Episode Details

In the same Massachusetts town rocked by the Karen Read case, 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore was found hanged in her Canton apartment in 2021. Sandra was pregnant and alone, and her death was quickly ruled a suicide, despite her family’s belief that she’d been groomed for years by Stoughton officer Matthew Farwell, who first “mentored” her in a police youth program when she was just 12. In this episode, Katie unpacks Sandra’s troubled childhood, her secret relationship with Farwell, and the threatening messages that preceded her death, revealing a darker picture of small-town policing: alleged statutory rape, buried complaints, and a department accused of closing ranks around one of its own. With Farwell in federal custody, Katie revisits the night she died, the evidence that never added up, and how her family, a podcast, and viral social posts dragged her “suicide” back into the spotlight… and onto the FBI’s radar.

Crime House Daily is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. For ad-free listening, subscribe to Crime House+ on Apple Podcasts.

Don’t miss out on all things Crime House Daily!

• Instagram: @Crimehouse | @crimehouse247

• TikTok: @Crimehouse | @crimehouse247

• Facebook: @crimehousestudios

• X: @crimehousemedia

• YouTube: @crimehousedaily

Crime House Daily is hosted by Katie Ring

• Instagram: @the.self.defense.girl

• TikTok: @the.self.defense.girl
  

To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices