Norfolk DA's troopers called Sandra Birchmore's death a suicide without seeking a warrant
Sandra Birchmore, 23 and pregnant, was found dead in her Canton apartment in February 2021. State Police troopers assigned to Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey's office treated it as a suicide. At the federal murder trial of former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell, which began in October 2026, prosecutors said the troopers sought no search warrants, did not attend the autopsy, and interviewed Farwell for about 15 minutes in a parking lot without taking notes. The medical examiner testified no one asked her to consider homicide; she has changed the manner of death to undetermined. Farwell, who met Birchmore through a Stoughton police youth program when she was 12 or 13, has pleaded not guilty. State Police and Morrissey's office declined to comment, citing the trial. Morrissey is not seeking re-election.
State Police never sought any warrants in the case, and thereby missed the chance to search Farwell's residence and vehicle soon after Birchmore's body was found on Feb. 4, 2021, prosecutors have said.
State police troopers working in the Norfolk County district attorney's office never wavered from their judgment that Birchmore's death was a suicide, according to federal prosecutors. Farwell was interviewed for just 15 minutes in a parking lot, they said.
She testified that initially, no one asked her to consider if Birchmore's death could be a homicide.
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His lawyer told jurors he had an affair with Birchmore but did not kill her.
No outcome recorded yet.