Sandra Birchmore’s Death Certificate Changed to WHAT?!

The official death record in the Sandra Birchmore case no longer says suicide. It also does not say homicide. That middle ground may become one of the most important fights in Matthew Farwell’s federal trial.

Birchmore’s death certificate originally listed “asphyxia by hanging” as the cause and “suicide” as the manner. In 2026, the Massachusetts medical examiner amended it to “asphyxia” and “undetermined.” Farwell’s defense says Birchmore took her own life and plans to call Dr. Thomas Andrew, a former New Hampshire chief medical examiner who says suicidal hanging cannot be ruled out. Prosecutors have experts prepared to tell jurors that Birchmore’s injuries are more consistent with strangulation.

At the same time, the government’s motive theory has its own complication. DNA testing excludes Farwell as the biological father of Birchmore’s unborn son. Prosecutors say Birchmore told Farwell the baby was his and point to messages they say show he believed it. Their position is that motive turns on what Farwell believed before her death, not what later testing established.

Judge Denise Casper has opened both evidentiary doors. Prosecutors may use selected messages, social-media content and journal entries from Birchmore. The defense may introduce evidence concerning her mental-health history and prior suicidal thoughts because it supports its theory of suicide.

Eric Faddis joins Tony Brueski to examine what jurors do when the paternity evidence cuts one way, the alleged belief cuts another, and the official manner of death lands on “undetermined.”

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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