Who is the ‘mystery man’ in the Sandra Birchmore video?

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: There was dramatic testimony today in the Sandra Birchmore murder trial, the twin brother of the former Massachusetts cop accused of murder. He took the stand. The twin was on the stand. And within minutes, William Billy Farwell admits that he also had sexual relationships with Sandra, including while he was on duty as a police officer. He also testified that he didn't know Sandra was involved with his twin brother, Matthew, and he's testifying under a grant of federal immunity. And after just 20 minutes on the stand, court adjoined for adjoined for the day, and he's expected to be back on the stand tomorrow. But that was not the only major development. Earlier, the medical examiner who originally ruled Sandra's death a suicide testified she was missing critical information and was never asked to consider whether Sandra's death was a homicide. She testified she would have collected evidence differently if she had been investigating a possible homicide. And she later changed the manner of death from suicide to undetermined. Prosecutors allege Matthew Farwell strangled the pregnant 23-year-old, and that was back in 2021, and staged her death as a suicide to cover up years of alleged sexual abuse, beginning when she was just 15 years old. It's an awful, awful case. Farwell has pleaded not guilty, and his defense maintains that Sandra took her own life. I spoke earlier today with Sandra's cousin, Barbara Wright, who was like a mother to her after Sandra lost her own mom. She was in the courtroom for all of today's testimony. Take a look at this. Just by saying, I'm so sorry for everything that happened to Sandra. This has been such an infuriating case to follow, and my heart just goes out to you and your family. My first question, though, is Billy Farwell, Matthew Farwell's twin brother, finally took the stand today. What was your—he was only on for about an hour. He's going to continue tomorrow. But what was your impression of him? [00:02:03] Barbara Wright: He—he seemed very uncomfortable. That's the main thing. He was very uncomfortable. He sat down. He looked straight ahead. He didn't look at his brother at all. His mother was sitting out in the gallery with the rest of the people. He didn't look her way at all, either. So it'll be interesting to hear what he has to say tomorrow. He didn't have much time to talk today at all. [00:02:25] Speaker 1: Do you believe his story, Barb? Because he—he admitted that he says he, you know, had sex with Sandra while he was on duty, but claims that he didn't know anything about what was happening with—with his [00:02:40] Barbara Wright: brother and Sandra. Do you believe it? No, I don't. I don't. Twins know everything about each other, you know? They're very close. I have Denise and Darlene, Denise, Sandra's mother, and her aunt Darlene. They were very, very close. They knew everything about each other. So I don't believe it. [00:03:00] Speaker 1: It also came out, Barb, almost immediately that the twin, Billy, is testifying under immunity. So he can't be charged with anything. And it seems that he did commit a crime, admitting to doing that with Sandra while he was on duty. How do you feel about that? I mean, do you think that that was just necessary to get him to come forward? Or does it upset you that he got this immunity deal? [00:03:23] Barbara Wright: Oh, I believe it was necessary. I mean, look how far away he moved. He moved all the way out to New Mexico. So, you know, obviously, he was trying to get as far away as possible. I—I'm not upset by it, but I hope that he'll be truthful. And I hope he'll tell us some things, answer some questions. Mainly, we have so many questions [00:03:48] Speaker ?: right now. [00:03:48] Speaker 1: There's been so many difficult days in court, but today seemed especially difficult. They showed some of the crime scene photos. I know—I know you were in the courtroom. That must have been really, really hard. [00:03:59] Barbara Wright: It was hard, but I had two people, two friends of mine sitting on either side and they motioned to me whenever there was a photo shown that I shouldn't see, because I don't want to see that. I don't want that to be my last memory of Sandra. So they actually kind of gave me some sign language to say, "Don't look." So I kept my head down and just took notes. So I got through it. [00:04:25] Speaker 1: There's been—there's been so many infuriating parts of this, Barb, including, like, when this medical examiner took the stand, the fact that it was ruled a suicide without even any, like, photos from inside the apartment, very basic things were not sent to the medical examiner. What did you make of that? [00:04:51] Barbara Wright: That was extremely frustrating. And they said to her, they asked her, "If you had known this was a suspected homicide, would you have handled your autopsy differently?" And she said, "Absolutely." For example, they removed all the clothing from Sandra and washed her body. If she had known it was a homicide, she would have had them leave the clothing on and just had that put in the body bag so that she could just do all the forensics that she needed to do. And there were a couple other things that she would have looked at closer to. There was a gash on her forehead that she didn't look at closely because she thought it was a suicide. If she had known it was a suspected homicide, she would have checked that out a little closer to see exactly what made that mark, and also the mark on her chest, because she said that looked like it might be blunt force trauma. So if she had known, she would have checked that out, too, closer. So it's frustrating. [00:05:48] Speaker 1: JOHN YANG: Or even the fact that the police officer told the medical examiner that it was a scarf. I think that's the word that he used, a scarf around Sandra's neck, where, when you look at the photos, it is so clearly not a scarf. It is part of a duffel bag. I could see how if you would mistake it for, like, a belt or something like that. But it looks absolutely nothing like a scarf. And so the medical examiner thought it was a scarf, and it was clearly not a scarf. [00:06:15] Barbara Wright: JOHN YANG: How could she think it was a scarf? It didn't even look like a scarf. In fact, if you read the reports, you get four or five different descriptions of what it was. One of them said it was a lanyard, one set a belt, one set a rope, one set a scarf. Obviously, you could see that it was a belt to a duffel bag or some kind of, you know, pocketbook or something. It was definitely with the clasp on it and everything. It was obvious. How could they make a mistake like that? [00:06:47] Speaker 1: JOHN YANG: Yeah, and this medical examiner's job was to be the one to decide how Sandra died and doesn't even know exactly what it was that was around her neck. I mean, that seems like the most basic thing that she should have had straight. [00:07:01] Barbara Wright: JOHN YANG: Yeah. Exactly. That makes you question a lot of things. [00:07:08] Speaker 1: JOHN YANG: Yeah, for sure. What was Sandra's state of mind around that time? I mean, we heard from her therapist who spoke to her just the day before she died and said that she was very hopeful. She was excited. She was excited to be pregnant. She was not in a suicidal state of mind. When was the last time you talked to her, and what did you feel her state of mind was during that time? [00:07:33] Barbara Wright: JOHN YANG: She was -- she was ecstatic. She was all over the moon to be pregnant. She was excited. She had a new apartment. I had co-signed on a new car for her. So, she had a car. She was, you know, starting her life. And she had big plans. She was planning a shower -- baby shower. And, I mean, the minute she knew she was pregnant, she was, like, just ready to go, trying to get everything ready for the baby. She was -- that's all she talked about. She was excited. She wasn't, you know, depressed at all. I didn't see that at all. [00:08:11] Speaker 1: JOHN YANG: Did she ever say anything to you about any of these officers, about Matthew Farwell or about Billy Farwell that had ever come up? [00:08:24] Barbara Wright: JOHN YANG: She alluded to the fact that she was seeing a married man. She didn't tell me he was a police officer or anything like that. She didn't tell me very much at all. You have to understand, she was in Massachusetts, and I was all the way out in Seattle. So, you know, what I knew about her was what she told me. [00:08:42] Speaker 1: JOHN YANG: It seems like the prosecution is winding down their case. Billy Farwell may be the last witness, and then we'll see what the defense does. JOHN YANG: No, no. JOHN YANG: Do you feel like the prosecution has done enough? JOHN YANG: No, no. JOHN YANG: Like, what is your feeling right now? [00:08:54] Barbara Wright: JOHN YANG: Well, I think they saved the best for last, because after Farwell, they're going to have Dr. Smock. And Dr. Smock is a strangulation expert. And not only that, he is an expert on strangulations that are made to look like suicides. So the best is yet to come. And then after him is Jessica. Jessica Hyde. So she's a forensics expert. And we're hoping -- I don't know for sure, but we're hoping she'll talk about Sandra's Apple Watch. She might have some insights on that. So that will be very interesting, too. [00:09:29] Speaker 1: JOHN YANG: OK, so there's still several witnesses left. When you're in the courtroom, Barb, what is it like? And have you gotten any kind of feeling -- like, usually, when I'm in court covering cases, you know, I'll look at the jurors a lot, just to kind of see if I can see anything, read anything on their faces? Have you gotten any sense from the jurors, just kind of looking at them? [00:09:54] Barbara Wright: JESSICA HYDE: The only thing I have really noticed is that they're very, very interested. They're listening to every detail. There's been some emotion. At the very beginning of the trial, when they showed Sandra's picture of the one in the flannel shirt, started talking about what happened, a lot of them were crying. They were very upset. And today, it was hard for them to look at the photos. And there was a lot of, you know, very -- they were very uncomfortable. But it's good to see that they're all paying attention. They're taking notes. So I think that they're doing the best they can. I wouldn't want to be on that jury. That would be very, very difficult. [00:10:37] Speaker 1: JOHN YANG: With Billy Farwell, the twin, who's going to be back on the stand tomorrow morning, is there anything that you particularly want the prosecution to ask him about? [00:10:47] Barbara Wright: JESSICA HYDE: Yeah, I would like them to ask him where he was the night that Sandra died. Where was he when Matthew went to her apartment? Is he the mystery man on the tape? Because there is a longer version of that apartment footage that shows somebody walking by the doorway just before Matthew Farwell walks out the door, just before he leaves. And I'm wondering if he's at what we call the mystery [00:11:18] Speaker 1: man. That would be interesting to know. JOHN YANG: Oh, interesting. Yeah, because I've only seen the video with Matthew Farwell with the mask on when he goes in and then comes out. But you're saying there's [00:11:29] Barbara Wright: another man on the video? JESSICA HYDE: There is. There's a longer version of the video that someone got very recently. And that part wasn't cut out. And it shows someone walking by the door, the exit door at the apartment, that door you're looking at right there. Well, wait a minute, no, behind him. So when he's coming back out, the door that's closing first, you see a person walking by that doorway. So I'd like to know who that person was. I'd like to know where he was. Yeah, definitely interesting. JOHN YANG: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if, [00:12:08] Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see if they ask him about that tomorrow. Well, Barb, I really appreciate it. I know it's exhausting going through that every single day and being in court. And it's a lot for you to have to come on. So I really appreciate you for taking the time. [00:12:22] Barbara Wright: I'm always happy to talk about Sanda. It helps. [00:12:27] Speaker 1: Thank you for watching. 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