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Sandra Birchmore Case: Judge Denies Motion to Drop Ex-Officer Matthew Farwell's Charges | Crime House 24/7
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- [00:02]
Vanessa Richardson
Hi, it's Vanessa.
- [00:03]
Crime House Announcer
If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, there's a new Crime House
- [00:07]
Vanessa Richardson
original you should check out.
- [00:09]
Crime House Announcer
It's called the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah's an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose own sister disappeared in 2001. And Courtney is a true crime storyteller who's seen firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, examining the moments just before a person disappears. The routines, the timelines, the small details that often get overlooked because every disappearance has a moment where everything still feels normal until it doesn't. Listen to and follow the Final hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or
- [00:49]
Vanessa Richardson
wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:50]
Crime House Announcer
New episodes drop every Monday.
- [00:53]
Vanessa Richardson
Foreign. This is Crime House. Good morning everyone. We have multiple breaking true crime cases this morning that you need to know about and we're starting with the biggest one. A former Massachusetts police officer accused of grooming a girl through a youth program and later killing her when she became pregnant has just lost his bid to have the case missed. Now the case against Matthew Farwell in the death of Sandra Birchmore is officially moving to trial. This is crime house 24 7, your non stop source for the biggest crime cases developing right now. Make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Vanessa Richardson and we have quite a lineup for you today. Here's what you need to know. On Monday, March 9, a federal judge denied former Stoughton, Massachusetts police officer Matthew Farwell's motion to dismiss the charges against him in the death of 23 year old Sandra Birchmore and her unborn child. Chief U.S. district Judge Denise J. Casper ruled in an 11 page memorandum that the two count federal indictment is legally sound and the prosecution will continue. Farwell's trial is scheduled for October 2026. This is a case that has drawn intense public attention in Massachusetts and beyond. Here's the full picture. Sandra Birchmore was found dead in her Canton, Massachusetts apartment on February 4, 2021. She was 23 years old and three months pregnant. The state medical examiner initially ruled her death a suicide by hanging and the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office declined to bring any criminal charges. For years, Birchmore's family and supporters pushed for answers, insisting that the circumstances of her death did not add up. In June of 2024, Birchmore's family hired a forensic pathologist who determined her death was a homicide. And In August of 2024 that year, federal authorities arrested Farwell and charged him with killing Birchmore to prevent her from reporting sexual crimes he had committed against her. Federal prosecutors alleged that Farwell strangled Birchmore in her apartment on or about February 1, 2021, and then staged the scene to make it look like she had taken her own life. And last fall, prosecutors brought an additional charge causing the death of Birchmore's unborn child during the commission of the offense. Farwell has pleaded not guilty to both counts. According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Birchmore's family in 2022, she first met Farwell when she enrolled in the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy, a youth program designed to introduce local kids to law enforcement careers. She was around 12 years old at the time. Farwell was a volunteer with the program and later became an instructor. When he joined the department as a full time officer in 2012, he was supposed to be a mentor and a role model. Instead, prosecutors say, he exploited that position of trust. Federal prosecutors alleged that before Farwell engaged in sexual intercourse and other sexual contact with Birchmore, beginning when she was 15 years old and Farwell was 27. That relationship allegedly continued for years until her death, at times occurring while Farwell was on duty. In December 2020, Birchmore discovered she was pregnant and told Farwell he was the father. DNA testing later excluded Farwell as the biological father, but authorities have not disclosed whether paternity has been established. According to court documents, Birchmore disclosed to loved ones that Farwell allegedly became violent with her when they discussed the pregnanc and his role in the child's life. At one point while she was pregnant, Farwell allegedly held Birchmore in a headlock and told her that he wished she were dead. Then, on January 20, 2021, a friend of Birchmore's called the Stoughton Police Department and reported that Farwell and Birchmore were having a sexual relationship. A department employee told Farwell, who was a married father, about the call. Prosecutors alleged that within days Farwell killed Birchmore to prevent her from reporting his alleged crimes to Law ENFOR enforcement. Farwell's defense team had argued the indictment was defective in both form and substance. They said it failed to establish federal jurisdiction because it did not identify a specific federal offense that Birchmore might have reported or specify who she would have reported it to. They also argued the second charge, the death of her unborn child, was tied to the first count and should be dismissed along with it. Judge Casper rejected every argument. She wrote that the indictment recites the elements of the crime and contains sufficient factual allegations to allow Farwell to prepare his defense. At a hearing last week, prosecutors told the judge that Farwell killed Birchmore before she had the chance to report him to authorities. They argued the defense was asking for an impossible level of detail about something that never happened because she was killed first. Farwell, who is now 40, is being held at a detention facility in Rhode island while awaiting trial. He resigned from the Stoughton Police Department in 2022. The judge previously denied a separ separate defense motion to move the trial out of state due to media coverage. Birchmore's relatives and supporters have packed the courtroom at every hearing, and her cousin, Barbara Wright has publicly called Farwell a monster and a killer. If convicted, Farwell faces a possible life sentence. US Attorney General Pamela Bondi has directed prosecutors not to seek the death penalty. And while that case moves toward trial in Massachusetts, authorities in California announced a break this week in a case that gone unsolved for two months and the man arrested for the killing is the victim's own child's father. Two men have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 24 year old mother who was found dead inside her car on a residential street in Sunnyvale, California. The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety announced the arrests on March 9, more than two months after the killing. The victim was identified as K. Chinos Flores, a Mountain View resident and the mother of a five year old son. She was found shot to death inside a vehicle in the 1200 block of Vienna Drive near a mobile home park around 9:39pm on January 7th. Officers had responded to reports of gunfire in the area and discovered Chirinos Flores unresponsive inside the car. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators say Chirinos Flores had been sitting inside the vehicle when she was shot. Police believe the attack happened quickly and by the time officers arrived arrived, the suspects had already fled the area, leaving detectives with few immediate leads in the early hours of the investigation. Authorities described the case as particularly difficult, with limited witness information and little physical evidence to work from. Chirinos Flores was originally from Honduras and had moved to the United States several years earlier, according to relatives and community members. She was working multiple jobs while raising her young son and trying to build a stable life for her family. Her relatives publicly pleaded for answers in the weeks following the killing, urging investigators not to let the case go unsolved. At a press briefing the afternoon of March 9, Sunnyvale Chief of Public Safety Dan Pister said detectives had been working the case around the clock in the weeks after the shooting, as investigators gathered new information and forensic evidence, the investigation gradually gained momentum. That work culminated on March 5 when authorities carried out a coordinated arrest operation spanning two counties and involving multiple local and federal law enforcement agencies. The Two suspects are 32 year old Garzon Churinos of Sunnyvale and 30 year old Alfonso Inestroza of Hollister. Both men were taken into custody during coordinated operations conducted by a Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety SWAT team and were booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of homicide. Chief Pistor confirmed during the press conference that Garzon Chinos is the father of Chinos Flores's five year old son. The victim and Chinos share the same last name because of their child, which investigators say is the known connection between the two. Authorities also revealed that Inestroza was wanted on an outstanding homicide warrant in New Jersey at the time of his arrest. Police say they recovered a shotgun near the scene that they believe was used in the killing. However, investigators have not publicly stated which of the two suspects fired the fatal shots or what role each man may have played in the attack. That determination will likely come as prosecutors review the evidence and the case moves through the court system. According to police, Chirinos has a prior history of domestic violence related offenses involving a different victim dating back to 2018. The couple's five year old son is now in the custody of Child Protective Services. Authorities said the child was not harmed during the incident and was not present during the shooting. For investigators, the arrests mark a significant step forward after weeks of uncertainty as they work to determine exactly how the killing unfolded and what led up to the deadly confrontation. And from a case where a young mother was targeted, we now turn to the shooting death of a woman in Houston that has left a community devastated.
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Vanessa Richardson
old Marietta Allison of Austin, Texas was shot and killed late Friday night in Houston's Heights neighborhood while she was in town to support her best friend through chemotherapy. 18 year old Darius Dwayne hall has been charged with capital murder as well as federal carjacking and firearms charges in Connecticut connection with her death. According to the Houston Police Department, Allison was shot on West 20th street near Lawrence street just around midnight on Friday, March 6. Allison had driven her best friend Cassie Daniel, from the MD Anderson Cancer center back to a friend's apartment after Daniel's chemotherapy treatment for stage four ovarian cancer. Daniel had been diagnosed earlier this year and Allison had insisted she move in with her and her husband in Austin so she could help care for her through treatment. After dropping Daniel off, Allison drove around the block to find a parking spot. It was while she was walking from her car toward the apartment that, according to prosecutors, a masked man approached, attempted to steal her purse and shot her in the neck when she resisted. Daniel said she and her friend at the apartment heard the gunshot. When Allison did not come back, the friend went outside to look for her and found her on the sidewalk. Police arrived and transported Allison to a hospital where she later died. Hall, the suspect, was spotted driving Daniel's vehicle about an hour later and led police on a high speed chase before crashing the car on a freeway. He then fled on foot and barricaded himself inside an empty apartment and was later apprehended by SWAT officers and taken into custody, according to the Houston Police Department. Hall appeared in court Monday and was charged with capital murder, evading arrest and tampering with evidence. A judge denied him bond and he remains in the Harris County Jail and On Tuesday, the U.S. attorney's office announced federal carjacking and firearms charges. Court records say hall was already under court ordered supervision for four other charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as a juvenile at the time of the killing. In court, prosecutors said hall confessed to evading police and being in the vehicle, but denied involvement in the shooting itself. Daniel described Allison like a sister and said her number one mission was to help her beat cancer. One friend told reporters that Allison had cut short a trip to Istanbul to come home and care for Daniel after the diagnosis. Friends remembered Allison, who co founded her own travel company, as someone who lived her life like every day was her last and who was rooted in love for every person she met. And for our final story today, the sentencing of a New Jersey man who killed his girlfriend and left her body in a refrigerator in the woods. 46 year old Christopher Blevins of New Jersey was sentenced on March 6 to 17 years in state prison for the killing of his girlfriend, 50 year old Laura Hughes, a mother of two from Runam, New Jersey. Blevins had pleaded guilty in October to one count of first degree aggravated manslaughter. He was originally charged with first degree murder, but that charge was dropped as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors say Blevins strangled Hughes and then placed her body inside a refrigerator, which he transported in the bed of his green Dodge Ram pickup truck and left in Bell Plain State Forest in Cape May. County license plate readers captured images of his truck carrying what appeared to be a refrigerator shaped object on two separate days before he left the country. Hughes remains were discovered on December 22, 2024, wrapped in a sleeping bag inside the refrigerator, which had been secured with straps and covered with a rug. Investigators said the couple had a history of domestic violence as well as drug and alcohol abuse. After the killing, Blevins fled the country. On August 2, 2024, he drove his Dodge Ram south through Texas and crossed into Mexico. He was eventually located and turned himself into Mexican law enforcement authorities. On August 27, after being returned to the United States, he was arrested in California. Following his arrest, he allegedly told investigators he had panicked after being involved in a violent incident. At sentencing, Blevins apologized for the pain and suffering he had caused and said he did not know why it happened. Hughes ex husband and the father of her two daughters told the court the family should never have to worry that their mother's killer would someday walk down the same side of the sidewalk. With Blevins now sentenced to 17 years in state prison, the case has reached its conclusion in court, offering Hughes family a measure of justice as they continue to mourn the loved one they lost. Close your eyes. Exhale, feel your body relax and let go of whatever you're carrying today. Well, I'm letting go of the worry that I wouldn't get my new contacts in time for this class. I got them delivered free from 1-800-contacts. Oh, my gosh, they're so fast. And breathe. Oh, sorry. I almost couldn't breathe when I saw the discount they gave me on my first order. Oh, sorry. Namaste. Visit 1-800-contacts.com today to save on your first order. 1-800-contacts.
- [17:47]
Crime House Announcer
If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, there's a new Crime House
- [17:52]
Vanessa Richardson
show for you to check out.
- [17:53]
Crime House Announcer
It's the new Crime House original series, the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Sarah is an advocate for missing and murdered victims whose own sister disappeared in 2001 1. And Courtney is a true crime storyteller and investigator who witnessed firsthand how crime can change a family forever. Together, they bring lived experience to every case, looking not only at what happened,
- [18:17]
Vanessa Richardson
but what led up to it.
- [18:19]
Crime House Announcer
Each episode examines the moments just before a person disappears. The routines, the timelines, and the small details that often get overlooked. Because every disappearance has a moment. Moment where everything still feels normal. A text that doesn't raise concern, a routine that goes unchanged, a door that
- [18:38]
Vanessa Richardson
closes just like it always has.
- [18:41]
Crime House Announcer
Until it doesn't. The final hours puts those moments under a microscope, because when it comes to justice, there's no such thing as overanalyzing. Listen to and follow the final hours on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen. New episodes every Monday.
- [19:03]
Vanessa Richardson
Before you go, let me tell you what else is happening at Crime House today. On conspiracy theories, cults and crimes, we examine one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world. Stonehenge. For centuries, the massive standing stones on the Salisbury Plain have inspired wonder, scholarship, tourism, and speculation. Archaeologists have spent decades studying Stonehenge through excavation, radio, carbon dating, and landscape analysis. They've developed increasingly sophisticated understandings of how and when it was constructed. And yet, alongside that scholarship, another narrative has flourished, one that attributes the monument to lost civilizations, extraterrestrials, secret energy grids, or hidden global knowledge. Stonehenge is not unique in that respect. Across the world, ancient monuments have become magnets for fringe theories. When structures are large, old, and incomplete in the historical record, they invite interpretation. And when interpretation leaves gaps, imagination often rushes in to fill them. Here are five ancient monuments that have drawn sustained fringe speculation and what their histories actually reveal. Number one. The great pyramids of Giza engineering or alien intervention. The pyramids of giza, constructed during Egypt's fourth dynasty around 4,500 years ago, remain among the most studied structures in human history. Archaeological evidence documents quarry sites, worker settlements, tool marks, and construction ramps that collectively demonstrate how the pyramids were built by organized labor forces under state direction. Despite this body of evidence, fringe narratives have long claimed that the pyramids could not have been constructed without extraterrestrial assistance or access to lost advanced technology. These theories often rely on arguments about scale and precision. The stones are large. The alignments are astronomically significant. Therefore, the reasoning goes, ancient people must not have been capable of such feats. What this framing overlooks is the cumulative evidence of Egyptian engineering sophistication. It also reflects a subtle but persistent bias, the assumption that ancient civilizations, particularly non European ones, could not achieve monumental engineering without external intervention. The pyramids attract fringe theory not because the evidence is absent, but because the scale of the accomplishments accomplishment challenges modern intuitions about ancient capacity. Number two, the Nazca lines, ritual pathways or alien landing strips. In the Peruvian desert, enormous geoglyphs stretch across the landscape, depicting animals, geometric shapes, and straight lines extending for miles. Created between 500 BCE and 500 CE by the Nazca culture, the lines are visible most clearly from the air. Fringe theories have claimed that the lines were constructed as landing strips for alien spacecraft or as messages intended for extraterrestrial observers. Archaeological research, however, suggests ceremonial and ritual significance. The lines are associated with water sources, pilgrimage routes, and religious practices tied to environmental cycles in an arid region. The appeal of alien narratives often rests on the aerial visibility of the designs. Because the full images are best appreciated from above, some conclude they must have been intended for beings in the sky. What this ignores is that elevated vantage points exist naturally in the surrounding terrain and that ancient cultures frequently engaged in symbolic expression at large scales for cosmological or ritual reasons. The Nazca lines demonstrate how unfamiliar perspective can generate speculation when cultural context is not fully understood. Number three Easter Island. The massive stone figures known as moai on Easter island have been interpreted in countless ways. Some fringe narratives suggest that the island's civilization was destroyed by mysterious external forces, or that the statues were created using knowledge now lost to history. Earlier academic interpretations once framed Rapa Nui as a cautionary tale of environmental collapse, suggesting that overexploitation led to societal downfall. More recent research has complicated that narrative, revealing a more nuanced history involving adaptation, resilience, and external pressures. Following European contact, fringe theories sometimes portray the moai as evidence of vanished advanced knowledge. In reality, archaeological studies have documented quarry sites, transportation methods, and social structures associated with their construction. Easter island attracts speculation partly because of its geographic isolation. Isolation fosters myth. When a society develops distinctive monumental architecture far from continental centers, it invites narratives about lost secrets. The archaeological record, however, points to human ingenuity rather than extraterrestrial or mystical intervention. Number four Gobekli Tepe Civilization before agriculture Discovered in southeastern Turkey and dating back more than 11,000 years, Gobekli Tepe predates Stonehenge by several millennia. Massive stone pillars arranged in sear circular formations suggest organized construction during a period traditionally associated with hunter gatherer societies. The site challenged earlier assumptions that monumental architecture followed the development of agriculture. Instead, it suggested that communal ritual spaces may have preceded settled farming communities. Because Gobekli Tepe rewrote part of the academic timeline, fringe theorists quickly incorporated it into broader narratives about lost civilizations or advanced prehistoric cultures erased from history. In reality, the significance of Gobekli Tepe lies precisely in its documented archaeological context. The site demonstrates that social complexity can emerge in forms not previously anticipated. Scientific revision does not imply conspiracy. It reflects the evolving nature of evidence based research. Yet whenever established timelines shift, fringe speculation tends to expand into the gap. Number five Machu Picchu Hidden city or extraterrestrial blueprint? Machu Picchu, constructed in the 15th century by the Inca civilization, is a testament to advanced stone masonry and high altitude engineering. The precision of its fitted stones and its dramatic mountaintop location have inspired awe since its international rediscovery in 1911. Fringe theories sometimes attribute its construction to alien influence or local lost super technologies, as with the pyramids. The assumption is that the technical achievement exceeds what ancient peoples could have accomplished. Archaeological research, however, reveals a sophisticated Inca society with deep knowledge of stonework, astronomy, agriculture, and infrastructure. The construction methods, though impressive, are consistent with other documented Inca sites. Machu Picchu's mystique arises from its preservation and dramatic setting. The interplay between clouds, mountains, and architecture creates an atmosphere that invites myth making. But atmosphere is not evidence why ancient monuments attract fringe theories Ancient monuments share several characteristics that make them especially vulnerable to speculative narratives. They're not old enough that direct written records are limited or absent. They are physically imposing, often constructed at scales that challenge modern assumptions about ancient labor capacity. They align with celestial bodies or geographic features in ways that feel intentional, but are not always immediately explainable without context. When evidence is incomplete, imagination fills the void. Fringe theories often rely on the idea that mainstream scholarship is suppressing a more dramatic truth. This framing transforms ordinary archaeological debate into perceived conspiracy. In reality, archaeology is iterative. Interpretations evolve as new tools and discoveries emerge. Radiocarbon dating improves ground penetrating radar reveals buried structures. Genetic studies illuminate migration patterns. The presence of unanswered questions does not imply hidden knowledge. It reflects the complexity of reconstructing the distant past. Stonehenge has inspired centuries of speculation. Druids, aliens, lost civilizations, and hidden energy lines have all been invoked to explain its presence on the English landscape. Modern archaeology offers a different explanation, one grounded in excavation, dating, and contextual analysis. For the full examination of Stonehenge, the theories that surround it, and the evidence that grounds it, listen to today's episode of Conspiracy Theories, Cults, and Crimes. Because sometimes the most enduring mysteries are not about what happened. They're about why we're so eager to believe something more extraordinary. Did you've been listening to crime house 247 bringing you breaking crime news. I'm Vaness Richardson. We'll be back tomorrow morning with more developing stories. Stay safe and thanks for listening. Hi, it's Vanessa.
- [28:51]
Crime House Announcer
If you're drawn to true crime stories about disappearances, check out the new Crime House original the Final Hours, hosted by Sarah Turney and Courtney Nicole. Listen to and follow the Final Hours on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or
- [29:06]
Vanessa Richardson
wherever you get your podcasts.
- [29:08]
Crime House Announcer
New episodes drop every Monday.