A leading forensic pathologist has determined that a pregnant Massachusetts woman who claimed she was groomed and sexually abused by three police officers was murdered and did not commit suicide as the state medical examiner reported.
Sandra Birchmore, 23, was found dead in her apartment on February 4, 2021, and Massachusetts State Police Trooper Matthew Dunne said he found no signs of physical abuse or signs of a struggle.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner then ruled in May 2021 that Birchmore, a former participant in the Stoughton Police Department’s youth program, committed suicide by hanging.
But former New York City Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Baden has since determined that Birchmore was actually murdered. according to the Boston Globe.
‘EM. “Birchmore did not die in a suicidal hanging,” he wrote in a June 18 letter to an attorney for Birchmore’s estate.
‘Mrs Birchmore’s cause of death is “strangulation” and the manner of death is “homicide.”
A prestigious former medical examiner determined that Sandra Birchmore, 23, was murdered and did not commit suicide as reported by the Massachusetts Office of the Medical Examiner.
Baden, who previously led a U.S. House Committee investigation into the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and who performed autopsies on George Floyd, cited the severity of Floyd’s injuries. Birchmore and ligature placement as factors. by his determination.
He noted that Birchmore had fractured her right hyoid bone, a small U-shaped bone in the neck, which is “rarely, if ever, fractured in cases of suicidal hanging” but occurs in “half of the cases.” of homicidal strangulations of women”.
The doctor also pointed to autopsy photographs, which showed that a piece of ligature was found tangled in Birchmore’s hair, which Baden said “occurs when there is resistance during homicidal strangulation.”
He concluded that Birchmore would have lost consciousness “within seconds” of having the ligature placed around his neck, and would have died “within minutes.”
Baden also wrote that the ligature was found tied to a doorknob, adding that she believes it was done to “give the appearance of a suicidal hanging” even though she was happy about her pregnancy and did not leave a suicide note.
Birchmore’s estate has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell, who she claims fathered her child.
The wrongful death lawsuit also names former officers William Farwell and Robert Devine as defendants, alleging they groomed and sexually assaulted her.
Attorney Steven J. Marullo, who represents his estate in a wrongful death lawsuit, asked the former medical examiner to review records of Birchwood’s death.
Marullo said he examined the autopsy himself and “saw certain things in the autopsy report that were inconsistent with the conclusion that it was a suicide.”
“At that point I decided we needed to hire our own expert pathologist,” he said.
The shocking report comes as Birchmore’s family is suing Matthew G. Farwell, 38, his twin brother William, and Robert C. Devine, 52, accusing them of grooming and sexually assaulting Birchmore from the moment he entered to the Explorer youth program at the age of 13.
It states that ‘they undertook to engage in inappropriate relationships with (Birchmore), who was a minor when the sexual relations began, abusing her trust and adoration by law enforcement, which through their inappropriate and undue influence ultimately led her to supposedly take her own life,’ according to the Globe.
Sandra Birchmore joined the Stoughton Police Department’s Explorer Program at the age of 13. She is pictured with former officer Robert Devine.
The wrongful death lawsuit said she admired law enforcement officers and claimed former police officers took advantage of that.
Before her death, Birchmore reportedly told friends that Matthew Farwell was the father of her unborn child, a claim he has repeatedly denied.
But he was also the last person to see Birchmore alive.
Farwell was captured on surveillance footage entering Birchmore’s apartment on February 1, 2021. His wife would give birth to a child the next day.
During a subsequent investigation with State Police, Farwell said he told Birchmore that night that he was not the girl’s father, that “it was over” and that he was “blocking her from all forms of communication,” according to the Globe.
“Matt said Sandra was upset, but she did not make any suicidal statements,” State Police Lt. John Fanning wrote in his report at the time.
“Matt said he left and Sandra was standing in the kitchen.”
As the investigation continued, police found hundreds of explicit messages sent between Birchmore and Matthew Farwell over several years. NBC Boston reports.
His twin brother is also accused of sending explicit text messages while on duty.
By 2023, Fanning even wrote in a sworn statement that investigators were looking into whether Matthew Farwell could be charged with aggravated statutory rape, as evidence showed he began a relationship with Birchmore when she was 15 and he was 27.
And in a ruling in the wrongful death lawsuit earlier this year, Superior Court Judge Brian A Davis wrote that Devine and William Farwell had sex with Birchmore in their patrol cars when she was an adult, citing an unredacted copy of a Stoughton police internal affairs report. .
Birchmore was found dead in her apartment on February 4, 2021
But Baden noted in his letter this month that the state medical examiner “apparently did not submit fetal tissue for DNA analysis to determine who the father was.”
State police records show that investigators asked Farwell in 2021 to provide DNA samples, but he refused.
Samples were taken from Birchmore’s body, hair and nails, and the clothing she was wearing, for a sexual assault kit, but Baden said it “appears” the evidence was not tested.
He now believes the kit and fetal tissue can still be examined.
But in a statement to the Globe, David Traub, a spokesman for Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrisey, said, “DNA testing has been performed on items with the potential to produce evidence of the potential crimes being investigated, and have preserved other elements”.
He declined to provide further details “as multiple agencies continue to investigate.”
Several law enforcement agencies continue to investigate his death.
The officers have never been charged with any crime, but the Stoughton Police Department announced that its internal affairs investigation found the officers violated their oaths and declared them “unfit to serve.”
All three officers then resigned from the police department in 2022.
In March, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission also approved an agreement with Matthew Farwell that bars him from working as a police officer in Massachusetts and added him to a national database of disciplined officers.
As part of the agreement, Farwell did not admit to any wrongdoing.
The commission also seeks to decertify William Farwell and suspend or decertify Devine.
Those proceedings are still pending.
Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara promised to continue working with investigators.
Meanwhile, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara has called for the cause of Birchmore’s death to be re-examined.
“I was deeply disturbed and troubled by what I read,” she said of Baden’s letter in a statement. posted on the police department’s website Monday.
“While I am not a trained medical examiner and am not qualified to draw direct conclusions, the findings certainly warrant further examination at the highest level.”
He vowed to continue working with investigators, noting that he had previously published information about “the horrific injustices, including the sexual harassment and sexual abuse inflicted on Sandra Birchmore at the hands of a corrupt and corrupt former police officer and additional inappropriate sexual relationships by of other former police officers. .
“Sandra did not receive even a shred of justice during her lifetime, and we will not cease in our efforts to ensure our duty to administer justice, and she will not be forgotten after her death.”
McNamara said every “good, decent police officer” should be aware of and angry about the injustices inflicted on Birchmore.
He added: ‘Sandra idolized police officers and what police represented in America, and she was victimized as a result.
“The only mantra of good cops should be: never again, and never, ever under my watch.”