Sandra Birchmore: From Vigils to a Federal Indictment
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 2 May 2026
⏱️ 24 minutes
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Summary
For years, Sandra Birchmore’s family held vigils outside buildings that didn’t want them there. They held signs at the Stoughton Police Department. They demanded answers from a system that had already decided Sandra did this to herself. Then the FBI came.
On August 28, 2024, agents arrested Matthew Farwell and charged him with killing Sandra to prevent her from exposing his crimes. A superseding indictment added a charge under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act for the death of her unborn baby boy. Farwell has pleaded not guilty. His trial begins October 5, 2026 in Boston federal court.
The defense has tried everything. They moved to dismiss the charges. Denied. They moved to relocate the trial. Denied. They sought bail, presenting Farwell as a war hero. Prosecutors responded with new DNA evidence: Farwell’s genetic material on the strap used to strangle Sandra, his sperm cells in her underwear contradicting his statements. Their filing also revealed that months after Sandra’s death, Farwell allegedly bought a drink for a woman at a bar who woke up naked while he searched her room for his keys.
All three officers connected to Sandra’s exploitation have been permanently barred from law enforcement. The DA who oversaw the initial investigation won’t seek reelection. Sandra’s family has endorsed his potential replacement. The political fallout has been seismic.
Sandra Birchmore was born in 1997. She lost her mother, grandmother, and aunt before turning twenty-three. She worked with children. She was studying nursing. She wanted to be a police officer. She wanted to be a mother. Everything taken from her began with trust. The trial begins in October.
This is Part 5 of a five-part series on the Sandra Birchmore case.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. Here now, Tony Brucey. |
| 0:06.0 | For years, Sandra Birchmire's family stood outside buildings. They didn't want them there. |
| 0:14.0 | They held sides at the Stoughton Police Department. They held vigils outside the Norfolk County DA's office in Canton. They marched. |
| 0:21.8 | They organized monthly standouts, wrote letters, gave interviews to anyone who would listen. |
| 0:27.0 | They were not the kind of people who had publicists or media strategies. They were a family |
| 0:32.3 | who had lost a young woman they loved who were told by the state that she did this to herself. |
| 0:39.7 | And who knew with the kind of certainty that only comes with knowing someone that the |
| 0:45.7 | official story was wrong? So they showed up month after month, year after year, and they demanded |
| 0:51.9 | answers from institutions that already decided there was nothing to answer for. |
| 0:57.3 | Then on August 28, 2024, FBI agents arrested Matthew Tharwell at his home and charged him with killing a witness or a victim. |
| 1:06.1 | Because the local folks, well, we know the local folks. |
| 1:13.9 | The FBI's assistant special agent in charge, |
| 1:22.3 | Stephen Keller called the indictment evidence of conduct that was depraved and a gross betrayal of his sworn oath and the public's trust. Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy described it in similar terms at a nationally broadcast press |
| 1:32.3 | conference, Sandra's cousin Barbara Wright told a reporter it had been a long time coming. |
| 1:37.0 | She said she'd known from the beginning that Sandra didn't do what the state said she did. |
| 1:43.8 | She'd been praying for this moment since the day she found out what happened. |
| 1:49.4 | The system didn't correct itself. |
| 1:52.3 | The family dragged it kicking and resisting to the truth. |
| 1:58.5 | This is part five in the final chapter of our five-part series on the Sandra |
| 2:02.9 | Birchmore case. |
| 2:04.0 | Over the first four parts, we covered how Sandra was groomed and exploited by officers |
| 2:08.9 | in a police youth program, the pregnancy that made her a threat to Matthew Farwell, |
... |
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