We have testimony now over in the Matthew Farwell trial.
He's a former Stoughton police officer charged
with killing Sandra Birchmore and her unborn baby.
Tomorrow, we're expecting to hear from Birchmore's friends,
Stoughton police officers, and a toxicologist.
As Boston 25 News reporter Ryan Breslin shares
the new details jurors learned about the victim today.
Of the six witnesses that jurors heard from, one shared that she
was close with Birchmore at the Stoughton Police Department.
Another hired her to work at Sharon Public Schools.
Jurors hearing and seeing a lot inside of the courtroom,
including pictures of Birchmore's body after she
was found at her Canton apartment.
Testimony in the trial of Matthew Farwell underway Tuesday.
The prosecution alleges Farwell killed Sandra Birchmore
and staged her death to look like a suicide,
but the defense says Farwell was at Birchmore's apartment
to end their relationship and she took her own life.
A detective with the Stoughton Police Department
was the first on the stand telling jurors
she became a mentor to Birchmore, Heather Chevers
saying she didn't believe it when she learned of
Birchmore's death because quote she never expressed
to me that she was ever suicidal
Birchmore's former boss Cheryl Carlson sharing
a similar sentiment quote it didn't make sense
to me because she was so excited to have
that baby she was so determined to have that baby
said Carlson, Carlson telling jurors she hired Birchmore
to work as an instructional assistant
in Sharon Public Schools.
She says when Sandra got pregnant, she couldn't contain her excitement.
Quote, she ended up telling I think anybody
that she came in contact with, said Carlson.
Students, staff, everybody knew.
When Birchmore didn't show up to work after a snowstorm,
a well-being check was conducted
at the Canton Woods Apartments where Erin Porter was a property
manager. Canton Police Officer Ensley Cotard says he went up
to Birchmore's apartment with
two other officers and he discovered her body
in the bedroom a duffel bag strap around her neck
jurors seeing images of Birchmore's body
on the first day of witness testimony during opening
statements the defense made a point to say
that Matthew Farwell was wearing a face mask when
entering and leaving Sandra Birchmore's apartment
so that he could conceal his identity and hide his
affair that has become a point of contention
in this trial now the prosecution wanting three women
who they say also had an affair with Matthew Farwell,
to get on the stand and testify that he never wore a mask around them.
The judge says that she is still deciding on that motion.
Detective Cheever saying on the stand today
that Matthew Farwell didn't care about COVID
or wearing masks when he was in the Stoughton Police Department.
On scene in Boston, Ryan Breslin
for your local station, Boston 25 News.
