Seattle1
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Death of Sandra Birchmore was a homicide, prominent pathologist says - The Boston Globe
The finding contradicts the 2021 conclusion of the state medical examiner, who ruled that Birchmore, a young woman who was allegedly groomed by three former Stoughton police officers, died of suicide.
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June 24, 2024
In a letter dated June 18 to a lawyer for Birchmore’s estate, Dr. Michael Baden, a former chief medical examiner in New York City, cited the extent of Birchmore’s injuries and the placement of a ligature found on her body as factors in his determination.
In May 2021, the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Birchmore, 23, a former participant in a Stoughton police youth program who was pregnant when she died, killed herself by hanging, according to her death certificate.
“I must disagree,” Baden wrote in the letter.
“Ms. Birchmore did not die of suicidal hanging … The cause of Ms. Birchmore’s death is ‘Strangulation’ and the manner of death is ‘Homicide,’” Baden wrote.
Baden’s determination opens a new front in the controversial case that has prompted investigations by the FBI and the state attorney general’s office. Stoughton police also conducted its own internal affairs investigation of the three former officers. No criminal charges have been brought.