8: He Targeted Her at 13. Years Later, He’s Charged With Her Murder | Sandra Birchmore

In today’s episode, we’re revisiting the disturbing and increasingly complicated case of Sandra Birchmore; a young woman found dead in her apartment in 2021, with her name tied to multiple police officers from Stoughton, Massachusetts. Since our first coverage, new hearings, decertifications, expert disputes, and investigative failures have come to light. We’re breaking down all the major updates: what’s been uncovered in the past year, what was missed in the original investigation, and why so many people are still demanding answers. If you thought this case was heartbreaking before…what’s surfaced since is just as disturbing. If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow the show for weekly deep dives into the darkest true crime cases! To watch the video version of this episode, head over to youtube.com/@annieelise. 🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks.🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to both of my weekly true crime series 10 to Life & Serialously with Annie Elise wherever you get your podcasts on the Annie Elise Channel!🍎 Apple Podcasts | Where you can also unlock access to 100+ and growing extra exclusive deep dives.💚 Spotify🔴 YouTube🎙️ All Other Platforms📸 Follow Annie on Socials Instagram: @_annieeliseTikTok: @_annieeliseSubstack: @annieeliseFacebook: @10toLife⭐SponsorsKa’Chava: Go to http://kachava.com and use code 10TOLIFE for 15% off your next order. Fabletics: Go to http://Fabletics.com/10TOLIFE and sign up as a VIP and get eighty percent off everything.👗 Shop Annie’s Must-Haves! ShopMY: bit.ly/AnnieElise_ShopMy Amazon: bit.ly/AnnieElise_Amazon🫵🏻 Get Involved or Recommend a CaseAbout Annie: www.annieelise.comFor Business Inquiries: [email protected]📚 Episode Sources Boston 25 News | Boston Globe | CBS Boston | Court TV | Enterprise News | MassLive | WBZ NewsRadio | WCVB••••••••••••••••••🚨Disclaimers1️⃣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 2️⃣ Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. 3️⃣ The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.

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• 0:02Speaker 00

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• 1:09Annie Elise?

  Sign up now. Let the magic talk. Lucky Land Casino. Where the magic happens. No purchase necessary. VGW Group. Void where prohibited by law. CT and C's. 21+ When we first covered the death of Sandra Birchmore, it was already one of the most unsettling stories that I had ever come across. You have this young woman who was found dead inside her apartment. Her name is also tied to multiple police officers and a department that is clouded by rumors and secrecy. But what has come out since then? It has only made this case even more disturbing and more upsetting. Because over the past year, nearly everyone at the center of Sandra's story, from the officers that she trusted

• 1:54Annie Elise?

  to the ones who were supposed to even investigate her death, they have all faced new scrutiny. There have been hearings, decertifications, expert disputes, and revelations that completely reshape everything that we thought that we knew. So today, we... We are reopening the case of Sandra Birchmore. We're digging back into the evidence, the hearings, the expert disputes, and all the major updates that have come out since we first covered this story. And for this episode specifically, I think that it's really important that you hear the full story first. Everything that happened to Sandra, all of those original details, everything before we dive into the updates and where things stand today.

• 2:37Annie Elise?

  That way, you'll understand just how significant these new developments are and how much they changed what we thought we knew. Because at the end of the day, this is all about continuing to understand how so many people failed Sandra and whether real justice might ever finally be on the way. I'm Annie Elise. This is 10 to Life, and let's jump right in.

• 3:12Annie Elise?

  On February 2nd, 2021, at a hospital in Newton, Massachusetts, Michelle Farwell, who was a wife to Police Detective Matt Farwell, gave birth to their third child. This happened at 9:25 a.m. However, 12 hours earlier, 34-year-old Matthew was two hours away. He was inside apartment 3307 in the Canton Woods Apartments, and he was visiting Sandra Birchmore, who was just 23 years old. Matthew was seen entering the apartment complex lobby at 9:14 p.m. and then exiting just 29 minutes later. Then, 12 hours later, while Matthew was holding his brand-new baby boy, Sandra Birchmore, who was allegedly three months pregnant with Matthew's baby,

• 3:57Annie Elise?

  was found dead. Stoughton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. The population is a little over 29,000 people, and the town is approximately 17 miles from Boston, and it's 31 miles from Providence, Rhode Island. Now, this quiet little town would soon become the center of news articles and Reddit threads for the grooming of minors going on inside their Stoughton Police Department explores. Program. See, the Explorers Program is a program within police departments nationwide, which enables young adults to gain hands-on experience for a potential career in law enforcement. It's also a chance to network with employed law enforcement officials and even go on ride-alongs in their squad cars. This program never existed in Stoughton until Robert Devine took over in 2001, and the program blew up.

• 4:42Annie Elise?

  And by 2011, more than 300 kids had gone through this program. The kids loved the program, and most kids even found a home within it. And Robert kind of took on like a fatherly figure role for most of these kids. He gave them a sense of stability that a lot of them had never had before. So in 2013, when 13-year-old Sandra Birchmore entered the program, she was one of those kids looking for stability and a father figure. Sandra was raised by her single mother Denise Birchmore. However, Sandra's grandmother and aunt also lived with them and helped raise her. Now Sandra had no relationship with her birth father, and her stepfather died when she was really young. Her mother was also always sick throughout her childhood. But no matter what Sandra's circumstances were, she was always optimistic about her future.

• 5:27Annie Elise?

  Nonetheless, she was yet another highly vulnerable 13-year-old child, and she was entering this Explorers Program looking for something to be involved in, something to just sink her teeth into. And of course, entering this program, she had no reason not to trust these police officers. They're people that we are taught to trust from a very, very young age. However, it was just to find out that not all cops are good cops. Like I said earlier, Robert was the leader and the one responsible for the Explorers Program. But he also had help from two other members of the Stoughton Police Department, twin brothers William and Matthew Farwell. Joining the department, Matthew and William both served as part of the Explosive Ordnance Team leaders overseas.

• 6:07Annie Elise?

  By 2012, they were both police officers in Stoughton and also active with the Explorers Program. They both donated their time as physical and drill instructors, as well as taught the explosive class. They brought in bomb robots, blast jackets, and shields. And honestly, from the sounds of it, they were both very, very good at what they did. And as for Robert, well, at that point, he was at the peak of his professional career after completing his 15th year at the Stoughton Police Department. And in many ways, he was even the public face of the department. The community trusted him. But the community really had no idea what was going on behind closed doors within this Explorers Program. They had no idea that these three men were grooming...

• 6:49Annie Elise?

  tormenting and sexually assaulting Sandra Birchmore. And also quite possibly doing this to others. But this apparently didn't start with Sandra Birchmore. According to past victims that have come forward, Robert has always been the town creep. Back in 2001, he was a school resource officer. And in a perfect world, someone like a school resource officer should be someone that you really trust, but he ended up being the exact opposite. He allegedly used his power to flirt, to touch, and just get a little too comfortable with vulnerable pre-teen girls. And there was one specific woman who came forward from his time as a middle school resource officer. She was just 12 years old at the time. And that year, her parents were going through a really bad divorce.

• 7:31Annie Elise?

  Now, middle school, we can probably all agree, sucks in general, but add in a divorce to the mix, and it just puts a lot of stress on a child. And Robert became very close with this young girl, often calling her hot and telling her all about the dates that he was going to take her on when she turned 18. I mean, just a creep through and through. He would constantly flirt with her, and he would hang out with her in his squad car. And Robert really abused his power for years and years, and he just got away with it, until one day, when he didn't. Now Sandra Birchmore was described as happy, fun, sweet, and loving. However, Sandra had another side to her as well. She was an overshare, and she would often make people uncomfortable with this.

• 8:12Annie Elise?

  She seemed emotionally stunted through her teenage years, and was also pretty immature as well. She struggled to keep friends, and she could often ask too many questions while also offering too much of herself at the same time. She was also very naive and never had proper male role models in her life to look up to. So when Matthew, William, and Robert came into her life, she kind of clinged to them, particularly Matthew. Here it was, these guys in power, in powerful positions, these responsible, educated adults. Why wouldn't you seek their guidance, their attention, right? And they all took advantage of it. So much so that Matthew and Sandra began a sexual relationship when Sandra was just 15 years old, and he was 26 years old.

• 8:57Annie Elise?

  And this relationship would carry on through Her adult life. In December of 2020, she found out that she was pregnant. She was pregnant with Matthew's baby. She was so excited and she began telling everybody almost immediately. Now, at the time, she was working as a first year's teacher's assistant at Sharon Middle School. She told one of her coworkers that she's about four or five weeks along. And the coworker found it a little bit weird because usually people will wait until they're a little bit further along. And usually only the first people to know are people who are really close or family members. But it seemed like Sandra was just over the moon and she couldn't keep this excitement to herself. She had even reached out to friends that she hadn't spoken to in years to tell them about this pregnancy.

• 9:39Annie Elise?

  She also told people at her apartment complex who she had only really spoken to a few times before. She was just so excited and she wanted people to know. However, Matthew, he wanted absolutely nothing to do with it. A few days after Christmas, Sandra had told Matthew that she was pregnant. And they ended up in a pretty heated verbal argument, which led Sandra kicking Matthew out of her apartment. And as Matthew was leaving, he stopped and looked back at Sandra and he said, "I wish you would kill yourself. I wish you were dead." Now, while the fight was a big one, it didn't make Sandra any less excited for this baby. It was not uncommon for them to have these huge fights and then inevitably reconcile a few days later.

• 10:19Annie Elise?

  So she just began buying things for the baby and preparing to give the baby a good life, no matter who was or wasn't going to be in their lives. Then on Friday, January 29th, Sandra ran into a coworker in the hallway at work. And being the overshare that Sandra was, she began to tell her everything. Now, this wasn't a coworker who Sandra really ever talked to. They had opposite teaching schedules, so they rarely saw each other. And really, they barely knew each other. But Sandra told her she was pregnant. And she also told her that she was very stressed out because of issues she was having with her boyfriend. See, Sandra told her how Matthew, her boyfriend, was married. He had other children. And she mentioned that he was a Stoughton police officer.

• 11:00Annie Elise?

  Sandra said that he was very angry about the pregnancy and that he had told her to get rid of the baby because this was not the plan that he had in mind. But she said she was still super excited about the baby. She was overwhelmed but excited. The last thing that Sandra told her coworker was, "If something happens to me, he would be the one responsible." The coworker immediately asked her about a restraining order, but Sandra explained that he was too high up in the police department and he knew too many people, so it wouldn't do any good anyway. It wasn't going to help the situation. So after hearing this huge bombshell and allegation, Sandra's coworker allegedly went to Darren Reynolds, the school principal, so she could tell him all about it and relay the information that she had just learned from Sandra. She told him every single detail that Sandra had shared with her,

• 11:45Annie Elise?

  and she said, "Sandra needs help, and she needs it now." The principal assured her that he would take the appropriate action, and that was the end of the conversation. Now, the conversation happened on a Friday, and that following Monday night on February 1st, a snowstorm was set to hit. Sandra texted a coworker to ask if she thought that the school would be canceled due to the storm. And even though school didn't end up being canceled the next day, Sandra never showed up, and she didn't show up the day after either.

• 12:17Speaker 02

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• 13:15Annie Elise?

  So finally, on the morning of February 4th, Ensley Codard, a patrolman for the Canton Police Department, got a call from the school resource officer. The call was requesting to complete a welfare check on Sandra. Sandra had not shown up to work for the third day in a row now, and when they called her, her phone was going straight to voicemail. The resource officer provided Officer Codard with Sandra's address, and at 11 a.m., two officers knocked on her door, announcing that they were there. The officers contacted their sergeant to let them know that nobody was answering, and that's when they were told to try to locate her vehicle in the parking lot. The car was found, and it appeared untouched, and the reason that it appeared untouched was, since there had been that snowstorm, it would have been clear if the car had been touched,

• 13:59Annie Elise?

  somebody had tried to gain access to it, and the snow wouldn't have looked untouched. But when they saw it, the snow was certainly untouched. So officers were able to retrieve a copy of Sandra's apartment key from the building management, and they entered her apartment. They immediately noticed that the apartment was completely disheveled, and it was unkept, and also had two cats running around. When they approached the bedroom door and opened it, there was Sandra. She was on the floor, against a door, with what appeared to be a lanyard-type rope, secured tightly around her neck, which was also secured tightly to the door handle of the bedroom closet. It was very obvious that she was dead, and she had been there for a while because rigor mortis was already setting in, and there was a large pool of dried blood around her mouth.

• 14:44Annie Elise?

  So they immediately called for backup, and after Sandra was pronounced dead, an investigation was launched into her death, with Matthew Doone taking the role as the lead investigator on her case. And ultimately, the medical examiner ruled Sandra's death as self-inflicted. When Sandra's friends and family began to learn of her passing, they were absolutely shocked, I mean, to say the least. Speculation was running wild that Sandra had taken her own life due to her fight with Matthew, and because of him wanting to end things, not wanting the baby. But Sandra's family knew that she would never take her own life over a simple fight with Matthew. They felt like she had way too much to look forward to, and taking her own life, it just didn't make... Because she was so excited to be a mom.

• 15:26Annie Elise?

  The day after Sandra's body was found, the Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara was contacted by a detective from the Massachusetts State Police because family had reached out to them to inform them of Sandra's relationship with Matthew at this point. Now, none of the family knew that he was in the apartment that night, but they did know that she was pregnant. They knew that she was in a relationship with a married police officer who was not happy about her pregnancy, and now she was dead. So that day, the police chief directed Deputy Chief Brian Holmes to conduct an internal investigation into, quote, "the matter of the unattended death of Sandra Birchmore." The investigation report, although heavily redacted, was released 19 months later.

• 16:06Annie Elise?

  And by then, Robert, Matthew, and William had all already resigned from the Stoughton Police Department. The property manager of the apartment complex that Sandra lived in assisted the detectives in going through video footage, and it only showed the front lobby. But they looked through this footage that was prior to the day that she was found dead. And sure enough, on Sunday, January 31st, Sandra was seen multiple times. She left the building at 9:51 a.m. while talking on the phone. She re-entered the building at 10:08 a.m. carrying a large box, which we now know was a car seat. She left again at 10:11 and came back three hours later, talking on the phone, this time holding two pizza boxes. Then she left again at 4:39 p.m. and returned two minutes later texting on her phone.

• 16:51Annie Elise?

  On February 1st, she was seen at 5:46 p.m. holding a snowbrush. And that was the last time that Sandra was ever seen alive. The maintenance man and property manager recognized everybody entering and exiting the lobby on the video surveillance that evening, all except one man, who was described as tall, burly, wearing jeans, work boots, a dark hoodie with the hood over his head, and a blue medical mask. He was seen entering the lobby at 9:13 p.m. and then leaving the building at 9:43 p.m. It was later confirmed that this person was, in fact, Matthew. And this also confirmed that Matthew was the last person to ever see Sandra alive.

• 17:34Annie Elise?

  Now Matthew was allegedly there to end things with Sandra for good that night. But what's weird about this situation is that we know how Sandra was. She was constantly oversharing and she was quick to tell people things as soon as they happened. She had even gotten in trouble in the past at work for oversharing details of her life. So if Matthew went over there and broke things off with her for good, you would think that she would text somebody to talk about it, to tell somebody what was going on. But she didn't do that at all. Now according to detectives, she instead walked into her bedroom, put a lanyard around her neck, sat down on the ground, and hung herself on a closet doorknob, killing not only herself, but also her baby that she was so excited to have.

• 18:15Annie Elise?

  It just was not adding up and anyone close to Sandra knew that she would never, ever do this. And then come to find out, Darren Reynolds, the principal at the middle school that Sandra worked at, he never contacted the police about that concerning information that was reported to him by Sandra's coworker. So now it really wasn't adding up. When Darren was confronted about why that call was never made, he stated that he didn't even remember having the conversation about Sandra feeling unsafe with any of the staff members, which is not really a type of conversation that you would forget, right? And when the staff members caught wind of that, they were all extremely upset because this was obviously not the truth. When Sandra's coworkers learned of her death, everybody was in shock

• 18:57Annie Elise?

  and they had staff meetings and they were even offered counseling. However, as the days went on, nobody ever mentioned Sandra again, not even Principal Reynolds. There was allegedly no follow-up on their mental health, no asking about how they were coping with the unexpected death of one of their own, I mean, nothing. It was almost as if it never even happened and that they, or Darren Reynolds, just wanted it all to go away. On April 8th, just over two months after her death, Robert, the head of that explorers program, the one who spearheaded the whole thing, was interviewed by a couple of people, by a retired police chief and also a unit detective. And this was part of Stowen's internal investigation into the death of Sandra.

• 19:41Annie Elise?

  During the interview, Robert, of course, continuously denied that he had any type of relationship or contact with her, and at that point, there had been no communication between the two of them ever found. And when he was informed of that, he said, "You won't find it." However, just over a month later, investigators were reviewing the contents of Sandra's laptop when a conversation thread was discovered in her Facebook Messenger. The profile that she was communicating with appeared to be a blocked or anonymous Facebook user. But based on the context of the conversation, they actually quickly learned that the user appeared to be Robert himself. The context led investigators to learn that this person was an attorney as well as a Stoughton police officer, just like Robert was. And there was discussion of meeting in all different locations throughout Stoughton,

• 20:26Annie Elise?

  all while on duty in his patrol car. Now get this, the name of this profile, this Facebook profile, was noted as Marty Riggs, just like that movie Lethal Weapon, where Mo Gibson played a police officer named Martin Riggs. So now we have 47-year-old Robert, head of this program that Sandra was in, using an undercover Facebook account of a fictional character also he could communicate with Sandra and other minors in his Explorer group. And to make it even worse, sources stated that these messages were so graphic and explicit that they could not even be released to the public. A second interview with Robert was scheduled for mid-August. However, just three days before this interview took place, the police chief was notified

• 21:10Annie Elise?

  that he had resigned from his recently demoted position as a patrol officer. His resignation was effective the next day. The resignation letter indicated that he was filing for retirement, and if there were any other further questions or areas to cover within the investigation, they needed to provide it to him in writing. So investigators sent Robert a letter with questions, and a few days later, Robert responded. He stated that he desired to cooperate and suggested that his account was hacked, which internal investigator leaders claimed was absolutely outrageous, not true. Robert retired about five weeks before the findings of the internal investigation was released, and in fact, he collected a full pension of nearly $5,000 a month.

• 21:52Annie Elise?

  He's also still a licensed attorney in the state of Massachusetts. Now during the investigation, detectives came across two letters in his personal file. One of the letters was from April 17th, 2014, and it was from the parent of one of the explorers in his program. In this letter, the police department and Robert in particular are commended and praised for what they were doing for the community. And that letter was from Sandra's mom, Denise Birchmore. Now, at the time that this letter was written, Sandra was 16 years old and at least a year into this sexual relationship with Matthew, another lead adult of this program. Matthew, of course, was also being investigated. And a few days after Sandra's death, he consented to a data extraction from his iPhone.

• 22:37Annie Elise?

  And then a couple of months later, Matthew's work phone from the police department was also turned over and analyzed. There was no communication on either phone, however, they knew that there was some sort of communication because Matthew had stated in a previous interview that he deleted all of his communication with Sandra. So really, they just couldn't find it. It's not that it never happened. The report of the investigation was handed over to the district attorney, and then he put out a statement saying, "After state police detectives and the medical examiner found no evidence of foul play in the death of Ms. Birchmore, the Norfolk District Attorney's Office referred information developed in the death to the Stoughton Police Department for action." While prosecutors will review any additional information, it should be noted that in light of Ms.

• 23:21Annie Elise?

  Birchmore's death at age 23, the investigation to date has not developed a prosecutable statutory case against any individual. So at the end of 2022, Sandra's family filed a lawsuit against Robert, Matthew, and William for her wrongful death, alleging that the officers groomed her from her early teens into her adult life. And the civil suit named Matthew, William, and Robert as defendants in an ongoing scheme of grooming, misconduct, and negligence in a 10-year period. Sandra's family also sued The police department and the town. The suit claims that the Stoughton Internal Investigation found that Matthew had known Sandra since she was 13 years old and began having sex with her when she was 15 years old.

• 24:04Annie Elise?

  Which, by the way, definitely would have constituted a statutory rape, as the age of consent in Massachusetts was 16 years old. Police released their heavily redacted report on everything, which said that there was insufficient evidence to prove or disprove that Matthew violated any laws, in part because, quote, "investigators would need the testimony of Sandra, who is deceased." Both the Stoughton report and the lawsuit said that William and Robert had similar sexual relationships with Sandra as well. Robert has risen to deputy chief before being demoted in 2016 over his allegedly improper handling of anti-harassment orders. He ran the explorers program, and Matthew and William participated.

• 24:47Annie Elise?

  Robert effectively established the guys as his understudies in using their positions and influence while on duty to engage in inappropriate behaviors with minors and with Sandra. In June of 2024, talk about the case began ramping up. This after Dr. Michael Baden, a former chief medical examiner of New York City, who was hired by Sandra's family, said that Sandra did not die by hanging, and that her cause of death was strangulation, and that the manner of her death was homicide. He pointed to the injuries on Sandra, including a fracture to the hyoid bone on her neck, which he stated is very uncommon in self-inflicted hangings. However, it is seen in about half of the homicides by strangulations of women.

• 25:30Annie Elise?

  Now, in response to his claims, the Stoughton Police Chief released a statement saying, "I was profoundly disturbed and troubled by what I read. While I'm not a trained medical examiner, I am not qualified to draw any direct conclusions. The findings certainly warrant further examination at the highest level. As always, we will continue to assist with any effort to ensure that truth and justice prevail." Or will they? Because listen to this. In October of 2024, records came out showing that a visitor log from the medical examiner's office listed a meeting between law enforcement officials, chief medical examiner Dr. Mindy Hull, and Dr. Maria Capo Martinez, the same pathologist who originally ruled Sandra's death as a suicide.

• 26:13Annie Elise?

  Now, from what I could find, it's not exactly clear who those law enforcement officials were, but that meeting, I mean, yeah, it definitely raises some eyebrows and some questions. And I'll be honest, it feels like it could be a little less, you know, ensuring truth and justice, and a little more like trying to get ahead of the ruling on her death. Even now, the medical examiner's office still stands by its finding that Sandra's death was self-inflicted, and they have refused to change the manner of death on her certificate, even after multiple independent experts continue to say otherwise and that this was clearly a homicide. And it's turned into what some reporters are kind of calling this "battle

• 26:55Annie Elise?

  of the experts." Dr. Capo Martinez continues to insist that it was self-inflicted, while Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. William Smock, who was the one who reviewed the case for the FBI, by the way, both concluded that Sandra was the victim of homicidal strangulation. On August 28th, 2024, news broke that Matthew Farwell had been indicted for Sandra's murder, and he had been taken into custody. Now, the indictment, which was filed the day prior, was released, and it showed that Matthew was charged with one count of killing a witness or victim. It went into very great detail about the relationship that Matthew and Sandra had over the years, and it specifically said, "Matthew, quote, 'used his authority and

• 27:38Annie Elise?

  access to groom and sexually assault then 15-year-old Sandra.'" Matthew continued to assault her in a sexual way after Sandra became an adult, and it continues to say that he continued to engage in an extramarital sexual relationship with Sandra until he killed her on February 1st, 2021. So, a press conference that was held by the U.S. Department of Justice just a couple hours after this indictment was announced gave even more details about the motive and even the planning that Matthew had done leading up to the day that he killed Sandra.

• 28:10Speaker 05

  Less than two weeks before she was found dead, someone called the Stoughton Police Department and disclosed that Matthew Farwell had had a relationship with Sandra Birchmore. And when Mr. Farwell learned about that, that call, he became visibly angry. Mr. Farwell, it is alleged in these court papers, started to lose his patience, lose his temper, and the 6'4" Mr. Farwell started to be physically violent with 4'10" Sandra Birchmore.

• 28:39Speaker 05

  And Sandra Birchmore told her friends that Mr. Farwell had pushed her and shoved her and put her in a chokehold. She was scared. And during that same time, Mr. Farwell was allegedly planning Sandra Birchmore's murder. For the first time, he requested a key to her apartment. And she told friends that he was oddly inspecting the apartment and looking at the closet, including the closet that she was found dead in front of. And then it all came to a head on February 1st, 2021. Mr. Farwell went over to her apartment that evening, and he strangled Sandra Birchmore to death. That's the allegation in this case. And he used his knowledge and experience as a law enforcement officer to stage her

• 29:24Speaker 05

  death. He allegedly attempted to cover his tracks to literally try and get away with murder. And he almost did, until today.

• 29:32Annie Elise?

  Now, as he was saying that Sandra had mentioned to her friends that Matthew was hurting her, I kept thinking back to her coworker. Remember that coworker that she told, if something happens to me, he would be the one responsible? And that was the same coworker who did what she thought she needed to do and tell the principal. But then the principal never did anything about that conversation, which is infuriating because had that principal done something with that information, told the authorities, informed somebody, then maybe there would have been some sort of point of intervention in the sense that this wouldn't have happened, and maybe Sandra would still be alive. Now, during the press conference, we also learned more about Matthew's arrest and Sandra's last moments.

• 30:11Speaker 06

  At approximately 10:45 a.m. this morning, the FBI arrested former Stone Police Officer Matthew Farwell for allegedly taking the life of Sandra Birchmore in order to ensure her silence. The FBI SWAT team took him into custody at a shopping plaza in Riviera without incident. Immediately following his arrest, we shared this significant development with Sandra's family. We know it does not ease their pain, but hopefully it answers some of their questions. Simply put, this case is about seeking justice for Sandra, who we believe was killed by Matthew Farwell. We in law enforcement are entrusted with immense authority, because our decisions can have life-changing consequences, both good and bad. To temper that power, we must adhere to the highest of ethical standards. What we believe Officer Matthew Farwell did, as outlined in today's indictment, is depraved,

• 30:55Speaker 06

  and a gross betrayal of his sworn oath and the public's trust. Let me be clear: Matthew Farwell's gun and badge did not grant him authority to violate the Constitution. What's also troubling is we believe Matthew Farwell staged Sandra's body. And in the days that followed, this sworn police officer repeatedly lied to Massachusetts State Police investigators about the nature of their relationship. It's a stark contrast to the sheer excitement and pure joy that Sandra felt when she told Farwell that she was expecting his child, texting him a photo of a poster she had made celebrating the pregnancy. Our investigation also uncovered additional evidence that is inconsistent with someone choosing to die by suicide. In the hours leading up to Sandra's death, she reached out to a photographer to inquire about booking a newborn photo shoot.

• 31:39Speaker 06

  She also reached out to a friend about obtaining baby clothes. And at the time that, uh, she was in the middle of doing laundry when she died, with a load in the washing machine and another one in the dryer.

• 31:48Annie Elise?

  I'm sorry, but anybody who is thinking of taking their own life is not preparing and getting baby clothing. They are not preparing and scheduling a newborn photo shoot. They're not in the middle of changing their laundry over from the washer to the dryer, which is what was happening when she was killed. And it was mentioned in the press conference. People, she was living life. She was literally taking steps in her daily life, in those hours of moving forward, not thinking of taking her own life. So now, not only did law enforcement release the indictment and then have that press conference, but they also released even more documents. Documents that would reveal things that most people never even expected. And I want to warn you: this gets graphic, disgusting, and...

• 32:31Annie Elise?

  outrageous, okay? So to start, as many people would expect, there was plenty of documentation of the conversations that Matthew and Sandra were having over text messages. And when I say plenty, I'm talking along the lines of over 32,000 text messages. It was clear in many of these text messages that Matthew was worried about it getting out that he essentially was grooming and sexually harming Sandra from a very young age. That's based on the fact that he consistently told Sandra to delete all of their messages because those messages were evidence of his misconduct. Now, some of those texts were them talking about the very first time that they ever had sex. And this first set of text messages took place in 2019, although the first time that they had sex was in 2013.

• 33:16Annie Elise?

  But in this text exchange, Sandra told Matthew that she was glad that he got to be the one to take her virginity, to which Matthew responded that it was, quote, "a big thing to get to be the first." About a month later, in another text exchange, Matthew asked, "What would you have done if we never used a condom and I never pulled out?" And Sandra responded that she still would have finished school. In another one in 2020, Sandra says, "I had butterflies so bad the day that you took my virginity." Matthew responds, "Me too. It was such a big day." Sandra says, "I still know the date to this day." Matthew says, "Really?" She says, "Yes," and then he responds with a smiley face. Sandra says, "That's not a date I'll ever forget. It was April 10th, 2013."

• 34:01Annie Elise?

  He sends another smiley face. She responds with "Best day of my life" with a face with the heart emoji. And to that, he replies, "Me too." Which, I just gotta say, if the best day of your life, Matthew, is having sex with a minor who you groomed, you gotta figure out your priorities, my man. Now, in another one, Sandra says, "I'm glad you agreed to take my virginity, though," to which Matthew responded, "Me too." And then later, he said, "LOL, if I pushed, I absolutely could have fucked you without condoms from day one." Just disgusting, right? Then in another conversation, it reads, Matthew says, "I wish we had just done it for real the first time." Sandra replies, "I know you do, babe." Baby with a sad face. Matthew says it would have been perfect.

• 34:45Annie Elise?

  Sandra says, yes, was it still perfect the first time? And he says, of course it was baby. She replies with a smiley face. Matthew says, I never thought that you would let me. She replies, I never thought that you would. Matthew says, I wanted it so bad. Sandra, so did I. I knew the day we made eye contact that I wanted you to fuck me. Matthew, you should have told me we could have fucked so much sooner. Sandra, smiley face. Then Matthew says, clear out that last part in a reference to deleting the text messages. He didn't want the trace of that. He didn't want that on record. So Sandra replies, I did. And then he, in a gross, gross detail, which I freaking hate when people say this, especially men, he responds, good girl.

• 35:27Annie Elise?

  So if you think those text messages were bad, and if your blood is boiling, like mine, I'm seething, just wait until I tell you about the other ones. Because there were lots of text messages where he talked about choking her during sex, other gross things. I mean, one of those text messages from him said that he was going to grab her by the throat and say, shut the fuck up now or I won't pull out. Almost as though like he's getting off on like, releasing inside of her, okay? Then in another one, he says, maybe I'll hold you down by your throat while I pound you. Then he asked her how tight he should squeeze. And then he said that he wanted her to feel like, quote, oh my God, this is really happening and I can't stop it. Now, the gist of those, and unfortunately, I've seen similar messages

• 36:12Annie Elise?

  in different coverage and different kinks and different fetishes. But the gist of that is that he wants to feel as though she doesn't want him to release inside of her, but that he's holding her down, choking her, forcing her so hard that she has no other option and that she knows it's coming, but that she can't stop it. And that's what he gets off on. It's like a power trip kind of thing. And that's what his fetish is in this. And this is just one of the many.

• 36:39Speaker 02

  Time for a quick break to talk about McDonald's. It's the tangiest time of the year. For a limited time, head to McDonald's and get a McRib sandwich. Make it a meal by adding a medium fries and a soft drink like an ice cold Diet Dr. Pepper. So grab a McRib sandwich and embrace the tang. Save time by ordering ahead on the app. At participating McDonald's for a limited time. Dr. Pepper is a registered trademark of Dr. Pepper 7-Up Inc. Hi, it's me, Ear Gutters. Everything is totally fine. There's just a lot of debris up here and I've been managing it mostly on my own.

• 37:11Annie Elise?

  I just thought you could find someone on Angie to clean me up. I could really use it. Ear Gutters have waited long enough. Find a pro at Angie.com.

• 37:23Annie Elise?

  There were also numerous text messages where Matthew and Sandra talked about his disgusting fantasies, like disgusting fantasies, particularly where he would act like he was doing things to her involuntarily, if you catch my drift, like sexually attacking her against her will. Also, there were times where they would like talk and about role playing in these fantasies where she would act younger than she was at the time, which she was already extremely young. There were even multiple times where he wanted her to act like she was his little sister and he was her older brother and he was sneaking into her room at night to assault her. So you're telling me not only are you grooming this young woman, this young girl, I should say, but you have these interesting and perverse,

• 38:06Annie Elise?

  in my opinion, kinks with this young woman that you're trying to act out about releasing and about holding her down, about her being, having sex against her will, but now you're also gonna throw incest into that? And you want her to role play that she's the younger sister, you're the older brother, and you're sneaking into her room at night? It is so deranged and so disgusting, I can't. And in one message, he talked about how he was going to pin her down. And then he said, quote, "Will you say, Matt, stop? I'm 13. I'm not ready for this. Oh, my God, please stop." So the fact that he was doing this with a young woman, that was part of his thrill as well. He wanted her to react and say, "No, no, no, I'm not ready for this. I'm too young."

• 38:51Annie Elise?

  It is...

• 38:54Annie Elise?

  So.

• 38:57Annie Elise?

  I don't even know the word, guys. I'm like getting really, really worked up right now. It is. So disgusting and so infuriating. For any human being, it would be disgusting to see these messages and to know that this behavior was going on. This guy was in law enforcement. He was running a group called the Young Explorers Program where he was taking children, children, under his wing, and trying to be the safe haven, the guy who was protecting them, the pillar of the community, the police officer, and he's the one, it is just. I need to collect myself for a minute, I'm sorry. It is just such a betrayal on so many levels. So many levels. Now, the thing is, in all of this, deleting those text messages wasn't the only length

• 39:42Annie Elise?

  that Matthew was willing to go to to ensure that his dirty little secret didn't get out. In October of 2020, Sandra learned through a friend that Matthew's wife was pregnant. And after learning that, she did two things. One, she drafted a text message to his wife that said, "I'm just messaging you to inform you that your husband Matthew has been cheating on you since before you guys were even married." And then two, she gave him an ultimatum. Now, it doesn't seem like she ever sent that text message to Matthew's wife, but the ultimatum that she gave him was that if he would have sex with her, with the intention of giving her a baby, then she would not disclose their relationship. So basically, "Look, I won't blow up your life, I won't blow up your family, but you have to give me a baby, and then I'll stay quiet."

• 40:26Annie Elise?

  And of course, Matthew needed her to be quiet. Not only was he likely to get charged with something over Sandra being a minor when he had first started grooming her and doing things to her and having sex with her, but also he had been meeting up with Sandra while he was on duty. There were times that they even did things together in his patrol car. So essentially, he could be federally charged for a few things, including lying about the hours he worked for compensation while he was actually meeting up with Sandra during that time. I mean, you name it. And Matthew really, really, really did not want that. So they made that agreement. He would try to give her a baby, and she would be silent. So she sent him her ovulation schedule and the two of them began planning. A week later, though, Sandra and Matthew had a disagreement.

• 41:11Annie Elise?

  Apparently, Matthew thought that the agreement was that Sandra and him would try once for a baby. But Sandra thought that it was going to be an ongoing thing. So over the next couple of months, they talked multiple times over text message about this baby thing. Then, on December 28th, Sandra sent Matthew that announcement text. And that included a poster saying, "We are going to be parents." Matthew was not happy about this, not in the slightest. His immediate response was, quote, "I literally have nothing to say right now. How could you express that in a text message when I said I don't appreciate it?" That message was followed up with a text saying, "How far are you?" Sandra replied, "Regardless of how far, we are keeping it.

• 41:54Annie Elise?

  But I'm three and a half weeks, which means that I conceived this month." Matthew said, "Okay, well, we need to talk then." Sandra said, "No shit, that's obvious. And the birth certificate is being signed, or hers isn't." There were a few more texts in that thread, but essentially Sandra wanted Matthew to be on that birth certificate. But obviously, Matthew did not want to be. Now, common sense would tell anyone that that would be a huge risk for him to take. Not only professionally, but also personally. I mean, at the time of those messages, his wife was literally eight months pregnant. But shortly after Sandra told Matthew about her pregnancy, he started allegedly physically harming her, which she ended up disclosing to friends. One friend said that Matthew told Sandra, quote, "That's not my child. I don't want anything to do with you."

• 42:40Annie Elise?

  And then he shoved her to the ground after that. Her therapist also said that Sandra disclosed Matthew shoving her. And it does seem like she was screaming out for help, whether that was subtly or outright to her therapist or her friends. It seemed like she didn't know how to get out of the situation and was likely maybe trauma bonded with him. And so manipulated, so groomed that she didn't see a life without him at this point. But despite Matthew clearly not caring about Sandra or the pregnancy, she was determined. She wanted to raise that baby and she wanted to raise it with Matthew. So she repeatedly brought up- That birth certificate, also the baby having his last name, just all things baby. But things were about to take a very drastic turn when Matthew learned about his work being called by Sandra's friend.

• 43:24Annie Elise?

  Remember that coworker who told him, hey, her friend called, said that you guys have been having sex? That was enough. That made him absolutely enraged. So he reached out to Sandra saying, dude, your fucking friend just called my job, Sandra. What the fuck? And Sandra wrote back with a question mark. He said, your friend blank just called my effing work to complain about me WTF? Sandra replied, I don't know. She didn't even say the whole thing. She just put the IDK. And he said, what do you mean you don't know? She says, I literally just woke up. Matthew said, did you steal from her? She writes, nope. He responds, what's going on? You also told me that nobody knew about us, yet she claimed that we are effing. Sandra responded, it's literally nothing.

• 44:06Annie Elise?

  Matthew says, it's not nothing. She called my job. That's insane. Why would she call and drop my name, Sandra? Like, what do I have to do with you not giving her something? You have no idea how bad what she did is. I literally can't even believe that this is real life. Like, what else do I have to worry about now? Which other friend will do something tomorrow? So in these text messages, and this is just my opinion, because I can't speak for Sandra, obviously. But she was giving these like one word answers. It seems as though she was pissed off and maybe even a little bit removed, just being like, I don't know, not a big deal? Question mark, like, not my problem, that kind of thing. And it's clear that he was beginning to realize that he could no longer control her and keep her silent. But then it seems like things seemed to calm down a little bit.

• 44:49Annie Elise?

  Well, at least to Sandra they did, because three days after that heated exchange, Matthew went over to Sandra's house. And in her words, he did a complete 180. He asked Sandra for a key to her apartment. He said that if she was quiet, he would come around, he would be involved in the baby's life. And this key request for her apartment was a very big deal, because previously he did not want a key to her place. But now he did. And Sandra happily went and made him one the next morning. In text messages to friends, she said that she finally thought that he was coming around. But she had also told multiple friends that he had looked inside Her closet and her bathroom and that it was really weird. She didn't know why he was inspecting her apartment, but now I think we can look back and see, you know,

• 45:31Annie Elise?

  hindsight, it's 2020 all the time. And he was looking around, he was trying to figure out where things were, the configuration, maybe he was beginning to plot, plan. He was also trying to pretend that he was happy and that he would come around to keep her close, get a key to her apartment so he could allow himself entry, all of the signs of premeditation. Now, over the next few days, they talked about the baby and like usual, Sandra was happy and excited. She even asked him if she could share the baby names, but his response was that it needed to be an in-person conversation. Which, as a side note, this needs to be an in-person conversation thing seemed to happen a lot, especially regarding the baby, probably because he didn't want any sort of digital paper trail, right? And then on February 1st, we know he went back to Sandra's apartment,

• 46:15Annie Elise?

  allegedly killed her, and then left without a care in the world. The documents released give even more information about the crime scene and the aftermath. It says that when the investigators got into the apartment, Sandra's body was seated up on the floor in a reclined position with a duffel bag strap tied around her neck. That strap was connected to her closet doorknob, that same closet that he had been inspecting the week prior. Sandra's phone was also found near her when she was found. And when the phone was analyzed by the FBI, it showed that the screen was last turned off around 9:18 PM. Now remember, Matthew got to her apartment around 9:14 PM. Then at 9:40 PM, the phone picked up somebody taking about eight steps.

• 46:58Annie Elise?

  Matthew left at 9:43 PM, meaning that Sandra had to have been dead by then. So were those eight steps he took to stage the phone? I mean, we know that Sandra was constantly on her phone, so did Matthew think that by having her phone a few inches from her body would look less suspicious? Maybe it would look like she had her phone in her hand and then dropped it as she was dying? Maybe he tried to access it to leave a note in it? Who knows? Sandra also had a necklace that she wore every single day. After her death, her family found that necklace lying on the bedroom floor, right where she was. The necklace chain was broken, but not the clasp. It also had a large clump of hair on it, which clearly to them indicated a struggle. Her family also found that poster and that onesie which said, "We're going to be

• 47:43Annie Elise?

  parents," which does make me wonder, was Sandra wanting to use that to tell him about the pregnancy, or is it possible that she wanted to have photos taken with it, which would blow his cover? I'm not sure. But in any event, a couple of days after Sandra's death, Matthew was interviewed, and in that interview, he said that he and Sandra did have a sexual relationship, but that it had only started in 2020. Also, that he had only had sex with her two or three times in 2020. Not only that, but he also said that this baby could not have been his, because he and Sandra hadn't had sex in months, not since October, to be specific. And she wasn't far enough along that the baby could have been his. We know that he consented to a search of his phone, but what we also know now is that he used his work phone to make

• 48:27Annie Elise?

  two Google searches. One was, "Can deleted iMessages be recovered by Selbrite?" And number two, "Can you revoke consent in Massachusetts?" Some pretty loaded searches, right? So it seems like maybe he was worried about this exact thing happening and wanted to figure out if he could get his phone back, or if there was any way that law enforcement wouldn't be able to find out. Which at that time, they supposedly didn't find all of those text messages. And it never ceases to amaze me how people will think that by wiping their phone, factory resetting it, we saw it with Stephen Sterns in the Madeline Soto case, that they actually are getting off scot-free. There's technology, people. There is technology and forensic specialists

• 49:08Annie Elise?

  who will extract the data. So, know that, you know? Now, another autopsy was more recently done on Sandra's body by somebody named Dr. Smock. And Dr. Smock came to the conclusion that Sandra's death was not consistent with that of a self-inflicted death. He went over the differences between how things would look if she did it to herself versus if it was done to her, but one of the biggest things that he said was that there was, quote, "skin missing from the inferior and lateral aspects of her nose that is consistent with abrasions." Also, that these types of injuries are commonly seen in cases of suffocation when the victim moves their nose back and forth in an effort to breathe. He came to the conclusion that the cause of her death was asphyxiation.

• 49:53Annie Elise?

  But one of the saddest parts of these documents is the description of how Matthew abused Sandra. There were journal entries that were made by Sandra. Sandra where she would explain that he would sexually assault her if she had bad grades or if she had sex with other people or if she didn't share her phone location with him. He needed to know where she was at all times. I mean, talk about ultimate control that he would punish her in such a physical, sexual way if he didn't know where she was, if she didn't get good grades, if she had sex with other people like it's so sick and twisted. Multiple text messages also showed him asking her about her phone location being turned off. There were also other texts that proved that he would use sex as a way to punish her.

• 50:36Annie Elise?

  One time he even texted her, "You would have to take a serious pounding to make me happy." And then he told her, "You owe me three. I'll give you a break and I'll spread them out." Sandra responded, "Please, not all the same day." Matthew said, "No, I'll give you a week so you can feel it and then as soon as it goes away, you'll get it again. So you'll feel it for like an entire month." Sandra said, "It's not going to be a fun month." And Matthew said, "Not for you." Another time they were texting and Sandra asked Matthew what would be perfect for him, what would be absolutely perfect for him? And he said what would be perfect for him is quote, "When you say no and make me take it." Full R word.

• 51:17Annie Elise?

  So when Sandra said that she was open to doing that, he said, "It doesn't matter. I'll do whatever I want anyways." Again, just full power, control and manipulation over this young woman. Now here's where things get even worse. During the search of his phone, the FBI found several memes about necrophilia. Almost like he had this obsession with it. Now one meme said, "What does a pulse and an orgasm have in common?" And then it was followed by, "I don't care if they have either." Gross, right? Another one talks about how if you have sex on a waterbed with a corpse, it feels like quote, "They are participating" because of the movement. Gross, right? Like what kind of freak enjoys this?

• 52:00Annie Elise?

  Not only that, but there were also memes about strangulation, which is how Sandra died. It's just gross. And quite frankly scary. I mean, this guy was a clear predator through and through, not only through his But through his searches, the material on his phone, his fetishes, what he did, I mean, the worst of the worst. So now I want to jump into where this case is standing today and all of the updates that we have learned since the original episode came out, which includes a pretty major DNA bombshell, if you haven't heard about it yet. But before we get into all of that, I do want to quickly circle back to something that I mentioned earlier that I thought was kind of wild. Remember the whole battle of the experts situation that I was talking about?

• 52:43Annie Elise?

  How in March of 2025, the medical examiner's office was still standing firm that Sandra's death was self-inflicted, even while multiple independent experts said that it was clearly a homicide? Well, I looked back into that because I figured that, okay, well, by now, with Matthew already charged and sitting in jail for Sandra's murder, surely they would have had to have updated her death certificate, right? Well, come to find out, that is not the case at all. Because get this, because Sandra was cremated, there is no way for anyone else to reexamine her body. So until Dr. Capo Martinez, the original pathologist,

• 53:23Annie Elise?

  reverses her finding, which for some reason she still hasn't done, Sandra's death certificate still is going to officially list her death as self-inflicted, even though the man accused of killing her has already been indicted for her murder. Which, how on earth does that even make sense? Somebody is literally being charged with her murder, yet her death certificate is going to say that she did this to herself? It makes no sense. And if somebody out there can please explain it to me, please do so, because I cannot seem to wrap my head around this one. Now, before I completely go off the rails, I want to move into the rest of these updates, which I want to warn you, they are pretty heavy and there is a lot

• 54:04Annie Elise?

  to unpack here. So I'm going to do my best to get to everything and just go in order and give you all of the updates. And just as a recap, because I know I've thrown a lot of names and a lot of information at you throughout this episode, here's a quick reminder of who we're dealing with here. We of course have Matthew, who was indicted and charged with Sandra's murder. We then have his twin brother William, who was also a part of the local police department. Then we have Robert Devine, that other police officer that I mentioned at the very beginning of this episode. And there's also a new name that you'll be hearing, Joshua Heel. And he comes into the picture a little later on, and I'll get to him in just a little

• 54:46Annie Elise?

  bit here. But I want you to remember that Matthew, William, and Robert were leaders in this department's Explorer Program, the program that Sandra joined when she was just 13 years old. And this next update is about William particularly.

• 55:02Speaker 02

  Time for a quick break to talk about McDonald's. It's the tangiest time of the year. For a limited time, head to McDonald's and get a McRib sandwich. Make it a meal by adding a medium fries and a soft drink like an ice cold Diet Dr. Pepper. So grab a McRib sandwich and embrace the tang. Save time by ordering ahead on the app. At participating McDonald's for a limited time. Dr. Pepper is a registered trademark of Dr. Pepper, 7-Up Inc.

• 55:27Annie Elise?

  In September of 2024, William agreed to permanently surrender his Massachusetts law enforcement certification. This was after the investigators found that he had lied about his relationship with Sandra because he had claimed that their last encounter was back in December of 2020. The text messages, they told a very different story. In fact, they told a story showing that the two of them had sex in January of 2021, just three weeks before Sandra was killed. Investigators also found that from April to December of 2020, William had been exchanging sexually explicit messages with Sandra, sometimes even while he was on duty. Now, they didn't find proof that any sexual contact happened

• 56:11Annie Elise?

  before she was of age, but they did uncover something else. William had conducted 26 unauthorized searches of criminal justice databases between 2017 and 2021, including two searches that involved Sandra. Now, this is just another example of how deep this pattern of misconduct truly ran inside that department. And honestly, how many red flags were ignored for years? How did all these men have the opportunity to prey on young girls, to groom people, to cover things up, to have access to searches? It's just despicable. Now, next, we jump to June of 2025, because that month, a closed-door hearing was held

• 56:56Annie Elise?

  for Robert, who, by that point, was actually the former deputy police chief in Stoughton. The state's police oversight agency was making its case for why he should be permanently barred from ever working in law enforcement again. Robert had been fighting efforts by the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standard and also the Training Commission, or POST, to revoke his certification. And as I mentioned earlier in this episode, when investigators first interviewed Robert, he claimed he had never communicated with Sandra online, and that he only had had limited contact. But records later proved that he and Sandra exchanged messages on multiple occasions between

• 57:35Annie Elise?

  November of 2020 and February of 2021, including ones that suggested that he even arranged to meet up with her for different sexual encounters, not only just sex alone, but also during at least one of his shifts. Then, in September of 2025, even more details came out from those internal hearings. And I have to say, this part really caught my attention, because it turns out that Robert actually called Sandra on the day that she died. Now, for what reason? I'm not really sure. I couldn't find that particular reason anywhere online or through our research. But for Robert to go from claiming that he had barely had any contact with Sandra, to

• 58:18Annie Elise?

  then it being confirmed that he spoke with her the day that she died... I mean, that's pretty unbelievable to me. Or actually, at this rate, it is pretty believable because these guys seem like the scum of the earth. And how someone this dishonest was ever in a position of leadership is truly wild. But I mean, let's be honest, this department hasn't exactly built a reputation for honesty or integrity. I mean, hello, just look at the Karen Reed case. Now, as of now, Post still hasn't issued its final decision on whether Robert will be officially decertified. Which honestly, I think it is pretty ridiculous considering how long it's taking to make a decision that feels so obvious.

• 58:59Annie Elise?

  But given everything that has come out, it definitely seems like he will be permanently banned from law enforcement once that ruling finally happens, to which I say, amen. Now, moving on to that DNA bombshell that I mentioned earlier. In that same month, in June of 2025, it was confirmed through DNA testing that Matthew was not the father of the baby that Sandra was carrying when she died. Which, I will be honest, that detail floored me. It shocked me and a lot of other people too. Everybody thought this baby belonged to Matthew, that that was his motive for murdering Sandra. And even though the DNA results confirmed that the baby wasn't his, legal experts say it doesn't really change the case against him.

• 59:44Annie Elise?

  Prosecutors argue that it was never about who the father actually was, obviously not. It was about what Matthew believed, what made him have the motivation to kill Sandra. And as of now, the real father's identity still has not been made public. But I have to say, with the news that William had sex with Sandra just weeks before she died, and Robert was also in contact with her, I don't know. It really makes you wonder, at least it makes me wonder, could her baby have been one of theirs? And if so, did they know? Did Matthew tell them that Sandra was pregnant before he decided to go and take her life? Did he, in this roundabout way, do them a solid because it really was their baby, not his, but he thought it was his?

• 1:00:27Annie Elise?

  I mean, could they maybe have even had some sort of role in all of this? Not necessarily. Clearly in the murder, but may, I mean, maybe or certainly the cover up of trying to protect Matthew and make this look like it was self inflicted because they also had plenty to lose if it came out that they had been talking to her for so long, grooming her, arguably having sexual relations with her, perhaps even underage. I mean, there would be motivation for them to protect one of their own, right? So it just adds yet another layer of unanswered questions to an already devastating and heartbreaking case. And speaking of unanswered questions, this is where that other name that I mentioned earlier,

• 1:01:08Annie Elise?

  Joshua Heel, finally starts to come into the picture because in once again, June of 2025, a Norfolk Superior Court judge agreed to pause the ongoing wrongful death lawsuit that was filed by Sandra's aunt, Darlene. That lawsuit was originally filed back in 2022 and it named Matthew, William, Robert, and the town of Stow and its police department. And it also named a fourth officer, Joshua Heel. Joshua was accused of having a sexual relationship with Sandra as well when he worked as an animal control officer in Stow. This was between 2017 and 2020, and he's accused of later lying about it. But a judge later dismissed all of the claims against him.

• 1:01:53Annie Elise?

  However, fast forward to July of 2025 and Joshua announced that he had no plans to ever work in law enforcement again, which then meant that he likely wouldn't face any formal decertification proceedings. But just a couple of months later, in September, that changed. Joshua was officially barred for life from ever serving as a law enforcement officer in Massachusetts. That decision came after he finally did admit to the investigators that he had had sex with Sandra. And he even confirmed one of the most disturbing rumors that had been circulating for years, which was that he had once exchanged a cat for oral sex. Guys, I don't think that this case gets

• 1:02:38Annie Elise?

  any crazier. Who is paying for sex in the form of a Cat, an animal, could the officers connected to this department be any more corrupt? I mean, it's almost beyond belief at this point. And just when I thought that I had caught up on every possible development in this case, another one comes out. As of October 28th, 2025, Matthew is now facing an additional charge, the charge of causing the death of Sandra's unborn child. Up until now, he had been specifically charged with killing a witness to cover up his sexual assault, and arguably, the abuse as well. But prosecutors have now added this new count, saying that when he strangled Sandra, he also caused the death of her unborn baby.

• 1:03:23Annie Elise?

  It's not totally clear why this charge took so long to be filed, but experts believe that it likely comes down to timing and evidence. Federal prosecutors may have wanted to wait until all of the DNA testing was done and all of the medical reviews were finalized before moving forward, just to make sure that they had enough to really prove the unborn child's death as part of the homicide. But whatever the reason, this new charge adds an even darker layer to what prosecutors have called one of the worst abuses of power that they have ever seen. And I have to say, the fact that this charge was tacked on makes me incredibly happy because it does feel like it is one more step closer to justice.

• 1:04:08Annie Elise?

  We know that Sandra was so excited about this baby. And whether Matthew was the father or not, William, whomever, she was thrilled to become a mom. And he ripped that away from her. He not only snuffed out her life, but the life of her child. So I am so happy that there is going to be accountability with that, truly I am. This case has obviously been disturbing from the very start. Yet somehow, every single update that we hear, it manages to make it even more heartbreaking. And for those of you wondering about the overlap between this case and the Karen Reed case, both cases involve alleged homicides in Canton, Massachusetts. Both involve off-duty

• 1:04:51Annie Elise?

  Police officers and both have sparked massive media firestorms and public protests online and in person. There is still a lot of gray area between what's fact and what's speculation. A lot of people see corruption in both cases, a pattern of protecting fellow law enforcement officers. And honestly, I agree. We could do an entire episode just on the theories and the speculation surrounding the connections between these two stories. It would be easy and maybe I'll do that next. But one thing I do want to mention that is not speculation, that is not rumor, but rather fact, is the involvement of State Trooper Nicholas Guarino. And he worked on both cases.

• 1:05:33Annie Elise?

  In Sandra's case, he initially failed to identify any messages from Matthew's phone to Sandra, which investigators later revealed that there were over 32,000 messages between the two of them from December 2019 until her death in February 2021. And Nick was also accused of mishandling digital evidence in the Karen Reed investigation, which we all know how that investigation shook out, right? So take that as you will. I just wanted to flag that quick overlap and I'm sure that we will be hearing a lot more come out as we get closer to Matthew's trial, maybe even with Karen's civil trial, who knows? But all of that brings us up to where we are today. Matthew is currently in federal custody.

• 1:06:16Annie Elise?

  He's being held without bond because prosecutors say that he's both a danger to the community and he's a flight risk. His trial is officially scheduled for October 5th, 2026, and it's expected to last around four weeks. But there are still major things to keep an eye on and to watch for. Will prosecutors seek the death penalty? How will the new charge for causing the death of Sandra's unborn child factor in? And what impact will the decertification of the other officers involved really have on the bigger picture of accountability? If you've followed this story from the start, you know how layered it is and how disturbing it is.

• 1:06:57Annie Elise?

  And if you're just now joining in, this trial could be what finally brings some real answers. When I first covered this case, I remember wondering why it took so long for anything to actually happen, why it took the FBI and the US Attorney's Office stepping in before real progress was made, and just how deep the corruption and cover-ups within law enforcement really went. And honestly, I still wonder about all of that. But what's clear now is that the lies, the manipulation, and the power plays surrounding this case, they run far deeper than anyone ever realized. And when Matthew finally faces a jury in 2026, it won't just be his actions on trial. It will be a test of accountability

• 1:07:41Annie Elise?

  for everyone who failed Sandra along the way. Because even now, years later, there are still questions, still people avoiding accountability, still a community searching for the truth. And you know that I will keep you updated every step of the way as this moves forward to trial and hopefully toward real justice. Maybe we'll even be there at the trial covering it in person. Who knows? I'm Annie Elise. Thanks again for listening. And as always, stay safe. Bye.

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