Inside the Explorer Program: How Cops Used Mentorship to Exploit Sandra Birchmore

Sandra Birchmore’s name showed up in a place nobody expected — in a text chain between a Canton police sergeant and the state police trooper who led the investigation into the death of John O’Keefe in...

9 Kesä 15min

Sandra Birchmore trusted the people who were supposed to protect her. She was twenty-three, pregnant, and full of life when she was found dead — and for five long years, the official story was that sh...

29 Touko 18min

Sandra Birchmore believed things were getting better. Matthew Farwell brought ginger ale to her apartment. She texted a friend that he was coming around. She was contacting lawyers. She was building a...

3 Touko 31min

For years, Sandra Birchmore’s family held vigils outside buildings that didn’t want them there. They held signs at the Stoughton Police Department. They demanded answers from a system that had already...

2 Touko 24min

Within one hour of finding Sandra Birchmore’s body, officers told the medical examiner there had been no foul play. That call shaped everything. The medical examiner never visited the scene. Canton po...

1 Touko 16min

At 9:27 PM on February 1, 2021, Matthew Farwell entered Sandra Birchmore’s apartment building. At 9:56 PM, he left. Twenty-nine minutes. Sandra was never seen alive again. When her body was found thre...

30 Huhti 16min

Sandra Birchmore believed Matthew Farwell was coming around. He brought ginger ale to her apartment. She texted a friend that things were getting better. She was pregnant, making plans, contacting law...

29 Huhti 14min

Sandra Birchmore wanted to be a cop. She walked into the Stoughton Police Explorers program at twelve years old full of admiration for the badge, looking for belonging, looking for guidance, looking f...

28 Huhti 16min