
Matthew Farwell’s DNA Left WHAT for Jurors to Decide?!
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & CommentaryShow Notes
Matthew Farwell’s defense attorney described Sandra Birchmore’s death as an impulsive act of despair. Federal prosecutors say DNA recovered from a strap at the scene ties the former Stoughton police officer to her death. The jury now has to weigh those conflicting accounts rather than assume either opening statement proves the case. The defense detailed Sandra’s mental-health history, including treatment beginning at a young age and an earlier attempt to end her life. Attorney Kimberly Stevens also told jurors Sandra faced money problems and had $2.90 in her account near the end of January 2021. She argued investigators did not identify Farwell’s DNA beneath Sandra’s fingernails. The defense disputes the government’s interpretation of the physical evidence and the medical findings. Prosecutors allege Farwell first became involved with Sandra when she was a minor in the Stoughton Police Explorers program. Their theory is that he later killed her to prevent disclosure of his conduct. Investigators obtained a DNA sample from Farwell years after the initial investigation, and prosecutors say testing linked him to the duffel-bag strap and clothing recovered at the scene. Farwell denies the charges. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott offers an additional perspective on what years of unequal power can mean for a young person who trusts someone wearing a badge. Her analysis helps examine the relationship described by prosecutors without claiming to know Sandra’s private thoughts. Tony Brueski brings the trial evidence and that psychological perspective together as jurors confront a central dispute: who does the forensic record support? 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 #HiddenKillers #FarwellTrial #StoughtonPolice #ShavaunScott #TrueCrime #BirchmoreCase #FederalTrial #TrueCrimePodcast
More from Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
Matthew Farwell was questioned about Sandra Birchmore in a school parking lot. State Trooper Matthew Dunne told a federal jury the conversation was neither recorded nor documented in notes. Dunne said the approach was intended to keep Farwell talking. The admission leaves a basic problem: jurors cannot hear the exchange themselves or examine a contemporaneous question-by-question account. Dunne testified that he later learned Farwell had lied about the beginning and frequency of his relationship with Birchmore. Federal prosecutors questioned Dunne about the people investigators did not interview, including Farwell's fellow Stoughton officers and Birchmore's neighbors. He said he skipped the autopsy and had not initially treated the death as suspicious. The defense emphasized his finding of no obvious struggle and has argued Birchmore died by suicide. Prosecutors allege Farwell killed Birchmore and arranged the scene to resemble a self-inflicted death. They presented video they say shows him arriving at her building in a face mask and leaving about half an hour later. Hours afterward, his wife gave birth. Those events are documented or alleged in court; what Farwell intended remains a question for jurors, not a conclusion that can be drawn from clothing alone. Tony Brueski brings criminal defense attorney Bob Motta and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott into the same conversation. Motta tests the choices Dunne made against what an investigation needs to preserve. Scott examines what prosecutors want jurors to infer from Farwell's conduct while separating behavioral possibilities from proof. When the first investigation leaves no interview recording and significant witnesses untouched, who is left to explain what the jury can trust? 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 #HiddenKillers #MatthewDunne #StoughtonPolice #BobMotta #ShavaunScott #BirchmoreCase #TrueCrimePodcast #JusticeForSandra
Eight days after Sandra Birchmore’s death, an iPhone linked to Matthew Farwell was used to search whether consent could be revoked in Massachusetts. A second search asked whether Cellebrite could recover deleted messages. Prosecutors showed jurors the digital evidence during the former Stoughton officer’s federal murder trial. Farwell denies the charge. His attorneys maintain Sandra died by suicide after he visited her apartment. Prosecutors allege he killed her and staged the scene. The searches are evidence of questions typed into a device, and a jury must determine whether they support the prosecution’s account. This case also raises a wider question about Stoughton police. Sandra’s family’s civil allegations involve more than Matthew. His twin brother William Farwell and former deputy chief Robert Devine were both named in litigation concerning their relationships with her. Their alleged conduct is a separate matter from determining who is criminally responsible for her death. Neither faces federal murder charges in this case. Tony Brueski and defense attorney Bob Motta examine how those parallel issues intersect. They look at why federal investigators became involved years after the death, and why the original police response remains so heavily disputed. The conversation goes through what a prosecutor would need to establish before another person could face criminal exposure, rather than treating a name in a civil lawsuit as a conviction. Sandra’s phone records add another hard question. According to FBI testimony, her phone was last unlocked at 9:13 p.m. on the night prosecutors say she died. The recorded steps later that evening have become part of the contested timeline. What will the jury conclude from the phones, the officer relationships, and the investigation that came before the federal case? 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 #HiddenKillers #StoughtonPolice #WilliamFarwell #RobertDevine #WorkPhone #TrueCrimePodcast #BobMotta #Massachusetts
Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s reported prison words about Ken Urker have resurfaced after his death, while a separate online campaign is challenging the accepted story of Dee Dee Blanchard’s treatment of her daughter. Recordings reported to be from prison calls in 2020 and 2021 capture Gypsy discussing Ken with Ryan Anderson and saying she had told Ken she hoped he would overdose. Ken died at his Raceland, Louisiana home on October 1, 2026, his thirty-fourth birthday. According to the sheriff’s incident report, deputies found syringes, a spoon near a brown powdery substance, another syringe and a holstered handgun. Authorities said there were no signs of foul play, and an official cause of death had not been announced when the report became public. The episode also examines the growing claim that Dee Dee was wrongly portrayed as a mother who fabricated Gypsy’s illnesses. Gypsy has a documented chromosome 1q21.1 deletion, which can produce a wide range of symptoms. That diagnosis does not erase the separate medical record surrounding Dee Dee’s claims. Pediatric neurologist Dr. Bernardo Flasterstein documented a strong possibility of Munchausen by proxy after evaluating Gypsy and questioning the history he was given. Dee Dee’s own family adds another piece that is difficult to square with the online rehabilitation campaign. Her father, Claude Pitre, said in Mommy Dead and Dearest that nobody wanted Dee Dee’s cremated remains and that he told the family to flush the ashes down the toilet. Tony Brueski and Bob Motta separate the documented record from the claims now circulating around Gypsy, Dee Dee and Ken — including the facts investigators still have not resolved. 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. #GypsyRoseBlanchard #DeeDeeBlanchard #TrueCrime #KenUrker #GypsyRose #HiddenKillers #MunchausenByProxy #MedicalRecords #TrueCrimePodcast #GypsyRoseCase
Sandra Birchmore’s family was told her death was self-inflicted. Years later, Matthew Farwell faced federal charges accusing him of killing her and staging the scene. A federal prosecution filing says a state lab found male DNA on the strap in 2021, but officers did not collect Farwell’s sample for comparison. State Police investigator Matthew Dunne testified about interviewing Farwell without making a recording or taking notes. The jury also heard FBI Agent Heidi Kelsch read private text exchanges between Farwell and Birchmore. Prosecutors say the messages show contact dating back to her teenage years. The defense says Sandra died by suicide and disputes the government’s interpretation. Tony Brueski examines why the gaps in the early inquiry matter and what the jury must decide. Farwell has pleaded not guilty. In testimony, Dunne said the unrecorded interview strategy was meant to keep Farwell talking. That choice gave investigators an account, but it left no audio record for jurors to hear. Prosecutors contrast those limits with the thousands of messages later recovered. A court still has to decide what those messages prove about the charged conduct. 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 #HiddenKillers #BirchmoreCase #StoughtonPolice #FederalCourt #DNAEvidence #TrueCrime #CaseUpdates #TrueCrimePodcast
Leo Hengstler drove the ambulance that responded to the Brookfield Boarding Kennels on February 16, 1981. He testified to something that appears in no book, no movie, and no dramatization of this case. He heard Debbie Glatzel tell her father while Alan Bono lay dying: "You know how he gets when he's been drinking." Not possessed. Drinking. Debbie had counted five blackout episodes in the months after Arne challenged the demon. She said each one looked exactly like David's. The Washington Post described a different Arne Johnson — quick to anger, possessive, a man who ripped a stuffed animal apart with his knife. He'd carried that folding knife since he was a kid. On a holiday afternoon, Bono drank red wine for hours and grabbed a 9-year-old girl. Arne told him to let go. Bono was dead on his own lawn. 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. #DevilMadeHimDoIt #ArneJohnson #AlanBono #DebbieGlatzel #BrookfieldCT #TheConjuring #DemonicPossession #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #DevilOnTrial