Show Notes
Sandra Birchmore believed Matthew Farwell was coming around. He brought ginger ale to her apartment. She texted a friend that things were getting better. She was pregnant, making plans, contacting lawyers, preparing for a future she would never see. Farwell was making different plans entirely. According to federal prosecutors, Farwell told one person that if Sandra didn’t end the pregnancy, he would “take care of the problem himself.” He told another he needed to “put crazy back in the bag.” He told a third that “the problem was going to take care of itself.” Three different people. Three different conversations. All pointing toward a man who viewed a pregnant woman as a problem to be eliminated. Sandra wasn’t just talking to friends. She had contacted lawyers. Prosecutors say she was developing a plan for child support and was prepared to disclose that Farwell had abused her since she was underage. For a married detective with a pregnant wife at home, Sandra had become an existential threat to everything he’d built. Then came January 20, 2021. Eleven days before Sandra’s death. Her friend called the Stoughton Police Department to report Farwell’s relationship with Sandra. The department employee who took the call told Farwell. The institution that should have protected Sandra hand-delivered the warning to the man prosecutors say killed her. On February 1, surveillance cameras captured Sandra walking in and out of her Canton apartment building. At 9:27 PM, Farwell entered. At 9:56 PM, he left. Sandra was never seen alive again. This is Part 2 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 #StoughtonPolice #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #JusticeForSandra #FederalCase #PoliceMisconduct #SurveillanceFootage #CantonMA
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