Show Notes
At 9:27 PM on February 1, 2021, Matthew Farwell entered Sandra Birchmore’s apartment building. At 9:56 PM, he left. Twenty-nine minutes. Sandra was never seen alive again. When her body was found three days later, she was wearing the same clothes. Federal prosecutors allege that inside those twenty-nine minutes, Farwell strangled Sandra and her unborn son, then staged the scene. The forensic evidence prosecutors have assembled is devastating. Farwell’s DNA was found on the duffel bag strap used to strangle Sandra. His sperm cells were found in her underwear, contradicting his claim that he hadn’t been intimate with her in months. Sandra’s right clavicle showed an injury that occurred while she was alive, matching the buckle behind her head — evidence prosecutors say proves she could not have died in the position she was found. A broken pink flamingo necklace Sandra regularly wore was discovered tangled with her hair on the bedroom floor. Her phone recorded its final movements while Farwell was still inside the apartment. Then there’s the reenactment. At a private gathering after Sandra’s death, an inebriated Farwell demonstrated how she supposedly died, positioning himself beneath a doorknob. The details he described had not been publicly revealed. He knew because, prosecutors allege, he staged the scene himself. DNA testing later confirmed Farwell was not the biological father of Sandra’s unborn son. But both he and Sandra believed he was — and prosecutors say that belief is what drove him to kill her. Every piece of physical evidence points to homicide. And yet, for years, it was ruled something else entirely. This is Part 3 of a five-part series on the Sandra Birchmore case. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #SandraBirchmore #MatthewFarwell #29Minutes #DNAEvidence #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #JusticeForSandra #ForensicEvidence #FederalCase #CrimeScene
More from The Murder Of Sandra Birchmore
Sandra Birchmore told friends about her baby, planned a baby shower, and paid her nursing school tuition in the days before she was found dead in her Canton apartment, according to prosecutors. Eric Faddis joins me to weigh what that means against Matthew Farwell's suicide defense. Prosecutors say the DNA on the strap belongs to Farwell. They say the lobby camera shows him arriving masked on February 1, 2021, and leaving after her phone stopped moving. They say someone inside Stoughton police told him about a friend's January 20 call reporting the relationship. The defense says the state's own investigators called it suicide in 2021 and the jury should too. Eric tells me which of the government's five strongest facts is the one Farwell's lawyers lose sleep over. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #SandraBirchmore #MatthewFarwell #SandraBirchmoreCase #EricFaddis #FarwellTrial #StoughtonPolice #JusticeForSandra #TrueCrime #CoverUp #TrueCrimeCommunity
What these officers did to Sandra Birchmore’s mind — and why the coverup is allegedly still happening — is the focus of a comprehensive four-part interview with psychotherapist Shavaun Scott. Scott, author of Nightbird, examines the case from every angle: how officers allegedly used a youth program and Sandra’s childhood losses to replace every source of trust in her life, how Matthew Farwell allegedly maintained a double life until the night Sandra died, how Robert Devine’s mentorship of the Farwell brothers may have created a pipeline, and how the department is allegedly retaliating against the chief who tried to expose it. The interview covers details the legal case alone cannot illuminate — what the unsent text reveals, what the mask tells a clinician, what Devine’s attack on Sandra’s credibility after her death says about the group, and what McNamara’s removal means for the women in law enforcement watching this unfold. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #SandraBirchmore #StoughtonPolice #HiddenKillers #MatthewFarwell #RobertDevine #DonnaMcNamara #ShavaunScott #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #JusticeForSandra
The chief who exposed the officers connected to Sandra Birchmore says she was told to destroy the evidence of a second investigation — and when she refused, she was the one placed on leave. Chief Donna McNamara was the first female officer and first female chief in Stoughton’s history. She allegedly opened a second probe into the department after the officers were identified. Town Manager Robin Calter allegedly demanded the report be destroyed. Someone inside the department had already tipped Matthew Farwell that he was being discussed. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott, author of Nightbird, examines what this pattern of retaliation reveals about the institution Sandra was allegedly harmed inside. The second investigation reportedly identified another unnamed former employee. Scott asks what it means for the women serving in law enforcement right now who are watching one of their own get punished for doing what was right. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #SandraBirchmore #DonnaMcNamara #HiddenKillers #StoughtonPolice #PoliceCoverup #ShavaunScott #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #RobinCalter #JusticeForSandra
What William Farwell did while Sandra Birchmore was pregnant with his twin brother’s baby is one of the details that tells psychotherapist Shavaun Scott how this group of officers allegedly functioned. William allegedly participated even knowing Sandra was carrying Matthew’s child. Robert Devine, who ran the youth program that first gave officers access to Sandra, mentored both brothers as teenagers. After Sandra was dead, Devine sat at his own hearing and called her a liar. Scott, author of Nightbird, examines the psychology of men who allegedly operate in groups — how one officer’s behavior can create a model that others follow, and why attacking the credibility of a dead woman was Devine’s first instinct when his own conduct was under review. Three officers connected through one program, involved with one girl for years. Scott explains what that structure does to the person trapped inside it. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #SandraBirchmore #RobertDevine #HiddenKillers #WilliamFarwell #ShavaunScott #StoughtonPolice #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast #ExplorersProgram #JusticeForSandra
Sandra Birchmore was already dead when Matthew Farwell texted his desk mate from his wife's hospital room, asking if anything was going on and saying he was bored. Detective Daniel Barber testified that in eight years, Farwell had never once reached out off duty like that. Rebecca Chandler read Sandra's texts to the jury. She read the night Sandra wrote that Farwell looked around her closet, and the morning Sandra wrote that he asked for a key and said he'd always be around if she stayed quiet. The last thing Chandler ever got from Sandra was baby clothes, sent January 31. Detective Barrett knew Farwell's walk and his jeans on the lobby video. Donyea Holloway testified Sandra wanted the baby to have police benefits in case the father wasn't around. Karlie Williams was going to dig her car out for Thursday, February 4. That's the day Sandra was found. Listen Anywhere You Get Podcasts: https://pod.link/1655749292 Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod?sub_confirmation=1 Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #SandraBirchmore #MatthewFarwell #SandraBirchmoreCase #FarwellTrial #StoughtonPolice #BirchmoreTrial #FederalMurderTrial #JusticeForSandra #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers