FBI Special Agent Heidi Kelsch told jurors on Monday that Sandra Birchmore’s unborn child was not Matthew Farwell’s. Under cross-examination by the defense, Kelsch said a paternity test identified the father as an Army recruiter from Quincy whom Birchmore met around December 2019, the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston.com and NBC10 Boston reported. Before testimony began, Chief Judge Denise J. Casper ordered the government to take down the trial exhibits it had been posting on its public website, including photos of Birchmore’s body, and not to post or distribute any more before a verdict.
Monday, October 19, 2026 was the sixth day of the trial and the fifth day of testimony. Farwell, a former Stoughton police detective, is charged in federal court with killing Birchmore, 23, and her unborn child and staging the scene as a suicide. He has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. His defense is that Birchmore took her own life after he went to her apartment to end their relationship. This account is drawn from the Globe, the Herald, Boston.com, NBC10 Boston and WCVB.
The paternity testimony
- What Birchmore believed. In December 2020, Birchmore texted Farwell: “Congrats, we are going to be parents in 2021,” the Globe reported. She told about 85 people she was pregnant and never expressed doubt that Farwell was the father, Kelsch testified, according to Boston.com.
- What the DNA showed. On cross-examination by federal public defender Joanne Daley, Kelsch said the recruiter had a sexual relationship with Birchmore and was the father, Boston.com and NBC10 reported. NBC10 reported that Kelsch said she did not learn this until after Farwell was arrested, and that she obtained the recruiter’s DNA because he had sex with Birchmore around the same time as Farwell.
- Not entirely new. Prosecutors have said before that DNA testing excluded Farwell as the father, though they maintain the two were trying to conceive and believed they had, the Globe reported. Monday was the first time the father was identified in front of the jury. The Globe reported that he is listed as a potential witness and that it has been unable to reach him for comment. He is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Why paternity does not decide the case
The government’s theory is about what Farwell believed, not about biology. Prosecutors allege he killed Birchmore after she told him he was the father, the Herald reported, and to keep her from exposing years of federal crimes, including that he sexually exploited her as a child and met her for sex while on duty, according to the Globe. The defense can use the DNA result to question the government’s account of the relationship, but the motive the government must show rests on the messages Farwell received and how he responded to them.
The second count, under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, does not depend on who the father was either. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1841, a person who commits one of the listed federal crimes “and thereby causes the death of” a “child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty of a separate offense.” The statute adds that the offense “does not require proof that” the defendant “had knowledge or should have had knowledge that the victim of the underlying offense was pregnant,” or that the defendant “intended to cause the death of, or bodily injury to, the unborn child.” Paternity is not an element. That count rises or falls with the first: whether the government proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Farwell killed Birchmore.
The order on exhibits
Casper’s written order, dated October 19, said that on Friday the court learned the government “had posted copies of the exhibits admitted in the course of the ongoing trial on its publicly available website,” including “photos of the body of Ms. Birchmore as discovered on February 4, 2021, items seized from the alleged crime scene, journal entries, and data from electronic devices.” The text of the order was posted in full on X by journalist Grant Smith Ellis and summarized by Kelly Steffee, and WCVB reported the ruling and quoted it.
- The reason. “During the course of this trial, the jury must be free from outside influences so that they can consider the evidence presented and, at the end of the case, render a verdict based solely on the evidence and the applicable law,” the order says. Jurors have been told not to look at outside information, but the court found “additional measures” appropriate.
- The ruling. The government must “remove and not post or distribute any exhibits in this case before a verdict is rendered.” “These measures are necessary to ensure a fair and impartial trial for Farwell,” Casper wrote. The order stays in effect for the rest of the trial or until the court changes it.
- The trial stays open. The order notes that the public and media may attend in Courtroom 10 and two overflow courtrooms with closed-circuit video, and “the media has been able, and will continue to be able, to report on these proceedings.”
- The authority. Casper relied on the court’s inherent authority and on Local Rule 83.2.2, which lets a judge in “a widely publicized or sensational criminal or civil trial” issue a special order on extrajudicial statements and “any other matters that the court may deem appropriate.” She cited In re Globe Newspaper Co., 920 F.2d 88 (1st Cir. 1990), on the court’s need to protect “the jury system” from influences “that threaten the objectivity and independence of jurors,” and United States v. Chin, 913 F.3d 251 (1st Cir. 2019). We confirmed both citations on CourtListener.
The order is directed at the government’s distribution of exhibits. It does not close the courtroom or bar reporting on what witnesses say. Federal court rules already bar cameras in the courtroom, which is why the trial cannot be watched live.
The messages Kelsch read
Kelsch, who led the FBI investigation, spent most of the day reading texts from the roughly 40,000 communications investigators recovered between Farwell and Birchmore, the Herald and WCVB reported. She first took the stand Friday afternoon, Boston.com reported.
- The ultimatum. In October 2020, after learning Farwell’s wife was pregnant with their third child, Birchmore threatened to tell his wife about their relationship unless he agreed to have a baby with her, the Globe and Boston.com reported. She wrote to a friend: “He took my virginity before I was 16,” the Globe reported. On October 20, 2020, she asked whether he would be OK if she got pregnant. “Not really, but you made it clear I don’t have an option,” he answered, according to the Globe.
- December 2020. After she told him about the pregnancy, Farwell did not respond for several hours, then wrote, “I literally have nothing to say right now,” the Globe reported. In a later argument, he called her “truly the worst person on the face of the earth” and wrote, “You extorted me to get what you wanted,” according to Boston.com.
- The January 20 call. After a friend of Birchmore’s called the Stoughton Police Department on January 20, 2021 and disclosed the relationship, Farwell texted her an angry message about the friend calling his job, the Globe, Herald and WCVB reported. “It’s literally nothing,” she replied, according to the Herald and WCVB.
- “A complete 180.” Days later, Birchmore told friends Farwell’s behavior had changed. “He asked me if I’d give him a key, and said that if I keep it a secret, he’ll be around,” she wrote on January 24, 2021, according to the Globe. She had a copy of her key made the next day, the Globe reported, citing a Walmart receipt shown in court. She also told a friend he had opened her closet door and looked around her bathroom, which she called “really odd,” Boston.com reported.
- Meetings while on duty. Kelsch charted 49 meetings between the two, including whether Farwell was on the clock and whether he submitted for comp time, Boston.com reported.
- Choking. Kelsch read a series of sexually explicit messages in which Farwell described choking Birchmore and grabbing her throat, the Herald, NBC10 and Boston.com reported. Prosecutors tried to tie those messages to the way Birchmore was found, the Herald reported. NBC10 reported that Kelsch also read January 8, 2021 messages in which Farwell objected to a chokehold provision in the police reform bill.
- The disability evaluation. Prosecutors introduced records from a disability benefits evaluation Farwell underwent in June 2021. According to the Globe and Boston.com, it says he reported an earlier affair with a woman who threatened to tell his wife and who, he said, later took her own life.
- The last night. Birchmore’s iPhone locked at 9:13 p.m. on February 1, 2021 and was not unlocked again until March 12, 2021, when it was in State Police custody, Kelsch testified, according to the Herald.
Cross-examination
- Prior messages about self-harm. Daley walked Kelsch through messages from 2019 and 2020 in which Birchmore described self-harm and hopelessness, Boston.com and NBC10 reported. In October 2019 she wrote, “I feel like I just don’t have a reason to be here or around anymore,” according to Boston.com.
- The 2017 note. The defense showed a July 2017 notebook entry that the outlets described as what appeared to be a suicide note. “Although I’m no longer here, I will always be in your heart,” Boston.com reported it read.
- Money and setbacks. In mid-January 2021, Birchmore had $2.64 in the bank, and she was rejected from the Simmons College nursing program in late January, NBC10 reported. Asked whether financial stress is a factor in suicide, Kelsch said it would depend on the individual.
- February 1. Daley showed images from Birchmore’s Instagram cache that day, including one that read, “Can I die just for a day? I just want to see who will cry when I’m gone,” the Globe and Boston.com reported. Kelsch also testified that Birchmore searched for the color of the suicide ribbon that day, the Herald and Boston.com reported, alongside messages planning a newborn photo shoot and shopping for baby clothes.
- The government’s answer. On direct, Kelsch said that after a December 2020 argument in which Birchmore wrote “I wish I was never born,” she found no web searches, messages to others or journal entries about suicide around that conversation, Boston.com reported.
Kelsch returns to the stand Tuesday for more cross-examination, the Herald and Boston.com reported.
What the day added
The government spent the day building motive from Farwell’s own words: an ultimatum, a pregnancy he believed was his, a call to his workplace, and a sudden change in how he treated her in the last two weeks of her life. The defense answered with the paternity result and with years of Birchmore’s messages about self-harm, aiming at reasonable doubt on whether she died by her own hand. The government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Farwell killed Birchmore; the defense does not have to prove suicide. The trial is expected to last about five weeks.
Frequently asked questions
Was Matthew Farwell the father of Sandra Birchmore’s baby?
No, according to FBI Special Agent Heidi Kelsch’s testimony on October 19, 2026. She said a paternity test identified an Army recruiter from Quincy as the father. Birchmore believed Farwell was the father, according to the testimony, and prosecutors had previously said DNA excluded Farwell.
Does it matter for the charges that Farwell was not the father?
Not as a legal element. The fetal death count under 18 U.S.C. § 1841 does not require proof that the defendant knew the victim was pregnant or intended to harm the unborn child, and paternity is not part of the offense. The government’s motive theory turns on what Farwell believed and what Birchmore threatened to reveal.
Why did the judge order the government to remove exhibits from its website?
Chief Judge Denise J. Casper wrote that the jury “must be free from outside influences” and ordered the government to remove and not post or distribute any exhibits before a verdict. The exhibits had included photos of Birchmore’s body. The courtroom remains open and the media may continue to report.
Who is Heidi Kelsch?
An FBI special agent who led the federal investigation into Birchmore’s death. She began testifying on October 16, 2026 and was scheduled to continue under cross-examination on October 20.
Sources: The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston.com and NBC10 Boston live coverage, October 19, 2026; WCVB, October 19, 2026. Text of Chief Judge Casper’s October 19, 2026 order in United States v. Farwell, No. 24-cr-10259-DJC (D. Mass.), as posted on X and reported by WCVB; the order had not yet appeared on the public RECAP docket. 18 U.S.C. § 1841, read at the Legal Information Institute; In re Globe Newspaper Co., 920 F.2d 88 (1st Cir. 1990), and United States v. Chin, 913 F.3d 251 (1st Cir. 2019), confirmed on CourtListener. Quotations are as reported by those outlets. Matthew Farwell has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent. General information, not legal advice.