(NewsNation) — The cousin of Sandra Birchmore, a pregnant woman allegedly killed by a former police detective, tells NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield that her “work is just beginning.”
“There were quite a few people who exploited and groomed Sandra,” Barbara Wright said Thursday on “Banfield.” “They need to be brought to justice, as well.”
Birchmore’s family has questioned the official ruling of suicide and said she was groomed and sexually abused by three police officers. They filed a wrongful death suit against the department, accusing them of negligent hiring, negligent supervision and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Birchmore, 23, was found dead at her Canton, Massachusetts, apartment in 2021. She was pregnant. Originally ruled a suicide, former detective Matthew G. Farwell of Stoughton, Mass., was indicted for her death in August 2024.
Farwell allegedly killed Birchmore in February 2021 by strangulation and “staged” her Canton apartment “to make it appear as if Birchmore had committed suicide,” court records stated.
Wright said she believes her cousin’s story would have been “swept under the rug” if it weren’t for Melissa Berry, an administrator for the Facebook page “Justice for Sandra Birchmore.”
“I don’t think he (Farwell) would have stopped,” Wright added. “He would have gone on and hurt another person.”
NewsNation’s Safia Samee Ali contributed to this report.