Episode Details

Police reports describing Sandra Birchmore’s death as a suicide were in the medical examiner’s hands before the examiner had investigated the death for herself. Dr. María del Mar Capó-Martínez testified that her office was not called to the apartment and that investigators reported no foul play. She initially recorded the manner of death as suicide in 2021.

Five years later, the Massachusetts medical examiner’s office changed that ruling to undetermined and revised the cause of death to asphyxia. The federal prosecution says a premature conclusion and missing information compromised the original inquiry. Matthew Farwell’s defense has contested the revision and maintains Sandra died by suicide.

The jury also heard testimony from William Farwell, the defendant’s twin. William, a former Stoughton police officer, acknowledged an intimate relationship with Sandra while on duty and testified under a grant of immunity. He placed that relationship in 2018, when Sandra was an adult. A separate message discussed in court described Sandra’s relationship with Matthew beginning when she was 15. William also testified that Matthew told him he had wiped phone data.

Matthew Farwell is accused of killing Sandra and her unborn child and making the scene resemble suicide. He has pleaded not guilty, and the government must prove its case. William’s admissions and the examiner’s amended findings are separate pieces of the record, not substitutes for that burden.

Tony Brueski examines both sets of testimony with defense attorney Bob Motta, retired FBI special agent Robin Dreeke, and psychotherapist Shavaun Scott. They look at what investigators communicated, what an examiner needs to reach a reliable conclusion, and how jurors should evaluate a twin brother’s account while considering the competing theories of Sandra’s death.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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