As I head into Boston's federal court, there is a question that continues to nag me. The Farwell brothers were keeping constant tabs on Sandra Birchmore, with Matthew following her location and Billy running illegal CIJS searches on her name March 22, 2019, FARWELL asked Birchmore to reveal her location. When she responded that she was at “7-11,” FARWELL told her that he knew she was in Abington, and he asked multiple times why she would go there when “Stoughton has 100 convenience stores.” April 22, 2019, FARWELL sent Birchmore a text message stating, “I know your hiding shit your location is off again" Then, according to POST, Billy Farwell "from a period of 2017 through 2021, Farwell conducted multiple unauthorized searches of the Massachusetts Criminal Justice Information System database," of Sandra's name

I have been covering the Sandra Birchmore case since late 2023, digging into the Massachusetts State Police records and talking to my long time sources about Stoughton cops Matthew Farwell, his twin brother William, and their friend Robert Devine. At that time, those Stoughton cops had been pushed off the force and publicly disgraced by the IAD report commissioned by Stoughton PD Deputy Chief Brian Holmes, details of which were released by an apoplectic Chief Donna McNamara at a 2022 press conference. Holmes is now the Kingston PD Chief and McNamara is on administrative leave, suing the town saying she was removed because of the Sandra Birchmore case and the "current and former cops" under FBI investigation. I heard the allegations regarding an encounter Sandra had with Joshua Heal, the animal control officer in the Stoughton animal shelter, purportedly for a cat adoption, and Matt Farwell tutoring her in the town library - two public buildings where Sandra was allegedly abused. Matthew Farwell, we learned last week, was a high school dropout who got "a lot of Fs," in testimony from FBI Special Agent Heidi Kelsch. A transcript of those Stoughton High School Fs were entered into evidence, which led a federal prosecutor to ask the FBI agent if she thought Farwell was an appropriate tutor, and titters in Courtroom 11 at the Moakley federal courthouse. The lead investigator in Sandra Birchmore's case, Lt. John Fanning, is also a Stoughton High School alum. And I learned the name of the military member, a U.S. Army recruiter in Quincy, mentioned in the Stoughton IAD report, who investigators noted appeared in sexually explicit videos with Sandra recovered from the Farwell brothers. My sources have confirmed that man is Jason Pickard, whose name was also referenced in an open court hearing by Matthew Farwell's federal public defenders. William Farwell and Jason Pickard are on the government's witness list. So is Joshua Heal. Pickard and William Farwell were in the same National Guard unit. Last week Chief Holmes testified that he turned the IAD report over to the FBI, the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office, and a U.S. Army Lt. Colonel. Back then I heard about some cops who tried to "do the right thing," and push for charges, but were shut down by top officials in the Norfolk County DA's Office. But the FBI did not shut him down, and soon uncovered evidence the MSP CPAC unit for Norfolk County did not. In August 2024, Farwell was pulled out of a big rig in a Revere, MA, the truck he had been driving since the end of his police career, by the FBI. One of his three children, a son, was in the truck when his dad was arrested and accused of the crime of statutory rape and the murder of Sandra Birchmore. Later, he was was also charged with the death of her unborn baby, a boy. Kelsch read a slew of graphic text messages for jurors on Friday. According to the reports I have read, these text messages are going to get much, much worse. Follow @LAmag for updates. LA Mag True Crime Instagram for videos from outside the courthouse. I suspect this verdict in Farwell's going federal trial will not be the end of this case.