Katie Ring (14:44)
FBI's medical expert, Dr. Bill Smock, believes that Sandra Birchmore was murdered. In his report, Dr. Smock recognized that the damage to Sandra's pink flamingo necklace that she had been wearing around her neck when she died and then later fell to the floor when her body was moved was consistent with evidence of a struggle. This contradicts the observations of Matthew Dunn, the state trooper who led the state's investigation. He'd said he couldn't identify any signs of trauma on sandra's body. But Dr. Smock saw something different. Sandra had died from being strangled with a duffel bag strap. And when Dr. Smock examined photos of Sandra's body, he identified an imprint of the duffel bag strap's buckle on her chest. According to him, it suggested blunt force trauma from an assault. The final piece, fittingly for Sandra, was on her phone. But it wasn't any kind of communication. It was from her health app. Matthew Farwell had told investigators he last saw Sandra standing in the kitchen when he left around 9:45 the night she died. But the health app's Last recording was eight steps at 9:45. Minutes before Matthew left. If his story is to be believed, Sandra's phone somehow got from the kitchen to the bedroom without logging any steps before she died by suicide. But the most likely explanation is that she was murdered by Matthew Farwell. The FBI built their case against Matthew, but they couldn't move forward without getting on the same page as the state level authorities. If the state and federal agencies don't agree on the manner of death, this could make for an uphill battle in court. So on August 16, 2024, Dr. Smock and FBI investigators traveled to the state medical examiner's office in Boston. They were hoping to convince the medical examiner, Dr. Mindy Hull, along with the state police and Dr. Hull's predecessor, that they'd been wrong to designate Sandra's death as a suicide. Over the course of a three hour meeting, the FBI's team presented their case, highlighting the new evidence that had been missed in the original investigation. But the state's medical examiner said they believed they hadn't made any mistakes, and they refuse to change their ruling. It's a tough situation for the federal authorities to be in. If they try to take Matthew to court, his lawyers will surely use the state's findings against them. But in the end, they decided to try anyways. The morning of August 28, 2024, started like any other for Matthew Farwell. After he left the police department to avoid any repercussions from the internal affairs investigation, he used his paid leave to start his own trucking business. He got into his truck, intending to haul gravel as part of his new trucking company, and left his house before the sun came up. It was also the last day of his son's summer vacation from elementary school, and Matthew wanted to spend some time with him, so he got his son to tag along. Matthew pulled up outside a Sally Beauty supply in a strip mall parking lot to make his delivery. But he never made it inside because as soon as he arrived, federal SWAT agents swarmed the truck. Matthew slowly climbed out with his hands up and laid face down on the ground while the agents handcuffed him. Unfortunately, Matthew's son had to witness all of this, but two agents sat with him and tried to console him. As his dad was taken into custody, a federal grand jury indicted Matthew on a single count of killing a witness or victim. Which sounds kind of weird at first, but it means that the federal government is asserting that Matthew killed Sandra to keep her quiet about other potential federal crimes he'd committed, like civil rights violations and wire fraud. And the stakes are high. With a Charge like this, if found guilty, Matthew's facing a minimum of life in prison with the potential for the death penalty. After he was brought into custody, a federal agent called Sandra's cousin Angelique to tell her the news. Later, Angelique says, I couldn't believe. Believe it. I still can't believe it, that we actually might get justice. But there's still a long road to travel before that happens. After Matthew's arrest, he's taken to a federal courthouse in South Boston, where he pleaded not guilty. That afternoon, federal prosecutors argued that he should be denied bail. But in the end, they didn't need to worry because Matthew waved his detention release hearing, meaning he'll stay in federal custody at least until his trial. As of this recording, he's being held in a facility in Rhode Island. Throughout all of this, Matthew's wife hasn't made any comments about the case. She scrubbed any mention of herself or her children from social media. So regardless of how she feels about the accusations against her husband, it's pretty clear that she wants to stay out of it. As for Matthew, his trial is set for October 5, 2026, and there's still a ton of new information coming out at this point. During the initial state police investigation into Sandra's death, Matthew refused to give a DNA sample to test whether or not he was the father. Despite the fact that they could have gotten his DNA through other methods, the state police decided to drop the matter. But they still had a sample of the baby's DNA. And once he was in custody, federal officials went through with the paternity test, and they discovered that Matthew was not the father. Could you imagine doing all of that and the baby wasn't even yours? I'm not sure if authorities have discovered who the father is, but since William and Matthew are twins, I'm guessing it's not William either. It could have potentially been Robert Devine, but in the end, it doesn't really matter. Sandra was adamant that the baby was Matthew's, and based on Matthew's actions, it certainly seems like he believed it too. However, it remains to be seen how this will impact proceedings of Matthew's trial, especially because just recently, he was hit with another charge. On October 28, 2025, the U.S. attorney's office charged Matthew Matthew with one count of causing the death of an unborn child. This also carries a minimum sentence of life in prison. When Matthew's trial finally comes, it will be interesting to see if it has any impact on the Massachusetts suicide ruling. If Matthew is convicted of murder in federal court, it might take the difference in getting them to admit they didn't address all of the evidence, but for now, the ruling is the same. Robert Devine had decertification proceedings in June and July of this year, and the heavily redacted videos of the hearing were released on October 19. Of course, he is blaming Sandra and said that she was propositioning him and that she said Matt and Billy liked it. But in the same breath, he denied knowing that the brothers were having any kind of relations with her. The final decision on whether he can keep his license to work in law enforcement is still to come. Personally, I will be very concerned if he does, because men like him are the very last kind of people we need working in law enforcement and pretending to protect people when they were just really grooming kids and passing this poor girl around like she was nothing. In the meantime, the justice for Sandra Birchmore movement is still growing and we will continue to bring attention to her case. I'm hoping all of this attention that Sandra's case has gotten will help keep something like this from happening again. Because sadly, there are way too many instances of people like Sandra not getting the justice they deserve and a long history of abuse in the same program that started this all.
