Former Officer Requests Detention Hearing Delay

Matthew Farwell, a former Stoughton police officer, has requested the cancellation of his upcoming detention hearing in federal court as he faces charges for the murder of 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore, who was pregnant with his child at the time of her death. Farwell, who was arrested on August 28, allegedly strangled Birchmore and staged her death to appear as a suicide. His motion for voluntary detention without prejudice aims to allow his legal counsel more time to prepare for the case. Prosecutors allege that Farwell groomed and sexually abused Birchmore since she was 15, continuing the abuse into adulthood. While the initial ruling deemed Birchmore's death a suicide, a pathologist hired by her family later asserted it was a murder caused by strangulation. If convicted, Farwell faces a possible life sentence or even the death penalty for his alleged crime.