Key moments from ex-cop's trial in the death of Sandra Birchmore

A jury in Massachusetts is deliberating the fate of former police officer Matthew Farwell, who is charged in the 2021 death of 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore.

The fate of Matthew Farwell is now in the hands of a jury in his trial over the death of Sandra Birchmore, who federal prosecutors say was killed by the former Massachusetts police officer after years of sexual abuse that started when she was a teenager.Farwell has pleaded not guilty to killing the 23-year-old and her unborn son in 2021. Prosecutors accused Farwell of staging Birchmore's death to look like a suicide.Prosecutors said Farwell started sexually abusing Birchmore when she was 15 and he was 27. The two met through a police youth program that's designed to teach children about law enforcement careers. Farwell, who worked for the police department in Stoughton, Massachusetts, was an instructor for the program.Birchmore's manner of death was initially determined by local authorities to be a suicide, but was later changed to undetermined.

After a federal investigation into her death, Farwell was charged in 2024 with killing a witness or a victim, with prosecutors alleging that Farwell killed Birchmore to silence her about the abuse. In 2025, he was charged with causing the death of an unborn child. Farwell didn't take the witness stand during the trial. Attorneys gave their closing arguments on Friday before the case went to the jury.During the trial in U.S. District Court in Boston, Farwell's attorneys didn't deny that he