Her estate questions the actions of the state investigation

The personal representative of Birchmore’s estate is Darlene Smith, the twin sister of Birchmore’s mother, who died in 2016. After Farwell was arrested by federal authorities last week, Smith and several other family members connected to the estate agreed to answer written questions from the Globe. The estate has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Farwell and others former Stoughton police officers in 2022

In response to questions from the Globe, the estate said it knew Birchmore knew Farwell through a Stoughton police youth program. Birchmore enrolled in the program when she was 12, and Farwell was an adult instructor. The estate said it did not know the extent of the relationship.

“We were confident that Sandra was in a safe and caring environment,” the estate said.

Last week, the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston charged Farwell, 38, with murdering a witness, alleging that he strangled pregnant Birchmore, 23, on Feb. 1, 2021, then staged her body and apartment to make her death appear to be a suicide. Federal prosecutors say Farwell, a married father, killed Birchmore so she would not reveal that he had committed statutory rape against her when she was 15, and that they occasionally met for sex as adults while he was on duty as a police officer.

Both counts could be prosecuted as federal crimes under statutes prohibiting coercion and inducement and telecommunications fraud, federal prosecutors said. Birchmore was 10 weeks pregnant when she died and had told some friends and relatives that Farwell was the father of her unborn child, court records show.

Farwell has pleaded not guilty and is being held pending a detention hearing next week. His attorney declined to comment Wednesday.

Gov. Maura Healey, who was serving as the state’s attorney general at the time of Birchmore’s death, called the case “horrific” in a statement to reporters Tuesday.

“The idea that someone in a position of power would torment her is sickening to me,” she said. “The Birchmore family deserves justice. We can’t bring Sandra back, but it’s very important that there is accountability and that justice is done.”

The initial investigation into Birchmore’s death was handled by Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey, along with state police and the state’s office of the chief medical examiner. The offices did not respond Wednesday to inquiries seeking comment from Birchmore’s estate.

The estate said Canton police first told them of Birchmore’s death that “it was a suicide.”

“We immediately couldn’t believe it because Sandra was so happy and excited about being pregnant and becoming a mother. She had been shopping for baby items in the weeks leading up to her death and making all sorts of plans,” the estate said.

As relatives cleaned out Birchmore’s apartment, they said their suspicions about whether she had committed suicide intensified when they noticed that “not everything seemed consistent” with someone taking their own life.

In the affidavit, the FBI cited evidence from Birchmore’s apartment that suggested she did not commit suicide. There was a picture of a sonogram decorated with glitter and attached to a homemade sign that read, “Congratulations, you’re going to be a father.” Family members also discovered that Birchmore was doing laundry when she died, with a ton of laundry in the washer and dryer, the affidavit said.

On February 5, 2021, the day after Birchmore’s body was found, Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara ordered an internal affairs investigation into the department’s interactions with her. Nineteen months later, in September 2022, McNamara announced that the investigation found that Farwell and two other former Stoughton police officers had engaged in “inappropriate” relationships with Birchmore.

She identified the other two officers as Farwell’s twin brother, William, and Robert C. Devine, 52, a former Stoughton deputy chief and mentor to the Farwell brothers, who oversaw the department’s youth program from 2002 to 2014. All three men voluntarily left the Stoughton police force in 2022.

The internal affairs report was heavily redacted and did not reveal details of the misconduct. Records in the wrongful death lawsuit and state law enforcement agency proceedings later revealed that Matthew Farwell initiated sexual contact with Birchmore in April 2013, when she was 15 and he was a 27-year-old police officer, which could be prosecuted in state court as aggravated statutory rape.

Civil and administrative proceedings conducted by the Police Standards and Training Commission (POST), The state police watchdog agency also revealed that William Farwell and Devine met Birchmore for sex in their police cars in Stoughton when she was an adult. William Farwell and Devine have denied the allegations in their wrongful death lawsuit, and both dispute POST’s efforts to discipline them.

Birchmore’s estate said it would be “difficult for anyone (even those who did not know Sandra) not to question the bias of the investigators” after Stoughton internal affairs investigators uncovered evidence of her relationships with multiple officers.

“Anyone would question the actions of the police investigating the police, and the fact that the police had a sexual relationship with the victim increases concerns about bias,” the estate said. “In a situation like that, we don’t know who else might be involved or what the relationship was between specific police officers and state investigators.”

Birchmore’s estate thanked the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their involvement in the investigation.

“This is a big step in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go before Sandra and her child are brought to justice,” the company said.

Relatives described Birchmore as a “vibrant young woman who was excited about the prospect of becoming a mother” and had “big dreams” for herself and her unborn child.

“We miss Sandra greatly and will forever mourn her tragic loss and the loss of the child we will never know,” they said.

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Laura Crimaldi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.