Sandra Birchmore’s alleged killer won’t show up for arraignment for slaying unborn baby

The Stoughton cop accused of grooming Sandra Birchmore as a minor and then killing her when she was an adult will not be present at his arraignment on a new charge of killing their unborn child.

Matthew Farwell, 39, of North Easton, was originally indicted in federal court in Boston in August 2024 with killing a witness or victim in the death of Birchmore, who he had maintained a sexual relationship with for seven years. On Feb. 1, 2021, she was found dead in an apparent suicide in her Canton apartment at age 23. Federal investigators say Farwell just staged the scene to look like a suicide but had actually slayed the woman after she shared that she was pregnant.

At the end of last month, federal prosecutors took the death of the unborn baby — who Birchmore had strongly indicated she was excited to have, according to court documents — into account and charged Farwell with a charge called “Protection of unborn child,” which allows for the same penalties as the first charge for killing the child in utero. Prosecutors say the child’s gestational age was between eight and 10 weeks at the time of the killing.

Farwell will not be present for his arraignment on the new charge. His attorneys filed a waiver of appearance, which Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley accepted. Farwell’s arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 21 at 11 a.m.

While Massachusetts is not a death penalty state, federal law allows for the death penalty, which prosecutors may take up in this case.

Birchmore was born in 1997, and in March 2010, at the age of 12, she applied to participate in the Police Explorers Academy, a youth program that Farwell ran for the Stoughton Police Department. She stayed in the program for about four years.

Prosecutors allege that Farwell worked to groom Birchmore early on, pretending to befriend the girl 12 years his junior by doing test prep with her at the library and friending her on Facebook. He began a sexual relationship with her when she was 15 and he was 27.

“Matthew Farwell’s gun and badge did not grant him authority to violate the Constitution and certainly didn’t entitle him to sexually exploit, abuse and rape a child before killing her and her unborn baby in an attempt to cover up his alleged crime,” Boston FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Steve Kelleher said during a press conference announcing the initial charges.