The jury is hearing a fourth day of testimony in Matthew Farwell's trial at federal court in South Boston Friday.
The former Stoughton, Massachusetts police officer is charged with killing 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore and her unborn baby more than five years ago.
The first witness on the stand Friday morning was Kingston Police Chief Brian Holmes. He was the deputy police chief in Stoughton when Birchmore was killed. He conducted the internal investigation following her death. Holmes began his testimony late Thursday and wrapped up after a half-hour on the stand Friday.
FBI agent Christopher Beckstrom began his testimony a short time later. He's a digital forensic examiner. Beckstrom told jurors that Birchmore's phone stopped moving at 9:40 p.m. on February 1, 2021, the day it's believed she died. He also uncovered a list of baby names in her notes app. The last name on that list was Matthew.
Federal prosecutors said Farwell met Birchmore when she was 13 years old and a member of the police department's youth program. Investigators said he groomed Birchmore for years and began having sex with her when she was 15 and he was 27.
Birchmore was found dead at the age of 23 in her apartment in Canton. Her death was initially ruled a suicide. Prosecutors said that when Birchmore died, she was pregnant with what she believed was Farwell's child.
Farwell's attorney did not deny her client and Birchmore had an affair, but she said Farwell never thought the baby was his and when he broke up with Birchmore, she killed herself. The defense said in a court filing that DNA testing confirmed Farwell was not the father.
The prosecution said Farwell strangled Birchmore and staged it as a suicide. He was charged in 2024.
He's pleaded not guilty to one federal count of killing a witness or victim and one count of causing the death of an unborn child. If convicted, Farwell faces life in prison.
Beckstrom also told the court Friday he examined Farwell's phones. He said Farwell searched "Can you revoke consent in Massachusetts?" and on February 9, 2021, searched "Can deleted iMessages be recovered by Cellebrite?" Cellebrite is a data extraction tool that law enforcement used to find these exact searches.
Another FBI agent, Heidi Kelsch, took the stand after Becktrom. Kelsch testified that she went through hundreds of thousands of messages from devices belonging to both Farwell and Birchmore.
One of the text exchanges allegedly described the first time they had sex.
"I had butterflies so bad the day you took my virginity... that's not a date I'll ever forget. It was April 10, 2015. Best day of my life," Birchmore wrote to Farwell.
"Me too," Farwell responded.
Kelsch testified that Farwell was 27-years-old and Birchmore was 15-years-old when the texts were exchanged. Kelsch shared another conversation between Birchmore and Farwell that ocurred one year before Birchmore's death.
"It's probably good you said I should use a condom because we saw each other so much...in the beginning we definitely would've gotten pregnant," Farwell wrote.
"Can you get me pregnant baby?" Birchmore wrote.
"I'll do whatever you want me to do," Farwell responded.
Kelsch is expected to continue her testimony when the jury reconvenes next week.
Sixteen jurors - 10 men and six women - have been seated for the trial, which is expected to last about four more weeks.
