The sad truth is that we will likely never see aggravated statutory rape charges filed by the Norfolk County DA's office against Mathew Farwell. As federal prosecutors question investigators assigned to DA Michael Morrissey's office, the public is learning the shocking extent of the evidence overlooked and the investigative steps never taken in Sandra Birchmore's death. Yet equally indefensible was the decision not to prosecute Matthew Farwell for statutory rape. Prosecutors publicly, (and unbelievably) justified that decision by publicly claiming the case would be “difficult to prove because the main witness, Birchmore, was dead.” Think about the enormity of that statement. Dead victims cannot testify in murder trials either. Their deaths do not absolve prosecutors of their responsibility to pursue justice. Sandra's death should have intensified the search for corroborating evidence, including Farwell's own admissions in text messages, not become the convenient justification for failing to prosecute. When Michael Morrissey leaves office, his legacy will be forever stained by the death of Sandra Birchmore. That is the legacy Morrissey will leave behind: an office that failed to protect a sexually exploited child, failed to deliver justice after her death, and failed to hold accountable the very men who had sworn to uphold the law. Sandra Birchmore deserved justice. Instead, she became the face of an institution that failed her in life and in death.

First story on Jason Pickard US Army Recruiter Will Take Stand Against Cop Accused of Killing Sandra Birchmore lamag.com/general/us-army-re…

The Matthew Farwell trial continues today in Federal court in Massachusetts. Deep dive here with the woman who was one of the first to demand justice for Sandra Birchmore. youtube.com/watch?v=al96SzX4…

MINOGUE WANTS OLIVER OUT: Michael Minogue, the Republican nominee for governor of Massachusetts, said he asked Shawn Oliver “to suspend his campaign immediately” following a charge of driving under the influence. #mapoli

I have been covering the Sandra Birchmore case since late 2023, digging into the Massachusetts State Police records and talking to my long time sources about Stoughton cops Matthew Farwell, his twin brother William, and their friend Robert Devine. At that time, those Stoughton cops had been pushed off the force and publicly disgraced by the IAD report commissioned by Stoughton PD Deputy Chief Brian Holmes, details of which were released by an apoplectic Chief Donna McNamara at a 2022 press conference. Holmes is now the Kingston PD Chief and McNamara is on administrative leave, suing the town saying she was removed because of the Sandra Birchmore case and the "current and former cops" under FBI investigation. I heard the allegations regarding an encounter Sandra had with Joshua Heal, the animal control officer in the Stoughton animal shelter, purportedly for a cat adoption, and Matt Farwell tutoring her in the town library - two public buildings where Sandra was allegedly abused. Matthew Farwell, we learned last week, was a high school dropout who got "a lot of Fs," in testimony from FBI Special Agent Heidi Kelsch. A transcript of those Stoughton High School Fs were entered into evidence, which led a federal prosecutor to ask the FBI agent if she thought Farwell was an appropriate tutor, and titters in Courtroom 11 at the Moakley federal courthouse. The lead investigator in Sandra Birchmore's case, Lt. John Fanning, is also a Stoughton High School alum. And I learned the name of the military member, a U.S. Army recruiter in Quincy, mentioned in the Stoughton IAD report, who investigators noted appeared in sexually explicit videos with Sandra recovered from the Farwell brothers. My sources have confirmed that man is Jason Pickard, whose name was also referenced in an open court hearing by Matthew Farwell's federal public defenders. William Farwell and Jason Pickard are on the government's witness list. So is Joshua Heal. Pickard and William Farwell were in the same National Guard unit. Last week Chief Holmes testified that he turned the IAD report over to the FBI, the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office, and a U.S. Army Lt. Colonel. Back then I heard about some cops who tried to "do the right thing," and push for charges, but were shut down by top officials in the Norfolk County DA's Office. But the FBI did not shut him down, and soon uncovered evidence the MSP CPAC unit for Norfolk County did not. In August 2024, Farwell was pulled out of a big rig in a Revere, MA, the truck he had been driving since the end of his police career, by the FBI. One of his three children, a son, was in the truck when his dad was arrested and accused of the crime of statutory rape and the murder of Sandra Birchmore. Later, he was was also charged with the death of her unborn baby, a boy. Kelsch read a slew of graphic text messages for jurors on Friday. According to the reports I have read, these text messages are going to get much, much worse. Follow @LAmag for updates. LA Mag True Crime Instagram for videos from outside the courthouse. I suspect this verdict in Farwell's going federal trial will not be the end of this case.

She was just a child. The text messages that exploded into public view during the trial of Matthew Farwell for killing Sandra Birchmore are a blueprint for dangerous predators. Farwell exploited Sandra's vulnerabilities. He gained her trust, convinced her that he cared about her, drew her into his sick and dark world, and used the authority of his badge to create the illusion that she was safe with him. Devoid of human decency and any redeemable human qualities, he sexually exploited her, repeatedly, for years. The very person she trusted to protect her became the person she needed protection from. I spent more than two decades on the Juvenile Court bench. I saw the devastation of grooming and sexual exploitation in the faces of young teens who came into my courtroom. Children who had been manipulated by predatory adults who knew exactly how to exploit their vulnerabilities. I know what sexual exploitation looks like. I know the destruction it leaves behind. What Farwell did to Sandra was the carefully calculated predatory grooming and sexual exploitation of a vulnerable child. He knew exactly how much power he held over her. Amid the testimony, the text messages, and the legal arguments, never lose sight of who Sandra was when this began. She was a child.

Sandra Birchmore began skipping school after Farwell slipped into her Facebook messages and committed the crime of statutory rape against her when she was 15, which is under the age of consent. Farwell's Stoughton High School record entered. "He had a lot Fs," Agent Kelsch testified. The AUSUA tried to ask if that made him an appropriate tutor and was shut down with a sustained objection

Before representing ex-cop Matthew Farwell, veteran federal public defender Kimberly C. Stevens represented Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine people at a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina in 2015 — among many other high profile defendants. My new @enterprisenews story takes a closer look at the attorneys facing off in the Sandra Birchmore murder trial: enterprisenews.com/story/new…

Before Nicholas Guarino gets back on the stand after lunch… Yesterday I spoke with Peter Murphy, a retired Canton police Sgt. and @SandraBirchmore advocate about the Massachusetts State Police testimony so far and what he called its "unorthodox" investigation into Sandra Birchmore’s death. A lot to unpack here. 🎥👇

Michele McPhee talks with Brian Entin about the Sandra Birchmore/ Mathew Farwell trial. youtu.be/DJVJIN4FDPY?si=z8OG…

Recap Day 3 of trial testimony in the Matthew Farwell mude trial here in Boston federal court. It was a wild day of testimony so many bombshells more to come @LAmag

"Chief I believe I just asked if you Matthew Farwell was the subject of that IA investigation after Sandra Birchmore died...was he?" "Yes, he was." "Without stating the result, did Stoughton PD do anything after the investigation was completed?" "Yes, we released findings and I had a press conference." "Did you make any referrals?" "Yes, to the POST Commission and the Norfolk District Attorney's Office." "Did the Stoughton PD also make a referral to the FBI?" "Yes." Wow.

Buckle up, today is apparently the day.

Remember this face. This is Sandra Birchmore in 2014, a young teenager in the Stoughton Police Explorers program. By then, under Massachusetts law, Matthew Farwell had already raped her in April 2013 when she was 15. His own text messages confirmed this fact. This is the child Farwell’s defense attorney told jurors had an “affair” with him. Grooming is about trust, manipulation, power and control. Sandra believed Farwell loved her. He exploited that belief to get what he wanted. As the trial unfolds and we debate evidence, witnesses and rulings, remember this face. It is not the face of a girl having an "affair." It is the face of a sexually exploited child. It's the face of thousands of children who are sexually exploited every day.