India, Oct. 14 -- The federal murder trial of former Stoughton police detective Matthew Farwell has brought renewed attention to the life and death of Sandra Birchmore. Birchmore was a a 23-year-old Massachusetts woman whose death was initially ruled a suicide but is now the subject of a federal homicide case.

Prosecutors have alleged Farwell killed Birchmore in February 2021 and staged her death to appear self-inflicted. Farwell has pleaded not guilty.

On the trial's opening day, jurors heard testimony from Stoughton detective Heather Cheever, who mentored Birchmore through the department's youth programme. Cheever testified she never believed Birchmore had taken her own life because she had never expressed suicidal thoughts. Other wit...