Sandra Birchmore’s death was a homicide, prominent doctor says

Editor’s note: This article reports graphic details about the death of Sandra Birchmore.

The 2021 death of a pregnant Stoughton woman – ruled a suicide by a state medical examiner – has been called a homicide by a high-profile forensic pathologist hired by the woman’s family, according to a report from The Boston Globe. 

23-year-old Sandra Birchmore, who was allegedly groomed and sexually assaulted by three former Stoughton police officers for nearly a decade, according to a wrongful death suit filed in 2022, was found dead in her Canton apartment on Feb. 4, 2021. Each officer knew Birchmore since she was enrolled in a youth explorers program with the department at age 13, the complaint alleges.

The former officers are Matthew Farwell, his twin brother William, and Robert Devine. Each had “inappropriate relationships” with Birchmore, according to a department internal investigation. 

Dr. Michael Baden wrote in a letter earlier this month that Birchmore’s injuries, including the placement of a ligature found on her body, proves she was strangled, the Globe reported. Previously, state investigators determined that she died by suicide when she hanged herself. 

“Ms. Birchmore did not die of suicidal hanging . . . The cause of Ms. Birchmore’s death is ‘Strangulation’ and the manner of death is ‘Homicide,’” Baden wrote, according to the Globe.

Baden, the former chief medical examiner of New York City, has decades of experience in autopsies – including for investigations concerning O.J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant. He also worked with the federal government to reinvestigate President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassinations, according to his online bio.

According to the wrongful death suit, Birchmore was pregnant with Matthew Farwell’s child. The suit alleges he began having sex with her when she was 15 and he was 27. He was also the last to see her alive at her apartment four days before her body was discovered, according to court documents. 

A request for comment to lawyers for Birchmore’s estate was not returned Monday.