# Ex-cop charged with killing sex abuse victim Sandra Birchmore faces verdict — after grim details emerged at trial

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/ex-cop-charged-with-killing-sex-abuse-victim-sandra-birchmore-faces-verdict-after-grim-details-emerged-at-trial/
- Published: 2026-11-06T12:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-06T12:35:18+00:00
- Original publisher: New York Post (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://nypost.com/2026/11/06/us-news/ex-cop-charged-with-killing-sandra-birchmore-faces-verdict/
- Topics: World

## Key points

- Closing arguments are due before jurors consider Farwell’s case.
- Prosecutors allege he staged Birchmore’s death as a suicide.
- The defence argues Birchmore died by suicide.

## Summary

Matthew Farwell’s trial over the death of Sandra Birchmore is nearing its end, with closing arguments due in Boston and jurors expected to deliberate afterwards. Prosecutors say the former police detective killed Birchmore and staged her death as a suicide to conceal their relationship and her pregnancy; the defence says she died by suicide after he visited to end their relationship.

Birchmore, 23 and pregnant, was found dead in February 2021, and her death was initially ruled a suicide. Prosecutors allege Farwell groomed and sexually abused her from age 15, when he ran a youth police programme she attended, and called 38 witnesses during the trial; the defence called 12 of the 50 witnesses. Farwell has pleaded not guilty to killing a victim or witness and killing an unborn baby, and DNA testing found he was not the father of Birchmore’s pregnancy.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.