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The murder trial for a former Massachusetts police officer accused of killing his pregnant mistress and staging the scene to look like a suicide is kicking off after a brief 9 a.m. hearing Friday.
Once the jury is seated, the trial of former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell will kick off with opening statements followed by testimony from Stoughton Detective Heather Cheever and then from a local elementary school official.
The FBI arrested Farwell, 40, in August 2024 in connection with the death of 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore, which happened three years earlier.
EX-MASSACHUSETTS OFFICER ALLEGEDLY MURDERED PREGNANT WOMAN HE GROOMED AS A TEEN, STAGED IT TO LOOK LIKE SUICIDE
Sandra Birchmore pictured in a selfie she posted to Facebook in January 2021, about three weeks before she was killed in a scene prosecutors allege was staged to look like a suicide. Former Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell has been accused of killing her and her unborn child. (Sandra Birchmore/Facebook)
Prosecutors have accused Farwell of grooming Birchmore since she was a teenager, maintaining a sexual relationship for years and then killing her when she told him she’d become pregnant and staging her death to look like a suicide.
Birchmore’s death was initially deemed a suicide. But Farwell was charged following internal affairs and FBI investigations.
Federal prosecutors alleged last year that Farwell killed the pregnant Birchmore to prevent her from speaking out after she told him she was “keeping” the baby. They say he told her that she was “the worst person on the face of the earth.”
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Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton, Mass., police officer, pleaded not guilty Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, to charges of killing a woman he is accused of sexually exploiting when she was underage. (Stoughton Police Department via AP)
While lawyers on both sides have agreed that DNA testing excluded Farwell as the unborn child’s father, prosecutors allege that he believed he was the father based on text exchanges with Birchmore from Dec. 28, 2020, to Feb. 1, 2021 — the day she died.
Prosecutors have said Birchmore was excited about her pregnancy and gave Farwell updates about her due date, ultrasounds, doctor appointments and a gender reveal.
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She was between eight and 10 weeks pregnant when she died, two weeks before Valentine’s Day, when prosecutors say she planned to publicly announce her pregnancy.
Birchmore was only 12 when she joined the police department’s explorers program, according to court documents. Farwell volunteered with the program and is accused of using his position to groom, exploit and abuse Birchmore after she turned 15. He was 27.
Stoughton Police Headquarters in Stoughton, Mass., on Sept. 4. (Boston Globe via Getty Images)
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They allegedly continued having sex into her adulthood, sometimes when he was on-duty, and he is accused of strangling her on Feb. 1, 2021 after learning of her pregnancy.
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Farwell, who has pleaded not guilty, has been jailed since his arrest in August 2024.
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Stoughton is a suburb about 20 miles south of Boston.
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Jury selection took place earlier this week.
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Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Andrew Fone contributed to this report.