Sandra Birchmore's Evidence Was Handed Back to the Man Accused of Killing Her

True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews · Oct 21, 2026 · 12m

Matthew Farwell's phone was in a state police forensics lab eight days after Sandra Birchmore died. Examiner Nicholas Guarino testified he searched it for messages with Sandra, found none, and sent it back to Farwell. The FBI later recovered tens of thousands. Prosecutors say Farwell deleted them after his first interview with state police, before Guarino ever looked. The same examiner had already found Sandra's password, mfarwell1, and used it to open her laptop. He later deleted one of his own extractions, couldn't read her Apple Watch, and couldn't produce a report on a failed hard drive…