Sandra Birchmore’s alleged killer won’t show up for arraignment for slaying unborn baby

The Stoughton cop accused of grooming Sandra Birchmore as a minor and then killing her when she was an adult will not be present at his arraignment on a new charge of killing their unborn child Matthew Farwell of North Easton was originally indicted in federal court in Boston in August with killing a witness or victim in the death of Birchmore who he had maintained a sexual relationship with for seven years On Feb she was ascertained dead in an apparent suicide in her Canton apartment at age Federal investigators say Farwell just staged the scene to look like a suicide but had authentically slayed the woman after she shared that she was pregnant At the end of last month federal prosecutors took the death of the unborn baby who Birchmore had strongly indicated she was excited to have according to court documents into account and charged Farwell with a charge called Protection of unborn child which allows for the same penalties as the first charge for killing the child in utero Prosecutors say the child s gestational age was between eight and weeks at the time of the killing Farwell will not be present for his arraignment on the new charge His attorneys filed a waiver of appearance which Magistrate Judge M Page Kelley accepted Farwell s arraignment is scheduled for Nov at a m While Massachusetts is not a death penalty state federal law allows for the death penalty which prosecutors may take up in this event Birchmore was born in and in March at the age of she applied to participate in the Police Explorers Academy a youth initiative that Farwell ran for the Stoughton Police Department She stayed in the operation for about four years Prosecutors allege that Farwell worked to groom Birchmore early on pretending to befriend the girl years his junior by doing test prep with her at the library and friending her on Facebook He began a sexual relationship with her when she was and he was Matthew Farwell s gun and badge did not grant him authority to violate the Constitution and certainly didn t entitle him to sexually exploit abuse and rape a child before killing her and her unborn baby in an attempt to cover up his alleged crime Boston FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Steve Kelleher reported during a press conference announcing the initial charges Stoughton Police Department via APMatthew Farwell Stoughton Police Department via AP Courtesy U S District CourtThe card investigators say Sandra Birchmore wrote and sent in a text to Stoughton Police Officer Matthew Farwell in December Courtesy U S District Court