Matthew Farwell facing mandatory life sentence after Sandra Birchmore murder conviction

On November 10, 2026, Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton Police Department detective, was found guilty by a federal court jury in South Boston of killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child on February 1, 2021. The verdict came after a four-week trial where jurors heard from 50 witnesses and examined 500 exhibits. Farwell, who had pleaded not guilty, faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 3, 2027. Prosecutors claimed that Birchmore, 23, was strangled to death because she was about to reveal to federal authorities that Farwell sexually abused her when she was 15 years old and later had an improper relationship with him as a police officer.