Sandra Birchmore’s Death Was Ruled a Suicide, Now a Former Detective Is on Trial for Her Murder, Plus the Murdaugh Retrial and a No-Body Cas

Sandra Birchmore was 23, roughly eight to ten weeks pregnant, and found dead in her Canton, Massachusetts apartment in February 2021, hanging from a duffel bag strap. The state medical examiner ruled it a suicide. Testimony began Oct. 13 in the federal trial of former Stoughton police detective Matthew Farwell, 38, charged with killing a witness — prosecutors allege he began sexually abusing Birchmore when she was 15 and he was 27, through a police Explorers program, and strangled her when she became pregnant and he feared exposure. He faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted and has pleaded not guilty. Defense attorney Kimberley Stevens told jurors Farwell made “regrettable mistakes” but did not kill her, pointing to the original ruling, the absence of his DNA under Birchmore’s fingernails, and FBI meeting notes showing federal examiners initially saw no evidence contradicting the suicide finding. DNA later excluded Farwell as the baby’s father. Also: Alex Murdaugh’s retrial is set for April 5, 2027, in Sumter County, with Judge Debra McCaslin allowing DNA testing but rejecting a defense request she called a fishing expedition. And Naresh Bhatt is on trial in Virginia in the death of his wife, Mamta Kafle Bhatt, whose body has never been found. Garret Fisher reports.

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