Testimony resumed Friday in Matthew Farwell's federal trial in the killing of Sandra Birchmore.

Friday is testimony. Boston 25 News reported the defense says Birchmore died by suicide after Farwell went to her apartment to end their relationship. NBC Boston reported a crime-lab witness said DNA testing of a ligature was inclusive of Farwell and of Birchmore. Inclusive is a comparison. It is not a finding that the strap carried only his DNA, and it is not a verdict.

NBC Boston and Boston 25 News reported that testimony resumed Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in the federal trial of former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell, who is accused of killing Sandra Birchmore. Boston 25 News reported Friday is the 10th day, that the session was scheduled as a half day, and that a mental health counselor and a friend were expected to testify. NBC Boston reported prosecutors have indicated they could wrap up their case next week, that opening statements were Oct. 9, and that no video is allowed because it is a federal trial. NBC Boston's live account reported the first witness was Linda Crean, 30, of Bridgewater, who said she and Birchmore had been friends since middle school. The station reported Crean recalled the day Birchmore told her Farwell was getting married, and that Crean said Birchmore told her Farwell became angry when he learned about the pregnancy. NBC Boston reported Crean said Birchmore told her she had said he did not have to be at the birth or have his name on the birth certificate, and that he asked about his wife and his other children. The station reported the defense then began cross-examining Crean. NBC Boston's live blog reported Crean said she learned in December 2021 that Birchmore was pregnant. The U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts, in its Aug. 28, 2024 release, said Birchmore learned she was pregnant in December 2020. Those are not the same month. A live blog is a running account. It is not a transcript.

Boston 25 News reported that on Thursday Jason Pickard testified under a grant of immunity. The station reported he said Birchmore never told him he was the father and instead told him Farwell was the father, and that he learned last year he was the biological father of the unborn baby. WCVB reported he was an Army recruiter when he met Birchmore in 2019, and that the immunity deal was with the U.S. Attorney's Office because adultery and sex between a recruit and a recruiter are prohibited under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Boston 25 News reported that when the defense questioned him he acknowledged he knew of a previous suicide attempt and that she had been taking antidepressants, and that when prosecutors asked whether Birchmore ever told him she was contemplating suicide he answered, "No, ma'am." NBC Boston reported Betsey Duval, a forensic scientist at the Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory, testified that DNA tests on the ligature found around Birchmore's neck came back inclusive of Farwell's DNA, along with Birchmore's. WCVB reported a state crime-lab scientist said Farwell's DNA was found on the strap prosecutors allege was used to kill Birchmore. Inclusive of a person's DNA means the comparison included him. It does not, by itself, say whose DNA was the only DNA on the strap. Boston 25 News and WCVB reported three women testified Thursday that they had affairs with Farwell. WCVB reported the defense had argued surveillance video showed him wearing a mask the night Birchmore died, to conceal an affair from his wife, and that the women testified he did not wear masks or disguises during their encounters.

Boston 25 News reported Birchmore was 23 and pregnant, and that Farwell has pleaded not guilty. The station reported the defense maintains she died by suicide after he went to her Canton apartment to end their relationship. The U.S. Attorney's Office said on Aug. 28, 2024, that Farwell, then 38, of North Easton, was indicted on one count of killing a witness or victim, and that the indictment alleges he killed her by strangulation on or about Feb. 1, 2021, and staged the apartment to look like a suicide. WCVB's Friday story described him as 40. WCVB reported she was found dead on Feb. 4, 2021, and that prosecutors said video showed him entering the apartment building at 9:14 p.m. on the night she died and leaving at 9:43 p.m. The August 2024 release dates the alleged killing on or about Feb. 1. WCVB dates the discovery on Feb. 4. WCVB reported a superseding indictment on Oct. 28, 2025, added a count pertaining to the death of the unborn child, that the Justice Department said in December 2025 it would not seek the death penalty, and that the Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner earlier this year changed the manner of death from suicide to undetermined. WCVB reported prosecutors say he killed Birchmore and her unborn baby in an attempt to hide a relationship that began when she was a minor. The August 2024 release said court documents allege that, while she was pregnant, he held her in a headlock and told her he wished she were dead. Those are the charging papers and the testimony the outlets described. They are not a verdict. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.