By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-13 22:56:54 | Updated at 2026-10-13 23:37:33
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A jury in Boston Tuesday saw gruesome photos of Sandra Birchmore’s body allegedly staged to look like a suicide by the cop accused of sexually abusing her as an underage teen and then murdering her when he learned she was pregnant.
The graphic images were shown at the Boston federal trial against disgraced ex-cop Matthew Farwell after the 23-year-old was found dead in her Canton apartment on Feb. 4, 2021, according to a report by NBC 10 Boston.
The pictures showed Birchmore, her heavily pregnant belly exposed, in the sparely furnished apartment where she had just moved in.
Her body leans near a door, with a ligature visible. Her face is blue-purple and her pregnant stomach appears bruised and discolored.
The Post is choosing not to publish the graphic images, which were released publicly by the US Attorney’s office.
Some of the jurors appeared uncomfortable, shifting in their chairs and touching their eyes, as they were shown disturbing photos several times during testimony from the officer who found her.
“I saw a deceased body in a bedroom,” Canton police Officer Ensley Cotard told the jury on the first day of testimony at Farwell’s trial.
Cotard said he didn’t see any signs of a struggle, but he noted he wasn’t investigating a crime scene but rather just checking if Birchmore was okay after her boss reported that she failed to show up to work.
The cop didn’t see a suicide note, he said, — and explained he was only inside for roughly eight minutes.
“My job was a well-being check on Ms. Birchmore,” he said.
Prosecutors alleged during opening statements Friday that Farwell, 40, strangled Birchmore three days earlier on Feb. 1, because she was threatening to expose their affair to his wife, who had his third child the day after Birchmore’s death.
Birchmore had told Farwell she was carrying was his baby — a fact they both believed despite DNA testing after the fact concluding Farwell was not the father, prosecutors said.
Farwell began sexually abusing Birchmore seven years earlier when she was a 15-year-old aspiring cop enrolled in a Stoughton Police program for kids, which he helped oversee, prosecutors alleged.
The pair continued the relationship into Birchmore’s adulthood and Birchmore eventually demanded Farwell have a baby with her too or she would come forward about their relationship.
Farwell bitterly agreed, and when she texted him excitedly she was pregnant, he viscously responded, “You are truly the worst person on the face of Earth,” prosecutors alleged.
Farwell’s lawyers, however, claimed the day of the alleged murder, he went to Birchmore’s apartment to tell her he was breaking things off, prompting her to kill herself after he left.
Two witness earlier Tuesday testified that Birchmore was very happy that she was pregnant.
Cheryl Carlson, the former assistant principal at East Elementary School in Sharon where Birchmore worked as an instructional assistant, said it didn’t add up that Birchmore’s death was originally determined to be a suicide.
“It didn’t make sense to me. Because she was so excited to have that baby,” Carlson testified. “It didn’t fit with her character.”
And Birchmore even confided in Carlson about fighting with the baby’s father, but she was still determined to have the child “no matter what,” Carlson told the jury, according to a report by the Boston Globe.
Carlson said she reached out to State Police who were investigating the case because she was so concerned about the claim Birchmore killed herself.
Erin Porter, the property manager where Birchmore lived, testified about how Birchmore began renting the apartment just a few months earlier in December 2020.
Porter said Birchmore was “just as excited as any other expecting mother would be.”
The jury also saw surveillance video footage of Farwell walking into Birchmore’s apartment building that night, wearing a hood and mask, despite the fact he was outspoken about being opposed to masking during COVID, according to testimony.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
