Latest / NO FILTER / When Evil Cops Protect Their Own_ The Disturbing Case of Sandra Birchmore [True Crime Documentary](MP3_160K)

Transcript

When Evil Cops Protect Their Own_ The Disturbing Case of Sandra Birchmore [True Crime Documentary](MP3_160K) · NO FILTER

0:01
Speaker 1: On the evening of February first, twenty twenty one, security
0:05
Speaker 1: camera footage from an apartment building in Canton, Massachusetts, captured
0:09
Speaker 1: Sandra Birchmore leaving and returning from clearing snow off of
0:13
Speaker 1: her car. A blizzard was moving into Canton that night.
0:17
Speaker 1: The snow was likely to keep everyone home bound for
0:20
Speaker 1: at least a day, maybe more. This video of Sandra
0:24
Speaker 1: is the last time that anyone except her alleged killer
0:28
Speaker 1: saw the twenty three year old alive. Hi there, I'm Kevin,
0:38
Speaker 1: and welcome to Just Thought Lounge. Today's case is a
0:42
Speaker 1: disturbing one. Sandra Birchmore was found dead under questionable circumstances
0:47
Speaker 1: and by a police force that knew the young woman
0:50
Speaker 1: very well. The same department would later come under intense
0:53
Speaker 1: scrutiny following allegations of outright corruption. Despite these hurdles, evidence
0:59
Speaker 1: was uncovered in sand AND's case that questioned the official narrative.
1:03
Speaker 1: What was discovered shocked and appalled the entire country. Let's
1:10
Speaker 1: take a look. On the morning of Thursday, February fourth,
1:26
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, Officer Coddard of the Canton Police Department
1:30
Speaker 1: responded to a request to perform a welfare check at
1:33
Speaker 1: the Canton Woods apartments. Someone at Sharon Public Schools had
1:38
Speaker 1: contacted law enforcement concerned for one of their employees, twenty
1:42
Speaker 1: three year old instructional assistant, Sandra Birchmore. A blizzard had
1:47
Speaker 1: blanketed the state earlier in the week, causing cancelations of
1:50
Speaker 1: events as well as school closures, though by midweek most
1:54
Speaker 1: locations had returned to their regular schedules. Sandra Birchmore, however,
1:59
Speaker 1: had not been according to work. When the officers entered
2:02
Speaker 1: the apartment, they found Sandra in the bedroom. She was
2:06
Speaker 1: on the floor a strap around her neck. This strap
2:09
Speaker 1: was also attached to the closet door. She appeared to
2:13
Speaker 1: have been deceased for some time, likely several days. For
2:21
Speaker 1: some at the scene, Sandra's death was a personal loss.
2:24
Speaker 1: The young woman had been part of the Police Explorer
2:26
Speaker 1: Program as a teen, a kind of junior police academy
2:30
Speaker 1: where youths interested in a career in law enforcement could
2:33
Speaker 1: learn and prepare to join the department. After six years
2:38
Speaker 1: in the junior academy, Sandra had become friendly with officers
2:41
Speaker 1: across Norfolk County. They now faced the harsh reality of
2:45
Speaker 1: her unexpected death. Officer Coddard and two colleagues reported observing
2:52
Speaker 1: nothing suspicious. After an examination of the home, they did
2:56
Speaker 1: not spot any clues that would indicate a struggle had
2:59
Speaker 1: taken place. Despite what was described as quite a bit
3:02
Speaker 1: of clutter inside the home, all items appeared to be
3:05
Speaker 1: in their intended locations. Nothing had been knocked over or
3:09
Speaker 1: strewn about. There were no noted scuffs or indentations on
3:13
Speaker 1: the walls, nor any drag marks on the carpeting. These
3:17
Speaker 1: cursory observations, paired with the way in which they found
3:20
Speaker 1: Sandra in the bedroom, appeared to lead to one conclusion
3:23
Speaker 1: that Sandra had made a tragic choice to end her
3:27
Speaker 1: own life. In the days following, family members of Sandra's
3:33
Speaker 1: helped to clean out her apartment. While they did so,
3:36
Speaker 1: they found numerous indications of a young woman who lost
3:40
Speaker 1: her life abruptly while in the midst of doing and
3:43
Speaker 1: planning other things. There were wet clothes in the washing
3:47
Speaker 1: machine and another load in the dryer. Newly purchased items
3:51
Speaker 1: sat out unopened. Other packages ordered by Sandra shortly before
3:55
Speaker 1: her death continued to be delivered to her home in
3:58
Speaker 1: the days following. Most troubling, however, was what was in
4:03
Speaker 1: these packages. A brand new baby stroller, newborn onesies, various
4:08
Speaker 1: other clothing and baby items. Sandra had been three months pregnant.
4:13
Speaker 1: Friends found a poster which read congratulations, You're going to
4:17
Speaker 1: be a father. That sign had an ultrasound photo on
4:20
Speaker 1: it and was sprinkled with glitter. If these indications of
4:27
Speaker 1: an excited expectant mother were not enough to raise questions
4:30
Speaker 1: about how exactly Sandra had died, family members also found
4:34
Speaker 1: what they thought could be signs of a struggle. A
4:37
Speaker 1: necklace consisting of a thin gold chain with a pink
4:40
Speaker 1: flamingo charm was spotted on her bedroom floor. The necklace
4:44
Speaker 1: was a favorite of Sandra's. She was often photographed wearing it.
4:48
Speaker 1: When responders found her, the necklace was broken, hanging off
4:52
Speaker 1: of the left side of her neck. The charm rested
4:54
Speaker 1: on her abdomen. It had snapped open, but not at
4:58
Speaker 1: the clasp, and there was a large clump of hair
5:01
Speaker 1: on the chain. The family reported the necklace, they told
5:05
Speaker 1: law enforcement about how thrilled Sandra had been over her pregnancy. Regardless,
5:10
Speaker 1: the initial conclusion reached from a cursory examination of the
5:13
Speaker 1: scene that no foul play had occurred had been generally
5:17
Speaker 1: accepted by local law enforcement. They gave no indication of
5:21
Speaker 1: reassessing this conclusion. A recording was made when an officer
5:26
Speaker 1: had the unenviable task of calling Sandra's aunt to inform
5:30
Speaker 1: her of what they had discovered.
5:33
Speaker 2: I regret, ma'am, that I have to tell you that
5:36
Speaker 2: Sandra is deceased. Oh my god, I'm very sorry to
5:41
Speaker 2: feel lost. The Medical Examiner's Office is taking Sandra. They're
5:50
Speaker 2: taking her and they'll it's my understanding that they'll be
5:53
Speaker 2: an they'll do an autopsy.
5:56
Speaker 1: Back in the spring of twenty ten, at the age
5:59
Speaker 1: of twelve, Sandra applied to join the Police Explorer's Program.
6:03
Speaker 1: She remained in the Explorers until two thousand and sixteen.
6:07
Speaker 1: The head of the program at the time, Robert Devine,
6:10
Speaker 1: said that Sandra was obsessed with police officers. Her interest
6:14
Speaker 1: in law enforcement may have stemmed, as friends later suggested,
6:18
Speaker 1: from a desire to find people in her life that
6:20
Speaker 1: she could trust. She lost her mother, with whom she
6:24
Speaker 1: had been extremely close at a young age. Shortly after,
6:28
Speaker 1: Sandra also lost her grandmother. Her father had never been
6:32
Speaker 1: in the picture. Sandra received treatment after experiencing emotional and
6:37
Speaker 1: physiological problems in the years following. She continued to see
6:41
Speaker 1: a therapist until her death. That she had a troubled
6:44
Speaker 1: childhood was known to the adults who remained in her life,
6:47
Speaker 1: including the officers running the Young Explorer's Academy. Sandra lived
6:52
Speaker 1: with her aunt in Stoughton until late twenty twenty, before
6:56
Speaker 1: moving into her own apartment in nearby Canton. Despite her
7:00
Speaker 1: newfound independence, friends and acquaintances said that Sandra often interacted
7:05
Speaker 1: socially as a teenager would, speaking in a childish way
7:09
Speaker 1: and over sharing information neew in her role as a
7:12
Speaker 1: classroom instructional assistant. Coworkers reported that Sandra did not seem
7:17
Speaker 1: to care much for her work, but that she was
7:19
Speaker 1: very talkative with colleagues. The expectant mother did have other
7:23
Speaker 1: pursuits and passions, however, She was taking classes in preparation
7:27
Speaker 1: for applying to nursing school and was taking all the
7:30
Speaker 1: necessary steps in anticipation of becoming a mother. On February first,
7:36
Speaker 1: the day that Sandra died, she was making plans for
7:39
Speaker 1: the baby. She had an obgyn appointment scheduled for February tenth,
7:44
Speaker 1: had contacted a photographer to take newborn photos, planned an
7:48
Speaker 1: official pregnancy announcement, and coordinated a gender reveal that afternoon.
7:53
Speaker 1: She also searched for pregnancy related information online and googled
7:57
Speaker 1: brands of baby products. The snow movements were also recorded.
8:02
Speaker 1: She entered her building early in the afternoon while chatting
8:05
Speaker 1: on her phone. At about five pm, Sandra again went
8:09
Speaker 1: to the main lobby, this time to collect a door
8:11
Speaker 1: dash delivery. Roughly forty five minutes after that, she exited
8:15
Speaker 1: again to clean some snow off of her car. She
8:18
Speaker 1: must have been anticipating the blizzard that was moving in.
8:22
Speaker 1: When officers arrived at her home for the welfare check
8:24
Speaker 1: days later, they found snow piled on top of her vehicle.
8:28
Speaker 1: It was clear she had not traveled anywhere since the
8:31
Speaker 1: storm days before, speaking with family members, friends, and coworkers.
8:37
Speaker 1: Massachusetts State Police who were conducting the initial investigation, were
8:41
Speaker 1: routinely directed towards one individual, the man that Sandra had
8:45
Speaker 1: alleged was the father of her unborn child. That man
8:49
Speaker 1: was Stowton Police Department detective Matthew Farwell. The thirty eight
8:54
Speaker 1: year old had married wife Michelle in twenty thirteen. He
8:58
Speaker 1: was the father of three children, and Detective Farewell had
9:02
Speaker 1: also been an instructor with the Police Explorer's Program since
9:05
Speaker 1: joining the department in Stoughton in twenty twelve. He met Sandra.
9:10
Speaker 1: At that time, she would have been fourteen years old.
9:15
Speaker 1: Matthew told his colleagues looking into Sandra's case that he
9:18
Speaker 1: reconnected with the then twenty three year old several months
9:21
Speaker 1: before after a night out with too much to drink.
9:25
Speaker 1: He admitted that they had been intimate. He further confessed
9:29
Speaker 1: to meeting with her once or twice more after that,
9:32
Speaker 1: but the detective rejected the assertion that he had impregnated Sandra.
9:36
Speaker 1: The timing simply did not add up. He claimed more recently,
9:40
Speaker 1: he had been distancing himself from her, and then he
9:43
Speaker 1: claimed he had formally and assertively broken things off with her.
9:48
Speaker 1: The breakup occurred on the evening of February first, at
9:50
Speaker 1: Sandra's home. It had been a nasty argument, he said.
9:54
Speaker 1: She had been very upset but alive when he left
9:58
Speaker 1: her apartment. The detective story may have fooled his fellow
10:05
Speaker 1: law enforcement officers, who likely wanted it to be true,
10:09
Speaker 1: but his claims did not convince anyone who knew Sandra
10:13
Speaker 1: she was not known to keep secrets. She spoke openly
10:16
Speaker 1: about her personal life, apparently even to those whom she
10:19
Speaker 1: had only known for a short time. In fact, Sandra's
10:23
Speaker 1: over sharing was behavior that made her coworkers uncomfortable. Those
10:27
Speaker 1: even closer to her, such as extended family, have been
10:30
Speaker 1: made aware of details that often upset them.
10:34
Speaker 3: She's spent a lot of time over here, many many summers.
10:38
Speaker 4: Used to have the pool in the backyard.
10:40
Speaker 1: She was hilarious, and she was smart as a whip too.
10:43
Speaker 3: Oh my god, she was smart as a whip.
10:45
Speaker 5: Well, he as goes by, slips out that she may
10:50
Speaker 5: or may not be have in a relationship with one
10:52
Speaker 5: of the instructor's family members are a little upset about it.
10:57
Speaker 4: He was the father.
10:59
Speaker 3: She's talked about him for years.
11:02
Speaker 1: According to her cousin to whom she confided, Sandra's latest
11:06
Speaker 1: pregnancy was not her first.
11:08
Speaker 3: She had told me she had a miscarriage and the
11:11
Speaker 3: father was a police officer. Sad that she had the miscarriage,
11:15
Speaker 3: you know, So when she finally got pregnant and everything
11:19
Speaker 3: was going wells right before she passed away, she was
11:23
Speaker 3: just so ecstatic that she was finally going to be
11:25
Speaker 3: a mother.
11:27
Speaker 1: Upon her death, the family released a statement about Sandra.
11:30
Speaker 1: They said her greatest wish was to become a mother,
11:34
Speaker 1: and she would have been an amazing one. In May
11:38
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, the pathologist who conducted the autopsy at
11:41
Speaker 1: the State Medical Examiner's Office ruled that Sandra Birchmore's manner
11:45
Speaker 1: of death was suicide.
11:48
Speaker 6: Sandra was a quirky, kind child. She grew up in Stoton, Massachusetts,
11:56
Speaker 6: and she was excited that she was pregnant about have
12:00
Speaker 6: a baby.
12:01
Speaker 7: She would tell.
12:03
Speaker 6: Anybody that she was so excited to have this child,
12:08
Speaker 6: and that is part of the reason why people didn't
12:11
Speaker 6: believe that she did this to herself.
12:15
Speaker 1: Detective Matthew Farwell's admission of a relationship with Sandra prompted
12:19
Speaker 1: an internal investigation at the Stoughton Police Department. It sought
12:23
Speaker 1: to uncover the full truth of what may have occurred
12:26
Speaker 1: during her time with the Young Explorers program. The shocking
12:29
Speaker 1: and deeply upsetting details of this internal affairs investigation were
12:33
Speaker 1: released to the public the following September.
12:36
Speaker 8: What I'm about to brief you on is something deeply
12:40
Speaker 8: troubling to me as a human being and as a
12:46
Speaker 8: police Chief. Miss Birchmore was a vulnerable person who had
12:52
Speaker 8: one constant in her life since childhood. Her unwavering admiration
13:01
Speaker 8: of police officers, of those serving the military, people in uniform,
13:08
Speaker 8: people with oaths and duties to protect and serve. The
13:14
Speaker 8: admiration led her to form relationships with men who were
13:20
Speaker 8: willing to take advantage of her. What I am here
13:24
Speaker 8: to talk about today is her life and how she
13:28
Speaker 8: was failed by, manipulated by, and used by people of
13:35
Speaker 8: authority that she admired and trusted right up until our
13:40
Speaker 8: final days.
13:42
Speaker 1: Three members of the Stolton Police, Detective Matthew Farwell, his
13:46
Speaker 1: twin brother, Officer William Farwell, and the former Deputy Chief
13:50
Speaker 1: and head of the Police Explorers program, Robert Devine, were
13:54
Speaker 1: all found to have played a role in grooming and
13:57
Speaker 1: abusing Sandra. Internal Affairs uncovered evidence suggesting that Matthew's personal
14:03
Speaker 1: relationship with Sandra began when she was just fifteen years old.
14:08
Speaker 1: At that time, he was twenty seven. The age of
14:11
Speaker 1: consent in Massachusetts is sixteen. The investigation found that both
14:15
Speaker 1: William and Robert's physical relationship with her was ongoing at
14:19
Speaker 1: the time of her death. They found that William had
14:21
Speaker 1: attempted to introduce Sandra to other men, and that at
14:25
Speaker 1: least one additional officer from another department was complicit. That
14:29
Speaker 1: man was later named as Abington Police officer Josh Heel.
14:36
Speaker 1: This was not the first time that former Deputy Divine
14:39
Speaker 1: had been involved in a department scandal. In twenty fourteen,
14:43
Speaker 1: graphic photos of Robert and a mistress were emailed to
14:47
Speaker 1: members of the department and their spouses. As a result,
14:51
Speaker 1: he was demoted to the role of patrol officer, but,
14:54
Speaker 1: to the surprise of many, remained on the force. In
14:58
Speaker 1: the wake of this investigation, all three men from Stoughton,
15:01
Speaker 1: the Farewell Brothers and Divine, resigned from the department. Steps
15:06
Speaker 1: were then taken to ensure that they were decertified and
15:09
Speaker 1: unable to work in law enforcement again. The evidence was
15:14
Speaker 1: significant enough to summon the disgust and condemnation of the
15:17
Speaker 1: current police chief and the public, but the county fell
15:21
Speaker 1: short of bringing criminal charges. Despite multiple witnesses who could
15:25
Speaker 1: speak to the disturbing details shared with them from Sandra,
15:28
Speaker 1: the DA claimed that the case was too weak to pursue.
15:32
Speaker 1: The investigation also found that at least one individual had
15:36
Speaker 1: attempted to report Matthew Farwell's behavior directly to the Stoton PD.
15:41
Speaker 1: In January of that year, a friend of Sandra's whom
15:44
Speaker 1: she owed money, had called the department to try to
15:47
Speaker 1: report the dispute they were having. During that call, the
15:50
Speaker 1: friend told the officer on the phone that Matthew Farwell
15:53
Speaker 1: should look into getting her money back since he was
15:55
Speaker 1: in a sexual relationship with Sandra. The officer, instead of
16:00
Speaker 1: reporting what the friend said in the call, chose only
16:02
Speaker 1: to mention it directly to Matthew Farwell. The detective told
16:06
Speaker 1: the officer to keep the information quiet and not mention
16:10
Speaker 1: it to anyone else, which is exactly what happened. Yet
16:15
Speaker 1: another friend approached police immediately following Sandra's death with information
16:19
Speaker 1: implicating Detective Farewell and suspected foul play.
16:23
Speaker 9: These men knew who they were dealing with, an innocent
16:27
Speaker 9: girl who was just looking for love and attention, and
16:30
Speaker 9: she didn't have an appropriate male figure in her life
16:32
Speaker 9: because her father wasn't in her life. So these guys
16:34
Speaker 9: became not but they groomed her and they used that
16:36
Speaker 9: to their advantage.
16:39
Speaker 1: The results of the internal investigation came as a shock
16:42
Speaker 1: to the public. And Canton, as well as neighboring Stoughton.
16:45
Speaker 1: The communities are separated by only a few miles. As
16:49
Speaker 1: the horrific details came to the surface, so too did
16:52
Speaker 1: public grievance over the broader issue of police corruption, which
16:55
Speaker 1: appeared to permeate all of Norfolk County. It seemed unreasonable
17:00
Speaker 1: to believe that Sandra had been involved with so many
17:03
Speaker 1: officers for years without the arrangement becoming an open secret,
17:07
Speaker 1: shared and discussed amongst officers across departments, perhaps across the
17:12
Speaker 1: wider county.
17:13
Speaker 4: In the city are supposed to protect and serve and
17:16
Speaker 4: it's kind of a shame that, you know, you send
17:19
Speaker 4: your kid into a field where you think that she
17:21
Speaker 4: will be protected and she is serving for a higher
17:24
Speaker 4: purpose and it's everything but that the.
17:26
Speaker 5: Question is what the hell is going on?
17:28
Speaker 1: You know, who is in Chaddare and is in Chadda.
17:33
Speaker 1: Is he or she been held outcomfortable the police?
17:35
Speaker 9: Unfortunately, now that it's showing how corrupt some of our
17:38
Speaker 9: legal systems are, I think the police need to be
17:40
Speaker 9: held responsible.
17:41
Speaker 3: There's a bad element that has been allowed to happen
17:44
Speaker 3: and there's been cover ups and it's you know, shakes
17:47
Speaker 3: the trust of people.
17:48
Speaker 1: There was reason to believe that the issues with law
17:51
Speaker 1: enforcement ran deeper than Sandra's case. Almost exactly one year
17:55
Speaker 1: after her tragic death, Boston Police officer John O'Keefe was
17:59
Speaker 1: fail dead in the snow following an argument with his girlfriend,
18:03
Speaker 1: Karen Reid. Karen was arrested and later tried for the murder,
18:07
Speaker 1: while protests took place outside the courtroom Daily claiming Canton
18:11
Speaker 1: police framed Karen for the murder and were covering for
18:14
Speaker 1: the real killer.
18:15
Speaker 7: This case, it has sparked a lot of attention from
18:18
Speaker 7: Boston and beyond. It's prompted major media coverage, and to
18:21
Speaker 7: be honest and to be frank, it sparked several conspiracy theories.
18:25
Speaker 7: MBC ten's Monoskuan Bord.
18:30
Speaker 1: Not surprisingly, there were overlaps in the personnel working on
18:34
Speaker 1: both Sandra and John O'Keeffe's cases.
18:37
Speaker 8: Everything's connected, it's part of the same Norfolk County DA's office.
18:41
Speaker 3: They're all connected, but now they're coming to light.
18:43
Speaker 1: This included two Canton and three State police a detective
18:48
Speaker 1: from each force. Each of them came to the same
18:50
Speaker 1: conclusion relating to Sandra's death that it was not a homicide.
18:56
Speaker 1: The conclusion was reached despite family member's insistence that's Sandra
19:00
Speaker 1: was ecstatically happy about becoming a mother. Friends also came
19:04
Speaker 1: forward reporting that Sandra had informed them that the father,
19:08
Speaker 1: who they knew to be Detective Farwell, had been angry
19:11
Speaker 1: over the pregnancy. Sandra had told Matthew that she expected
19:16
Speaker 1: four thousand dollars a month in child support and an
19:19
Speaker 1: additional three thousand dollars for daycare. She told her friends
19:23
Speaker 1: that they argued over whether he would sign the birth certificate.
19:27
Speaker 1: At one point, she said that he told her that
19:29
Speaker 1: he was not the father and that he just wished
19:32
Speaker 1: she would die. This information was recorded by state police,
19:36
Speaker 1: but not pursued while evidence of foul play was set aside.
19:41
Speaker 1: Reports were also made that Matthew Farwell complained openly to
19:45
Speaker 1: a colleague that he had been looked into by the
19:47
Speaker 1: Massachusetts State Police at All over drinks with an unnamed individual.
19:52
Speaker 1: He expressed frustration that the matter had not been immediately
19:56
Speaker 1: dismissed by fellow law enforcement in March two thousand. In
20:00
Speaker 1: twenty one, Matthew have been asked to hand over his
20:02
Speaker 1: personal and work cell phones to State Trooper Nick Guarino
20:06
Speaker 1: to extract their data. This trooper also worked on the
20:09
Speaker 1: Karen Read case, where defense attorneys argued he failed to
20:13
Speaker 1: retrieve key data.
20:15
Speaker 5: That extraction you placed on the server did not include
20:19
Speaker 5: all the potential data on John os Keif's phone, did it?
20:24
Speaker 8: How do you mean?
20:26
Speaker 5: Well, didn't you indicate in your report that the extraction
20:33
Speaker 5: was not inclusive of all potential data contained within the device?
20:37
Speaker 2: No, that's not true.
20:38
Speaker 1: That August, after months with the devices, Guarino reported that
20:43
Speaker 1: he was unable to locate any messages between Matthew and
20:46
Speaker 1: Sandra on either device. Shortly thereafter, a federal expert assisting
20:52
Speaker 1: the internal affairs investigation would extract over thirty two thousand
20:57
Speaker 1: text exchanges made between the two in the years before
21:00
Speaker 1: Sandra's death. The county would not pursue charges, but the
21:06
Speaker 1: family of Sandra Birchmore continued to seek justice. Nonetheless, they
21:10
Speaker 1: filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Town of Stoughton
21:13
Speaker 1: in late twenty twenty two. The civil lawsuit alleged wrongful death, negligence,
21:19
Speaker 1: pain and suffering, and emotional distress over what it described
21:24
Speaker 1: as a year's long grooming scheme undertaken by three members
21:27
Speaker 1: of law enforcement, which ultimately resulted in Sandra's death. They
21:32
Speaker 1: did not need to allege it was homicide to prove
21:35
Speaker 1: that these men were the reason that Sandra was no
21:38
Speaker 1: longer living, but that did not mean that they accepted
21:42
Speaker 1: the conclusion reached by the state medical examiner. The family
21:45
Speaker 1: reached out to prominent and well respected forensic pathologist, doctor
21:50
Speaker 1: Michael Boden for a second opinion. He examined the work
21:53
Speaker 1: and conclusions of Sandra's original autopsy. Doctor Boden's professional conclusions
21:58
Speaker 1: contradicted the FUSE original results. He found that Sandra had
22:03
Speaker 1: not died by hanging, but rather by strangulation. The manner
22:07
Speaker 1: of death was homicide. It was the FBI, not the
22:11
Speaker 1: local or state police, that took over the investigation. The
22:15
Speaker 1: FBI asked two additional medical examiners to draw independent conclusions
22:20
Speaker 1: based on the same photos and documentation from the original autopsy.
22:25
Speaker 1: Both doctors agreed with the determination made by doctor Boden.
22:29
Speaker 1: Sandra had been attacked, there had been a struggle, and
22:33
Speaker 1: she had been killed. Had the local detectives extracted and
22:39
Speaker 1: scrutinized Sandra's correspondence with Matthew Farwell, they would have discovered
22:44
Speaker 1: that the dynamic of the relationship shifted on December twenty eighth,
22:48
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, when Sandra told Matthew that she was pregnant.
22:53
Speaker 1: Messages to the detective and others show that Sandra had
22:56
Speaker 1: intended to get pregnant. Their physical relationship appeared to have
23:01
Speaker 1: continued more or less uninterrupted for roughly eight years. Messages
23:06
Speaker 1: detailed a disturbing trend of reliving encounters from the earlier
23:10
Speaker 1: years and the detective, in his late thirties, controlling the
23:14
Speaker 1: young and vulnerable woman who idolized him as an officer. Then,
23:19
Speaker 1: in October twenty twenty, Sandra wrote a draft text intended
23:23
Speaker 1: for Matthew's wife and sent it to a friend. It read,
23:28
Speaker 1: I am just messaging to inform you that your husband,
23:31
Speaker 1: Matthew has been out cheating on you since before you
23:33
Speaker 1: guys were even married. The friend who received this message
23:37
Speaker 1: informed Sandra that Matthew's wife was in fact expecting their
23:41
Speaker 1: third child. She was due in February. On that same day,
23:45
Speaker 1: Sandra began asking Matthew to visit at set times during
23:49
Speaker 1: her cycle. She too wanted a baby. The detective. In
23:54
Speaker 1: conversations that took place in person evidently agreed, though after
23:59
Speaker 1: the pregnancy news came two months later, Matthew did not respond. Well,
24:05
Speaker 1: I'm mad you're acting how you are over a choice
24:08
Speaker 1: we both made. I'm mad you act like you gave
24:10
Speaker 1: anyone a choice. Lmao. Oh so you didn't have a choice.
24:16
Speaker 1: Per usual, you make and do whatever you want. You're mad.
24:20
Speaker 1: She's due in February and I'm in September, and you
24:23
Speaker 1: don't know how you're gonna be there for both of us.
24:26
Speaker 1: You are truly the worst person on the face of
24:29
Speaker 1: the earth. The detective's anger was also pequked following the
24:33
Speaker 1: phone call made by Sandra's friend to the department when
24:36
Speaker 1: they openly spoke about their relationship. To his colleague, he wrote, like,
24:40
Speaker 1: you have no idea how bad what she did is.
24:43
Speaker 1: I literally can't believe this is even real life. Like,
24:46
Speaker 1: what else do I have to worry about?
24:48
Speaker 2: Now?
24:48
Speaker 1: Which other friend will do something tomorrow? At least three
24:54
Speaker 1: friends of Sandra's whom she was in contact with in
24:56
Speaker 1: the weeks before her death, told agents that Matthew had
24:59
Speaker 1: go grown physically violent with her when they discussed the pregnancy.
25:03
Speaker 1: Sandra Birchmore was four feet ten inches tall. Matthew Farewell
25:08
Speaker 1: is six foot four. Ten days before she died, he
25:11
Speaker 1: had gotten angry with her for showing him a fetal sonogram.
25:15
Speaker 1: According to what she told friends, his response was, that's
25:18
Speaker 1: not my child. I don't want anything really to do
25:21
Speaker 1: with you, and then he pushed her to the ground.
25:24
Speaker 1: Though what was more telling than this escalating behavior was
25:28
Speaker 1: what happened one week before the murder, when his anger disappeared.
25:33
Speaker 1: At this time, Matthew began responding to messages about the
25:36
Speaker 1: pregnancy positively. He agreed that they could talk about using
25:41
Speaker 1: his name on the birth certificate. He also reminded Sandra
25:45
Speaker 1: of an offer she had made to give him a
25:47
Speaker 1: key to her apartment in October. He had said it
25:50
Speaker 1: was a bad idea for him to keep a key,
25:53
Speaker 1: but in the last week of January, records show that
25:55
Speaker 1: he had when made. Matthew then requested the passcode to
26:00
Speaker 1: enter the Canton Woods building, asking Sandra if it was
26:03
Speaker 1: the same code used by all residents or was it
26:06
Speaker 1: specifically assigned to her. On January twenty fourth, only days
26:11
Speaker 1: before she was killed, Sandra texted a friend about his visit.
26:15
Speaker 1: That night, He asked me, if I give him a
26:17
Speaker 1: key and said that if I keep it a secret,
26:19
Speaker 1: meaning the baby, he'll be around and see them and
26:22
Speaker 1: all that. So it's somewhere. Then he looked in my
26:26
Speaker 1: closet and then the bathroom. But I don't know why.
26:29
Speaker 1: Haven't figured that out to another friend, she wrote, But
26:32
Speaker 1: like last night, he opened my closet door for something,
26:35
Speaker 1: and then he went into my bathroom looking at my bathroom.
26:38
Speaker 1: It was just really odd he started looking around. I
26:42
Speaker 1: don't know. On the night Sandra died, she was captured
26:48
Speaker 1: on video at approximately five h one PM accepting a
26:52
Speaker 1: door dash order and then again going outside briefly and
26:55
Speaker 1: returning with a snowbrush. The timestamps on the apartment security
26:59
Speaker 1: camera footage was found to be thirteen minutes off of
27:02
Speaker 1: real time. The last time that Sandra is seen alive
27:05
Speaker 1: on the video is at five thirty three pm. Later
27:09
Speaker 1: that evening, at just after nine pm, Matthew sent her
27:12
Speaker 1: a text message asking whether he could come by for
27:15
Speaker 1: a second. Surveillance video shows Matthew entering the Canton apartment
27:20
Speaker 1: building at nine fourteen pm. In the surveillance video, he
27:23
Speaker 1: is wearing street clothes, a hoodie with the hood up,
27:26
Speaker 1: and a face mask. Multiple witnesses told FBI investigators that
27:31
Speaker 1: the detective resisted wearing a mask during the pandemic. He
27:35
Speaker 1: would only wear one when on duty and required by
27:38
Speaker 1: department policy to do so. The video surveillance recording shows
27:43
Speaker 1: that Matthew left the apartment at nine forty three. He
27:47
Speaker 1: told police that this is when he broke off his
27:49
Speaker 1: supposedly brief affair with Sandra. He claimed that she was
27:53
Speaker 1: alive when he left. Health data on Sandra's iPhone showed
27:58
Speaker 1: that her last movement was recorded that night at nine
28:01
Speaker 1: forty pm, three minutes before Matthew was captured on surveillance.
28:05
Speaker 1: Leaving her apartment. She had moved eight steps according to
28:09
Speaker 1: her device. The iPhone was found twelve feet from her
28:12
Speaker 1: right hand. The phone powered off from battery loss two
28:16
Speaker 1: days later, on February three. On August twenty eight, twenty
28:22
Speaker 1: twenty four, Matthew Farwell was arrested by federal authorities and
28:26
Speaker 1: indicted for one count of killing a witness or victim,
28:30
Speaker 1: a charge more commonly applied to organized crime. Charging Matthew
28:34
Speaker 1: with a federal crime allowed the U. S. District Attorneys
28:37
Speaker 1: and the FBI to retain jurisdiction over the case, one
28:41
Speaker 1: that had been bungled under a cloud of alleged corruption
28:44
Speaker 1: by local and state officials. They argued that Matthew was
28:48
Speaker 1: motivated by the desire to silence Sandra. Authorities alleged that
28:53
Speaker 1: Matthew Farwell chose to murder Sandra at an opportune time
28:57
Speaker 1: when his wife, having gone into labour, was up. Theawise
29:00
Speaker 1: occupied the incoming storm also gave him cover. He knew
29:04
Speaker 1: it was more likely to delay anyone discovering Sandra in
29:07
Speaker 1: the apartment for a day or more. After scoping the
29:11
Speaker 1: apartment the week before, the detective, professionally trained an adept
29:16
Speaker 1: in crime scene analysis, staged the murder in an attempt
29:19
Speaker 1: to deceive his colleagues. Then he relied upon law enforcement
29:24
Speaker 1: loyalties to cast a blind eye on the mountain of
29:27
Speaker 1: evidence pointing towards him. As of the publication of this video,
29:32
Speaker 1: he remains in custody. If convicted, Matthew Farwell may face
29:37
Speaker 1: the death penalty. An investigation from early twenty twenty four
29:42
Speaker 1: by the Marshall Project detailed the history of sexual abuse
29:46
Speaker 1: and misconduct allegations within law enforcement Explorer programs. Officers did
29:52
Speaker 1: not always face criminal prosecutions for their actions, and among
29:55
Speaker 1: those that did, about half were sentenced to time behind bars,
30:00
Speaker 1: ranging from weekends in jail to years in prison. Documents
30:04
Speaker 1: provided by the Stoughton Police Department show a program run
30:08
Speaker 1: with little oversight. They have stated that the program is
30:12
Speaker 1: no longer in operation. Karen Reid's first trial ended in
30:16
Speaker 1: a hung jury. Her defense alleged an intricate conspiracy among
30:20
Speaker 1: law enforcement officers to frame her in the killing. These
30:23
Speaker 1: many charges of corruption resulted in a public vote for
30:26
Speaker 1: a full audit to be undertaken of the Canton Police Department.
30:30
Speaker 1: Protesters calling for the vote carried signs that read free
30:35
Speaker 1: Karen Reid and justice for Sandra Birchmore. That was the
30:48
Speaker 1: tragic case of Sandra Birchmore. Thanks for watching, and a
30:52
Speaker 1: special thanks to Nick Bennett, Karen Ann, Jasminique and Janek
30:57
Speaker 1: for joining the members Lounge Heaven. This is just thought Lounge,
31:02
Speaker 1: and I'll see in the next one.
31:04
Speaker 9: That's your boy.
31:08
Speaker 4: Who learned the lesson that you talk to make again
31:13
Speaker 4: is what they saw found out the nouse just what
31:18
Speaker 4: your thought found out the lous just what you thought