Mass. cop faces trial in Sandra Birchmore case after she was groomed starting at 12 then killed when she got pregnant

BOSTON — In 2010, Sandra Birchmore was a 12-year-old law enforcement fanatic enrolled in a police youth program in Stoughton, Massachusetts.A decade later, she was pregnant and dead — and the feds say it was one of the cops she idolized who groomed, abused and murdered her.That disgraced officer, Matthew Farwell, is now finally slated to face trial over five years after her Feb.

1, 2021, killing — which was originally ruled a suicide.But federal prosecutors say Farwell killed her and staged her death to look like she took her own life.Jury selection has been underway this week in a Boston federal courthouse, with opening statements slated to begin Friday.In the 10 years leading up to her alleged killing, federal prosecutors say Birchmore suffered prolonged sexual abuse beginning when she was just 15 from Farwell, a married man who allegedly used his authority to groom and sexually exploit the underage girl.But by the time she was a 23-year-old woman, Farwell feared he was “losing control” over Birchmore, and when she claimed to be pregnant with his child, he allegedly strangled her in her Canton apartment, then staged the scene to make it appear that she’d killed herself, according to prosecutors.And he allegedly did it all just hours before his own wife gave birth.While both Birchmore and Farwell believed he was the dad, DNA testing after the deaths concluded he was not, according to the Boston Globe.Farwell, now 40, was not the only cop accused of abusing Birchmore.His brother, fellow officer William Farwell, along with the director of the Stoughton police’s youth program, Robert Devine, were both accused by her family of sexually abusing her over the years.All three officers have denied the allegations — though each resigned in 2022 as investigations were opened into their conduct.Farwell, who faces one count of killing a witness or victim and one count of killing an unborn baby, is the only of the three who was criminally charged.

However, the ...