the Boy Scouts) that teaches young people about law enforcement. Farwell was an instructor and was later hired as a police officer. The Marshall Project featured Birchmore’s case earlier this year as part of an investigation that found nearly 200 allegations of abuse and misconduct in police Explorer programs across the country.
Before his indictment, Farwell had acknowledged to investigators that he visited Birchmore’s apartment on the night of her death and that they had an argument. But he said she was alive when he left, according to police records. The lawyer representing Farwell in a civil lawsuit filed by Birchmore’s family didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Farwell had sex with Birchmore when she was 15, and couldn’t legally consent, according to the federal indictment. Farwell had previously told investigators that he first had sex with Birchmore seven years later, in 2020, but the indictment alleges that was a lie. Investigators cite text messages showing the sexual relationship continued for years. Prosecutors contend that Farwell tracked Birchmore’s phone location, punished her with violent sex acts for perceived misbehavior and became angry when someone informed the police department of their relationship, according to the affidavit.
In January 2021, Birchmore was newly pregnant and believed Farwell was the father, since he had agreed to impregnate her as part of a deal they made, court records allege, for Birchmore to stay quiet about their relationship.
When Birchmore told Farwell about the pregnancy, he became angry, according to court records. She told a friend that Farwell allegedly said “he wished [she] just would die and he wants nothing to do with the baby,” according to the affidavit.
But then the married father brought her the ginger ale she had asked for that night in January. He was coming around to the idea of being a dad to the child they’d have together, Birchmore texted her friend. He also asked for a key to her apartment after never wanting one before, according to court records.
Farwell did something else strange that night, Birchmore texted her friend. He opened her closet door and looked in her bathroom, and she didn’t know why. “That’s weird,” her friend texted. “Yeah, it was really weird,” she responded.
Twelve days later, Birchmore was found dead in her apartment, hanging from the door handle of her bedroom closet. The medical examiner ruled her death a suicide. But in a federal indictment released earlier this week, prosecutors allege the night Farwell brought Birchmore ginger ale, he was actually planning to kill her and was scoping her apartment for ways to stage her death as a suicide.
“We allege that Sanda Birchmore survived years of grooming, statutory rape and then sexual violence, all at the hands of Matthew Farwell,” said Joshua Levy, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, at a press conference on Wednesday, adding that when Farwell could no longer control Birchmore, he “silenced her, permanently.”
In court records newly released as part of the criminal case, which includes detailed text messages between Farwell and Birchmore, prosecutors paint Farwell as a controlling predator who was fixated on playing out violent rape fantasies with Birchmore, ever since she was a young teenager in the Explorer program.
In one text exchange months before her death, court records allege the sexual relationship they had. Birchmore texted Farwell, “Do you want me to just take what you do or try and say no? I know being told no is your favorite,” to which he responds: “Say no.”
He was also controlling, authorities allege, tracking her phone location and questioning her when she turned it off.
The investigation by The Marshall Project published earlier this year detailed the history of sexual abuse and misconduct allegations within law enforcement Explorer programs. We found that officers did not always face criminal prosecutions for their actions, and among those who did, about half were sentenced to time behind bars — ranging from weekends in jail to years in prison.
Birchmore is also not the only victim of alleged grooming and abuse due to her participation in Explorers. Our reporting found her case is among nearly 200 allegations that law enforcement personnel — mostly officers — have groomed, sexually abused, or engaged in inappropriate behavior with participants since the 1970s. The majority of the victims are teenage girls. (Since the publication of our story this spring, more survivors alleging abuse and misconduct by police officers in law enforcement Explorers programs have contacted us.)
“I think the harm, potential harm and the actual harm through these programs outweighs the benefits,” said Phil Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University, who has documented police sexual violence, including in Explorer programs. “We’ve got to figure out other ways to have programs where adolescents can explore different career paths and exposure to career opportunities — but this is something we’ve seen before, and I dare to say we’ll see again,” he said.
Stinson called the Birchmore case “utterly horrific and shocking.”
Birchmore joined the Stoughton Police Department’s Explorer program as a young teenager, hoping to find a sense of direction in law enforcement. Both her mother and grandmother died when she was a teenager. In a lawsuit filed by her family following Birchmore’s death, lawyers for the family described Birchmore as having “deeply respected” and admired police officers.
Barbara Wright, Birchmore’s cousin, told The Marshall Project on Wednesday that news of Farwell’s arrest is a “long time coming.”
“I’ve been praying for it since the day I found out what happened to Sandra, because I knew that it wasn’t a suicide.” she said.
Wright says the affidavit shows how “sick” Farwell is, and urges parents to be more cautious of programs like Explorers.
“Anyone who’s even considering putting their child in one of these programs [I hope they] make sure that they investigate it, make sure that the program is being recertified each and every year, and training is being taken, and that kids aren’t going out alone with police officers,” Wright said, “There’s a lot of things parents can do to make sure their kids are safe when they’re in these programs, and not just assume that they’re going to be safe — but make sure to check out every detail.”
Documents provided by the Stoughton Police Department through a public records request show a program run with little oversight. Despite operating the program for about 15 years, the police department provided only a single one-year agreement with Learning for Life, a Scouting America affiliate that oversees the national Explorer program. The department could not locate any youth safety training — as encouraged by Scouting — that Farwell or other officers completed as instructors. Earlier this year, Scouting America did not respond to our questions about its oversight of the Stoughton Explorer program, or questions about how it provides safeguards for youth in Explorers more broadly.
Despite a detailed internal affairs investigation, state police investigation, and records revealed as a result of an ongoing lawsuit filed by Birchmore’s family, Farwell resigned from the Stoughton Police Department and did not face criminal charges for years. He was decertified in March.
Text messages cited in court documents show a troubling relationship that began when Farwell met Birchmore when she was a 13-year-old in their town’s Explorers program. He then offered to tutor her, records show, where their conversations became sexual and included discussions about Farwell being Birchmore’s first sexual partner.
In a June 2020 text exchange about a sexual experience that occurred when she was 15 years old and Farwell was 27, Birchmore texted the married father: “I was kinda scared to say no in the beginning not knowing how you’d take it.” In another message, Farwell told Birchmore he would have had sex with her when she was even younger.
The affidavit also alleges that he would “engage in forceful oral, vaginal, and anal sex acts,” as a way to punish her for bad grades or having sex with other people. Authorities also say Farwell allegedly left work more than two dozen times during his police shifts to meet, and at times have sex, with Birchmore.
In the last few years of Birchmore’s life, Farwell became cautious about putting details of their relationship in writing, often telling the young woman to delete text messages or to wait until they were in person to discuss something.
As Birchmore became more excited about becoming a mother, Farwell grew more upset. In a text exchange in December 2020, Birchmore demanded Farwell be present during labor — likely sometime in late summer — and that he sign the birth certificate. He responded: “You are truly the worst person on the face of the earth,” according to the affidavit.
Prosecutors allege that Farwell used his experience as a detective to devise a plan to kill Birchmore during a snowstorm when it could take days for someone to check on her. Following the discovery of her body, Farwell allegedly searched and then deleted questions about iPhone message recovery. A colleague told authorities that Farwell showed no sadness or grief over Birchmore’s death, and that he was angry about the state police investigation into his relationship with her.
Matthew Farwell was not the only officer involved with Birchmore, according to a police investigative report.
His twin brother, William, was also an Explorer program instructor and Stoughton police officer. The program was run by veteran officer Robert Devine, who brought the Farwells on as mentors.The police investigation found that Devine and William Farwell also had sexual relationships with Birchmore when she was an adult. Both William Farwell and Devine have denied wrongdoing.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Levy, the acting U.S. Attorney, stressed that the FBI’s investigation is ongoing.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN), can put you in contact with your local rape crisis center. You can also access RAINN’s online chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or chat live at 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the number of days between the time that, prosecutors allege, Matthew Farwell scoped Sandra Birchmore’s apartment and when her body was discovered. It was 12 days later, not 8.
