The first officer to walk into Sandra Birchmore’s bedroom on February 4, 2021 told jurors Tuesday what he reported to his supervisors that day: “I advised them that it appears to be a suicide.” Canton Police Officer Ensley Cotard was in the apartment for about eight minutes. He said he saw no suicide note and no signs of a struggle, and he collected no evidence. It was not his job to investigate the death, he agreed on redirect.
Cotard was one of six witnesses on the first day of testimony in the federal trial of former Stoughton police officer Matthew Farwell. The sixth was Massachusetts State Police Trooper Matthew Dunne, the investigator whom the defense, in a filing Monday night, quoted as having called a journal entry “absolutely a suicide note.” Dunne was on the stand only briefly before court ended at about 4 p.m. He returns Wednesday. Farwell has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent.
Before the jury came in
Judge Denise Casper addressed housekeeping first, including an instruction she will read to jurors “based on a recent motion about opening statements,” NBC10 Boston reported. The station did not report its wording. The judge also said she would instruct jurors before graphic evidence was shown that their verdict cannot hinge on emotion. The jury is 10 men and six women; 12 will deliberate, WCVB reported. According to 7News, the government’s witness list has 67 names and the defense list has 97.
The witnesses, in order
1. Stoughton Detective Heather Cheever
- Cheever said she met Birchmore in 2013 and became a mentor to her through the police Explorers program, NBC10 reported. She testified that she never heard Farwell was tutoring Birchmore at the library and would have asked why if she had.
- She recognized Farwell in surveillance video wearing a mask, WCVB reported, but said he had told her he never believed in COVID-19. 7News reported she said she never saw him wear a medical mask.
- She testified about a 2020 mental health call at Birchmore’s home. “She was angry. She got into an argument with her aunt… She made a statement that she wanted to hurt herself, but said she didn’t really mean it. She said it out of anger,” Cheever said, according to 7News. Cheever said she did not believe Birchmore was suicidal.
- On cross-examination, defense attorney Joanne Daley got Cheever to agree she no longer has the text thread in which Birchmore’s death was discussed, because she has since changed phones, and that the understanding that officers could accept, but not send, Facebook friend requests to Explorers was not a written policy, according to NBC10 and Boston 25.
- On redirect, Cheever said the first investigator who ever asked her about Birchmore’s death was the FBI, more than three years after it happened, NBC10 reported.
2. Cheryl Carlson, Birchmore’s former assistant principal
- Carlson hired Birchmore as an instructional assistant at East Elementary School in Sharon in 2020. She said Birchmore’s last day of work was February 1, 2021, and the school asked for a wellness check on February 4 after she did not respond to emails, NBC10 reported.
- She said a suicide “didn’t make sense” because Birchmore was excited about her pregnancy, WCVB reported. According to 7News, Carlson said Birchmore told her “the father was in a committed relationship, and there were children involved… The plan was that he was going to leave the situation when her child was born.”
- On cross, the defense said Carlson joined the Facebook group “Justice for Sandra Birchmore” in June 2024. “I am part of that group but I don’t constantly go on that page,” she said, according to Boston 25 reporter Ryan Breslin. The defense also raised a January 21, 2021 staff email about Birchmore having no sick days left.
3. Erin Porter, property manager at Canton Woods
- Porter said Birchmore’s lease began December 1, 2020, that Birchmore seemed excited to be expecting, and that she helped officers get into the third-floor apartment on February 4 but did not go in, NBC10 reported. “I think that I had told him that I kind of had a bad gut feeling about the situation,” she said, according to Boston 25. When the officer came out, he nodded.
- Jurors saw lobby video that appears to show Farwell entering. Porter agreed it was the portion she flagged and turned over to law enforcement the next day, Boston 25 reported.
- On cross, the defense established that the lobby camera was the only one: none in the stairwells or hallways, and none on a side door of Building 3, according to Boston 25.
4. Canton Police Officer Ensley Cotard
- Cotard said that when he checked Birchmore’s car, the snow on it was “only slightly melted, looked untouched,” and that the apartment door was locked when officers knocked, according to Boston 25.
- Jurors were shown photos of Birchmore’s body as he found it: seated, with a strap around her neck attached to the knob of what appears to be a closet door, NBC10 reported.
- He said he did not touch or move her, did not open the closet door, had no body camera, and saw no signs of a struggle, Boston 25 reported. He described the living room and kitchen as “in disarray, unkept.”
- Asked by the defense whether he had ever responded to a suicide in a seated, suspended position, Cotard said, “Yes I have.”
- On redirect, prosecutors asked whether it was clear there were no arrangements for Birchmore’s cats. “Yeah very clear,” he said. He said a box in the hallway looked like a baby stroller box.
5. Carlos Verissimo, maintenance supervisor
Verissimo helped police pull the video. He identified Birchmore on the footage and said he did not recognize Farwell as a resident, Boston 25 reported. On cross, he agreed each of the three buildings had about 50 apartments and that residents propped the front doors open despite a sign telling them not to, NBC10 reported.
6. State Police Trooper Matthew Dunne
Dunne, who was assigned to the Norfolk District Attorney’s office and was one of the lead state investigators in 2021, took the stand late in the day, WCVB reported. NBC10 noted he is the first state trooper to testify, and that the state investigation brought no charges. His cross-examination is the one to watch. According to the defense’s October 12 filing, an FBI report of a September 2026 interview records Dunne saying the journal entry was “absolutely a suicide note” and that he “thought the mask simply meant that FARWELL was having an affair and didn’t want to be seen.” Those are quotes from a report as described by the defense; Dunne has not said them in court, and the judge had not ruled in writing on the motion they were filed in.
A new filing: the toxicology stipulation
Also on Tuesday, both sides filed a stipulation about the toxicology evidence (Docket No. 349). It says Birchmore’s heart blood was tested at the State Police Crime Laboratory by three forensic scientists for alcohols, a panel of drugs, and a general unknown screen. A fourth scientist, Alicia Zimmerman, reviewed their work. The parties agree that Zimmerman “will be permitted to testify about her conclusions regarding the results of toxicology testing without the need for” the three analysts to testify about their underlying work.
That agreement matters because of the Confrontation Clause. In Smith v. Arizona, 602 U.S. 779 (2024), the U.S. Supreme Court held that when an expert conveys an absent analyst’s statements in support of the expert’s opinion, “and the statements provide that support only if true, then the statements come into evidence for their truth.” That can require the analyst who did the work to testify, a line that runs back to Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 305 (2009). A defendant can waive that right by stipulation, which is what Farwell did here. The filing does not say what the results were.
What to watch Wednesday
- Dunne’s direct and cross-examination, and whether the “suicide note” passage comes in.
- Whether Judge Casper rules on the government’s request to call three women about alleged affairs (Docket No. 338), and what curative instruction she gave or will give on openings (Docket No. 339).
Frequently asked questions
Who testified on the first day of the Farwell trial?
On October 13, 2026: Stoughton Detective Heather Cheever, former Sharon assistant principal Cheryl Carlson, Canton Woods property manager Erin Porter, Canton Police Officer Ensley Cotard, maintenance supervisor Carlos Verissimo, and State Police Trooper Matthew Dunne, whose testimony continues October 14.
Did the first officer at the scene find a suicide note?
No. Officer Ensley Cotard testified that he did not see a suicide note and that he told his supervisors the death “appears to be a suicide.” He also said he did not collect evidence and that investigating the death was not his job.
How many cameras were in Birchmore’s building?
Witnesses testified there was one, in the lobby of Building 3. There were no cameras in the stairwells or hallways and none on a side door, according to testimony reported by Boston 25 and NBC10.
Why did Farwell agree to a toxicology stipulation?
The filing does not explain the reason. Its effect is that one lab reviewer can testify about toxicology conclusions without the three analysts who ran the tests, which the Confrontation Clause could otherwise require under Smith v. Arizona.
Sources: NBC10 Boston live coverage and WCVB, October 13, 2026; Boston 25 News live coverage including posts by reporter Ryan Breslin; 7News WHDH, October 13, 2026. Stipulation of Fact (Toxicologist), ECF No. 349, and Defendant’s Reply, ECF No. 343, United States v. Farwell, No. 1:24-cr-10259-DJC (D. Mass.), read in full via CourtListener’s RECAP archive. Smith v. Arizona, 602 U.S. 779 (2024), and Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U.S. 305 (2009), verified. Testimony quotes are as reported by those outlets; no video is allowed in federal court. Matthew Farwell is presumed innocent. General information about the law, not legal advice.