Oh my gosh.
A pregnant woman from Massachusetts, whose death was ruled a suicide, had once accused three police officers in the employ of the town of Stoughton of inappropriately forcing themselves upon her when she was only thirteen years of age. It now appears that she might have been murdered.
The death of Sandra Birchmore was officially classified as suicide by a medical examiner in the employ of the State of Massachusetts after she was found in 2021, hanged in her Canton apartment. The autopsy, which also discovered that Birchmore was three months pregnant at the time of her death, concluded that Birchmore’s remains failed to exhibit any evidence of foul play.
According to a CBS News report, the Stroughton Police Department’s 2022 internal investigation concluded that the officers accused by Birchmore were, indeed, guilty of inappropriate conduct towards Birchmore when she was a young teen. The three culprits met their victim through the Stroughton Police Explorers departmental outreach program.
Birchmore’s family members, who have been continuing the legal battle against the three officers accused by Birchmore, were not satisfied with this ruling and hired an independent pathologist to conduct his own autopsy. His report contradicts that issued by the government.
Dr. Michael Baden, the freelancer who was once the chief medical examiner for New York City, concluded his investigation of Birchmore’s death that the victim’s injuries were not consistent with death by hanging. They were, however, consistent with death by strangulation, which means that Birchmore’s death was indisputably a homicide.
Donna McNamara, the police chief of Stroughton, said of the new report that, while she is herself not trained as a medical examiner and thus is not qualified to render a definitive verdict, the findings contained within Baden’s report seem to her to warrant high-level examination.
A Norfolk County District Attorney spokesperson told the press that an active investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies has been convened to review all available information on the matter.