Read this article from bostonglobe.com: In Sandra Birchmore case, questions emerge about why outside investigators weren’t brought in from the start.
Massachusetts State Police officers should not be investigating police officers for criminal conduct. The failure of State Police to investigate Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell for the murder of Sandra Birchmore shows how the blue wall or code of silence protects police officers who break the law, even an officer who should have been the prime suspect in a murder. In the Birchmore case, an unbiased investigator would have conducted a thorough investigation of Farwell, a married father of two with another child on the way when Ms. Birchmore, a young woman with whom he had been having a long-term affair, was found dead in her apartment. Video showed Farwell was the last person to see her alive. Review of her cellphone showed she stopped moving before he left the apartment. There was evidence Ms. Birchmore was happy to be having Farwell’s child. Farwell’s attempt to make it appear she committed suicide would have been contradicted by a proper evaluation of the scene and the medical evidence. Yet, the State Police determined Ms. Birchmore’s death did not involve foul play. The failure to properly investigate this death can only be explained by deliberate failure of the State Police and District Attorney. State Police officers should not be allowed to continue investigating cases where the suspect is a police officer.