Two deaths in a Massachusetts town raise doubts about the relationship between police and prosecutors

Weeks after a mistrial was declared in the high-profile Karen Read murder case, more allegations of police misconduct emerged in the same Massachusetts county where a former police detective was charged in the 2021 death of a pregnant woman, putting the relationship between police and prosecutors back in the spotlight.

Criminal justice experts say the two cases appear to be investigative errors that underscore the need to abandon Massachusetts' model for investigating high-profile crimes.

“The understatement of the century, but Massachusetts has a serious problem with murder investigations involving police suspects, witnesses and tips,” crime reporter Susan Zalkind wrote on X on Wednesday. “Poor Sandra Birchmore. Beyond depraved.”

Federal prosecutors accuse former detective Matthew Farwell of sexually abusing 23-year-old Birchmore while working with the Stoughton Police Explorers Academy, a youth program she attended. He was arrested Wednesday. Prosecutors accuse him of killing Birchmore after she told him she was pregnant with his child and of attempting to stage the crime scene as a suicide to keep the sexual abuse allegations secret.

Farwell has pleaded not guilty.

Birchmore was killed in Canton, the same Norfolk County city where 46-year-old Boston police officer John O'Keefe was found dead on Jan. 29, 2022. His girlfriend, Read, was put on trial for his death. A jury was unable to reach a verdict after her legal team argued that Read had been framed by other police officers who tried to cover up O'Keefe's death. She will be tried again on that charge next year.

Both cases involved federal investigators, but authorities have not disclosed any links between the two. At the heart of the case are allegations of botched investigations and law enforcement misconduct.

“Incompetence or corruption?”

“Given these two cases, I would say it's not just Norfolk County, it's all over Massachusetts. The question is, is it incompetence or corruption or both?” said Tom Nolan, a former Boston police lieutenant and criminal justice professor.

In Massachusetts, state police detectives are assigned to district attorneys' offices, which can lead to cases being botched, Nolan says.

An alternative, he said, is the model used in other states such as Florida and Georgia, where there is an independent investigative agency that oversees cases rather than relying on an agency responsible for enforcing highway laws.

“During the trial of Karen Read, we saw for several weeks the bumbling incompetence of the Massachusetts State Police, which was under the Norfolk District Attorney's Office. Her defense attorney basically scathingly ripped apart the State Police officers who testified as witnesses and experts – 'expert witnesses.' Their credibility was completely undermined,” Nolan said.

State police did not respond to requests for comment.

Hours after a mistrial was declared in Read's case, the Massachusetts State Police's top official said the lead investigator in the case had been relieved of his duties after allegations of “serious misconduct” were made in court.

The detective was suspended without pay last month after the agency launched an internal investigation into the allegations.

Zalkind, author of the book “Waltham Murders: One Woman's Pursuit to Expose the Truth Behind a Murder and a National Tragedy,” about a triple murder in Massachusetts and the Boston Marathon bombing, told NBC News that without an independent investigative agency and adequate checks and balances, things could get too close between prosecutors and police and politics could come into play.

“When you bring that culture into the good old boys' club, into murder cases, there are serious problems,” she said. “Our murder investigations are politicized. The prosecutors in the state are all Democrats except one. Our attorneys general are Democrats. … Our government is Democratic. So there's no incentive to investigate vigorously.”

Regardless of the legal outcome of the Read and Birchmore cases, public trust has been compromised, Zalkind said.

A staged suicide

When acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy announced the charges on Wednesday, more than three years after Birchmore's death, he called the arrest of Farwell, a police officer who had sworn to protect the public, “disheartening.”

Farwell is charged in federal court with murdering a witness or victim.

“Giving a voice to the voiceless, ensuring that no one is above the law, and protecting the vulnerable people of Massachusetts is the highest calling of law enforcement officers,” Levy said. “Mr. Farwell violated these principles and now faces very serious consequences.”

Farwell's attorney could not be reached for comment.

The investigation into Birchmore's death was initially handled by state police. Nolan said it was “strikingly unusual” that the case was taken over by federal authorities, since murder is normally a state crime.

Federal authorities did not provide any details about why they took over the case, saying only that investigators had new evidence that made charges and an arrest possible.

David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk District Attorney's Office, said the prosecutor's office has long been working with other law enforcement agencies to make an arrest.

“This office has been working with both the Massachusetts Attorney General and the FBI for months on the Birchmore investigation. Two of our investigators were present at the command post … while federal authorities attempted to take Matthew Farwell into custody,” Traub said.

“Much of the information they [federal authorities] “The evidence we are building on comes from our investigation, where we collected thousands of text messages and then reviewed them to see what criminal behavior could be inferred from their content,” he said.

Prosecutors allege that Farwell killed Birchmore in her apartment on February 1, 2021, when he could no longer control her and when it became known that he had sex with her for years. Authorities initially classified Birchmore's death as a suicide.

Prosecutors allege that after strangling Birchmore, Farwell repositioned her body and staged her apartment to make it look like she had committed suicide.

The medical examiner concluded Birchmore died of “asphyxiation by hanging” and that she was eight to 10 weeks pregnant when she died, according to an affidavit supporting Farwell's motion to detain her.

The Massachusetts Medical Examiner's Office, which made the determination, did not respond to a request for comment Friday. A spokesman for the agency told Boston's WFXT-TV that the office was aware of the charges against Farwell and had been cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's Office.

An expert hired by federal prosecutors, Dr. William Smock, concluded that the death was a homicide, arguing that some of Birchmore's injuries, such as abrasions on his nose, were more common in strangulations than in hangings, the affidavit said.

Farwell's arrest came nearly two years after the Stoughton police chief disclosed that Farwell and two other former department officers had inappropriate relationships with Birchmore. That conclusion was reached after a lengthy internal investigation prompted by Birchmore's death, said Police Chief Donna McNamara, who called the former officers' conduct “deeply disturbing.”

The chief said all three men resigned before they could be questioned. The department recommended that they be permanently disbarred so they cannot work as police officers anywhere in the country, McNamara said.

Attorneys for the other former officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the status of their recusals.

Questions in the Read study

After a nine-week murder trial that attracted national attention, a judge declared Read guilty on July 1.

Prosecutors have said Read's relationship with O'Keefe deteriorated when she drove into him with her SUV. She was charged with second-degree murder, intoxicated manslaughter and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death.

She maintains her innocence and faces another trial early next year. A lawyer for Read did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

The Norfolk District Attorney's spokesman said prosecutors are preparing for Read's upcoming trial and that the courtroom is the only appropriate forum to determine her innocence or guilt.

No charges have been filed in federal court in this case.

During the original trial, Read's lawyers said she watched her boyfriend enter the home of a now-retired Boston police sergeant in Canton, Massachusetts, to party after spending a night with other current and former police officers. Hours later, the defense team said in court, she realized O'Keefe never came home and ran back to the house, where she found his body.

Read's lawyers claimed that O'Keefe was most likely beaten in the house and left outside in the snow.

The defense accused authorities of not conducting a “real” investigation and instead focusing on Read.

They claim that the lead investigator in the case, Michael Proctor of the Massachusetts State Police, is a major reason for the bias in the investigation. They claim he tampered with evidence and made derogatory comments about Read.

Proctor denied the allegations and said his comments were unprofessional and regrettable but did not affect the case.

Proctor did not respond to requests for comment.