About this episode

The episode discusses the tragic case of Sandra Birchmore and the failures of the Stoughton Police Department that led to her death.

On January 20, 2021, Sandra Birchmore's friend called the Stoughton Police Department and reported Matthew Farwell's relationship with Sandra. The department employee who took the call told Farwell. Eleven days later, Sandra was dead. That is the institutional failure at the center of this case — and everything that follows flows from it. Sandra was making plans. She believed Farwell was coming around. She had contacted lawyers. Prosecutors say she was building a child-support strategy and was prepared to disclose that Farwell had been involved with her since she was underage — since she was a fifteen-year-old enrolled in the department's Police Explorers youth program and he was a twenty-seven-year-old instructor. For a married detective whose wife was also pregnant, Sandra represented an existential threat to his career, his marriage, and his freedom. According to prosecutors, Farwell told three separate people what he was thinking. He said if Sandra did not end the pregnancy, he would "take care of the problem himself." He told another he needed to "put crazy back in the bag." He told a third that "the problem was going to take care of itself." Those are not the words of a man…

People in this episode

Host: Tony Brueski

Topics covered

• domestic violence
• institutional failure
• true crime
• legal issues
• relationship dynamics
• murder case

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stoughton Police Department

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