Matthew Farwell’s defense attorney described Sandra Birchmore’s death as an impulsive act of despair. Federal prosecutors say DNA recovered from a strap at the scene ties the former Stoughton police officer to her death. The jury now has to weigh those conflicting accounts rather than assume either opening statement proves Read more…
Eight days after Sandra Birchmore’s death, an iPhone linked to Matthew Farwell was used to search whether consent could be revoked in Massachusetts. A second search asked whether Cellebrite could recover deleted messages. Prosecutors showed jurors the digital evidence during the former Stoughton officer’s federal murder trial. Farwell denies the Read more…
Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s reported prison words about Ken Urker have resurfaced after his death, while a separate online campaign is challenging the accepted story of Dee Dee Blanchard’s treatment of her daughter. Recordings reported to be from prison calls in 2020 and 2021 capture Gypsy discussing Ken with Ryan Anderson Read more…
Sandra Birchmore’s family was told her death was self-inflicted. Years later, Matthew Farwell faced federal charges accusing him of killing her and staging the scene. A federal prosecution filing says a state lab found male DNA on the strap in 2021, but officers did not collect Farwell’s sample for comparison. Read more…
Leo Hengstler drove the ambulance that responded to the Brookfield Boarding Kennels on February 16, 1981. He testified to something that appears in no book, no movie, and no dramatization of this case. He heard Debbie Glatzel tell her father while Alan Bono lay dying: “You know how he gets Read more…
Two of the biggest cases on the docket share a question about the police, and Eric Faddis joins me to work through both Sandra Birchmore and Alex Murdaugh. The FBI says a Stoughton police employee told Matthew Farwell about a friend’s call reporting his relationship with Sandra, 12 days before Read more…
Every year the Assemblies of God sends licensed ministers a form asking whether they’ve upheld the moral code. Timmy Gibson says not one pastor he personally knew answered honestly. On Homicide Happy Hour, Gibson explained the system. If you told the truth, you lost your license and your livelihood. One Read more…
Alex Murdaugh’s lawyers asked for one thing the state didn’t want to give them, and on October 16 Judge Debra McCaslin gave it to them anyway. Eric Faddis joins me to weigh the ruling. The defense gets its own testing on unknown male DNA from Maggie Murdaugh’s fingernails and her Read more…
David Glatzel was 11 years old when he described visions of Arne Johnson killing someone. Months before anyone died. Before February 16, 1981, when Johnson stabbed Alan Bono on the lawn of a Brookfield, Connecticut boarding kennel — the first homicide in the town’s 193-year history. His brother Carl was Read more…
Donna McNamara ordered the 2021 investigation that found three Stoughton officers had inappropriate relationships with Sandra Birchmore. Now McNamara is the one on leave, and Eric Faddis joins me to ask how. Her lawsuit says that on July 7, Town Manager Thomas Calter called her in, gave her a choice Read more…