BOSTON (Court TV) — The former police officer accused of killing his mistress and attempting to stage the scene to look like a suicide has been ordered to stay behind bars as he awaits his trial.
This photo provided by the Stoughton, Mass., Police Department shows Matthew Farwell, a former police officer who pleaded not guilty Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024, to charges of killing a woman he is accused of sexually exploiting when she was underage and then trying to stage the death as a suicide after she told him she was pregnant. (Stoughton Police Department via AP)
Matthew Farwell, 39, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of killing a pregnant witness or victim in an ongoing investigation. Prosecutors say Farwell began a relationship with the victim, Sandra Birchmore, when she was 15 years old and then killed her when she was 23 because he believed she was pregnant with his child. Birchmore had told the defendant that she was carrying his child; DNA testing later revealed that Farwell was not the father.
In an order denying Farwell’s request for pretrial release, Judge M. Page Kelley found the government “met its burden on risk of flight and danger to the community and obstruction and orders.”…