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Former Stoughton officer charged with killing Sandra Birchmore likely to stay in custody for now
Matthew Farwell filed a motion for voluntary detention to cancel the detention hearing scheduled for Thursday and to remain in custody.
The former Stoughton police officer accused of killing a woman he had allegedly sexually abused starting when she was 15 will most likely remain in custody at his request, federal court records show.
Matthew Farwell was arrested Aug. 28 after being indicted on charges that he strangled Sandra Birchmore in 2021 and staged her death to appear as a suicide at her Canton apartment, according to federal prosecutors.
Birchmore, 23, was pregnant with his child and was “very excited” to become a mother, Acting United States Attorney Joshua Levy said at the press conference last week.
Counsel for Farwell filed an order for voluntary detention on Saturday, asking the judge to cancel a detention hearing scheduled for Thursday, according to court documents. After his initial court appearance, he was ordered held in a facility where he would remain until his next court appearance if the judge accepts his request.
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No other appearances have been scheduled as of Sunday, according to court records.
“After an opportunity to consult with his counsel, Mr. Farwell now asks the Court to enter a voluntary order of detention without prejudice, saving his right to request a detention hearing at a later date when his counsel has had additional time to review materials,” the motion read.
Farwell met Birchmore when he was an instructor for the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy in 2012. When Birchmore was 15 and Farwell was 27, he began having sex with her, which continued until her death, prosecutors allege.
He “essentially groomed her,” Levy said, by contacting her on social media, going to the library with her, and secretly meeting with her while he was on duty.
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A month before her death, a friend of Birchmore called the Stoughton Police Department and told an employee about Farwell and Birchmore’s relationship. He then began to physically abuse Birchmore, prosecutors said, and to plan her murder.
After Birchmore’s death, Farwell was placed on administrative leave. He resigned a year later, in 2022.
The entire timeline of Birchmore’s relationship with her alleged killer is detailed here.
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