On the second day of testimony in the Matthew Farwell trial, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Matthew Dunne told jurors no suicide note was found in Sandra Birchmore’s Canton apartment. Then, on cross-examination, the defense showed him handwritten notes from Birchmore’s belongings, including one Dunne described as “a suicide note dated 7.1.2017,” Boston 25 News reported. NBC10 Boston reported that the jury also saw a note listing ways to commit suicide and a third listing reasons not to.
Dunne spent almost all of Wednesday, October 14, 2026, on the stand. Two more witnesses followed: a State Police Crime Lab toxicologist and a Stoughton police sergeant who knew Birchmore from the police Explorers program. Farwell, a former Stoughton police detective, is charged in federal court with killing Birchmore, 23, and her unborn child in February 2021 and staging the scene as a suicide. He has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent.
Dunne on direct: the scene
The prosecution walked Dunne back through the apartment, according to NBC10, Boston 25 and 7News:
- Jurors were shown an ultrasound photo Dunne found on Birchmore’s refrigerator and a congratulations poster from the apartment.
- A necklace Birchmore had worn was not on her when investigators arrived but was later found broken at the scene, NBC10 and 7News reported.
- A camouflage duffel bag in the bedroom was missing its carrying strap, which appeared to be the ligature found around her neck. “I noted that there was no carrying strap,” Dunne said, according to Boston 25.
- Asked about a journal on the bed, Dunne said it was not a suicide note. “You didn’t find one,” the prosecutor said. “No,” Dunne answered, Boston 25 reported.
- Boston 25 reported that, asked what was done to preserve items on the bed and in the laundry room, Dunne appeared to say nothing was.
Dunne on direct: why it was not treated as suspicious
Dunne testified that he did not consider the death suspicious and did not attend the autopsy. “No, there was no suspicion of foul play,” he said when asked whether he went, according to 7News. He said he had a planned telephone interview that day with Birchmore’s aunt in New Hampshire, Boston 25 reported. He testified that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner follows different protocols when a death is reported as suspicious, and that the reporting agency usually tells the medical examiner when it is.
Dunne also said the Norfolk District Attorney’s office did nothing to stop him from continuing to investigate after the medical examiner’s initial ruling, NBC10 reported. The death was originally ruled a suicide. The manner of death was later changed to undetermined, WCVB has reported.
The school, the video and the parking lot interview
- Dunne interviewed staff at the Sharon elementary school where Birchmore worked. Multiple employees said she had talked openly about her pregnancy and a relationship with a married Stoughton police officer, and one mentioned Farwell, WCVB reported. Boston 25 reported that the principal told Dunne that Farwell “would have more information.”
- Lobby video showed Birchmore last entering the building on February 1, 2021, carrying a snow brush, NBC10 reported. After investigators saw video of Farwell entering and leaving the building that night, they decided they needed to speak with him right away, WCVB reported.
- The interview took place outside, in the parking lot of a Stoughton school, and was not recorded. Dunne agreed it was not typical. WCVB and Boston 25 both reported his testimony that not taking notes was a tactical decision, to keep Farwell from declining to talk and “lawyering up.”
- Asked what question prompted Farwell to say he had been at the apartment, Dunne said, “There’s no question,” Boston 25 reported.
- “The account he provided is that he went over there to break up with her,” Dunne testified, as quoted by 7News and Boston 25.
- Dunne said what Farwell told him about when the sexual relationship began was not accurate, and that investigators later learned from interviews and text messages that it began much earlier, NBC10 and Boston 25 reported.
- Dunne testified that “at some point it was suggested there was choking that took place between the two of them,” 7News reported. Boston 25 reported that he said he was not sure the texts were sexual in nature.
- Dunne acknowledged investigators did not go to the Stoughton Police Department to interview Farwell’s coworkers after that interview, WCVB and Boston 25 reported.
- He described a second unrecorded interview, with Farwell’s twin brother, William Farwell, on February 11, 2021. Sgt. Fanning, the case supervisor, wrote the report, NBC10 reported.
The cross-examination
Defense attorney Kimberly Stevens began by asking whether Dunne had learned Birchmore had a long, untreated history of mental health problems, NBC10 reported. A sidebar followed. Boston 25 reported the defense also asked whether a coworker had told Dunne that Birchmore had a history of claiming to be pregnant when she was not.
The defense then went through what Dunne looks for at an unattended death. According to NBC10 and Boston 25:
- There was no sign of forced entry and no sign of a struggle.
- In the lobby video, Farwell appeared to have snow on him and wore heavy-soled boots. Dunne said he saw no salt or boot tread marks in the bedroom.
- Dunne and Fanning did not ask to be assigned to the case. They were the troopers on duty for unattended deaths in Norfolk County on February 4, 2021, NBC10 reported.
- Farwell had no obvious injuries at the time of the interview, WCVB reported.
Then came the notes. Dunne said they came from a collection of Birchmore’s belongings and that all were handwritten, NBC10 reported. One, he said, “appears to be a suicide note dated 7.1.2017,” and another “appears to reference ways to commit suicide,” Boston 25 reported. NBC10 described a 2017 note, a second note from the day before listing ways to commit suicide, and a third listing reasons not to. WCVB reported that Dunne answered questions about journal entries that referenced mental health and “ways in which to commit suicide.”
The note Dunne described is dated 2017, about three and a half years before Birchmore’s death. In a filing before trial, the defense said an FBI report of a September 2026 interview records Dunne concluding that a journal entry found in the apartment was “absolutely a suicide note.” The coverage we reviewed does not say whether the 2017 note is the entry that report describes, and none of the outlets reported the FBI report itself being raised in front of the jury on Wednesday.
The toxicologist
Alicia Zimmerman, of the State Police Crime Lab toxicology unit, testified that Birchmore’s blood showed no alcohol, antifreeze, rubbing alcohol, nail polish remover or illicit drugs, NBC10 reported. The antidepressant Zoloft was found. On cross, Zimmerman said she did not know what medications Birchmore was taking, had not seen a photo of her prescription bottles until that day, and did not know whether the Zoloft level was a therapeutic dose.
Zimmerman testified under a stipulation both sides filed on October 13 (Docket No. 349). It says three other forensic scientists ran the screening tests, that Zimmerman reviewed their work and drew conclusions from it, and that she could testify to those conclusions without the three analysts appearing. That agreement heads off a Confrontation Clause objection under Smith v. Arizona, 602 U.S. 779 (2024), which we explained in our day one recap.
Sgt. Robert Kuhn
The eighth witness was Robert Kuhn, now a Stoughton police sergeant and formerly the school resource officer at Stoughton High School, according to Boston 25 and NBC10. NBC10 reported his testimony:
- He met Birchmore in the Explorers program when she was 11 or 12. She was a squad leader. Most of the students in the program came from broken homes without a father figure, he said.
- Farwell was involved with the Explorers before joining the Stoughton police.
- Kuhn said it would be inappropriate for him to tutor an Explorer at the library. Prosecutors allege Farwell tutored Birchmore at the library when she was 15.
- He described Birchmore as very impressionable and said she looked up to police and the military. He never knew her to be suicidal, and in 20 years as an officer he has never encountered a seated or partial suicide.
Also in the courtroom
Before the jury came in, prosecutors told Judge Denise Casper they would avoid the separate litigation involving Stoughton Police Chief Donna McNamara when she testifies, NBC10 reported. McNamara and Leslie Davis, a friend of Birchmore’s, were on the list of expected witnesses for Wednesday but were not reported to have testified. Former acting U.S. Attorney Josh Levy, who held that office when Farwell was arrested in 2024, watched from the gallery, NBC10 reported.
Why the cross-examination matters
The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Farwell killed Birchmore. The defense does not have to prove she took her own life. Its cross-examination of Dunne pressed two points: the scene, as he found it, showed no forced entry, struggle, tread marks or injuries on Farwell; and Birchmore had written about suicide before. The prosecution’s direct pressed the opposite theme: an investigation that treated the death as a suicide from the start, did not preserve some items, skipped the autopsy and interviewed Farwell without a recording or notes. The trial is expected to last about five weeks.
Frequently asked questions
Was a suicide note found in Sandra Birchmore’s apartment?
Trooper Matthew Dunne testified that no suicide note was found at the scene. On cross-examination, the defense showed handwritten notes from Birchmore’s belongings, including one Dunne said appears to be a suicide note dated July 1, 2017, and another referencing ways to commit suicide.
Why didn’t the trooper attend Birchmore’s autopsy?
Dunne testified that there was no suspicion of foul play at that point, and that he had a planned interview with Birchmore’s aunt the same day.
Was Farwell’s 2021 interview recorded?
No. Dunne testified the parking lot interview was not recorded and that not taking notes was a tactical decision so Farwell would not decline to talk.
What did the toxicology show?
No alcohol or illicit drugs. The antidepressant Zoloft was present. The toxicologist said she did not know whether it was at a therapeutic level.
Sources: NBC10 Boston live coverage, October 14, 2026; Boston 25 News live coverage by reporter Ryan Breslin; WCVB and 7News WHDH, October 14, 2026. Stipulation of Fact (Toxicologist), United States v. Farwell, No. 1:24-cr-10259-DJC (D. Mass.), ECF No. 349, filed October 13, 2026, read on CourtListener. Quotations are as reported by those outlets. Matthew Farwell has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. General information, not legal advice.