FBI agent reads text messages at Matthew Farwell's trial

CBS Boston's Kristina Rex reports on phone evidence presented as the first full week of testimony concludes.

Channel: CBS Boston Story of October 17, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 42,318 views a day, 16 times a normal first day on this channel (2,642).

FBI agent shares disturbing messages between Matthew Farwell and Sandra Birchmore before her death

Text messages and phone searches are part of the evidence jurors are hearing in Matthew Farwell's federal trial over Sandra Birchmore's death.

Reporting outside Boston's John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse, WBZ-TV's Kristina Rex describes FBI Special Agent Heidi Kelsch reading exchanges between Farwell and Birchmore. The report includes messages discussing pregnancy, along with phone searches concerning Massachusetts consent laws and whether Cellebrite could recover deleted iMessages.

Prosecutors allege that Birchmore was pregnant with Farwell's child when he killed her in 2021 and staged her death as a suicide. Those are the prosecution's allegations being presented at trial.

The CBS Boston report drew roughly 17,000 views in its first six hours, already several times the channel's usual full-day audience for a Short.

Rex also speaks with Birchmore's cousin, Barbara Wright, outside the courthouse. Kelsch's testimony is scheduled to resume Monday and occupy most of the court day.

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The numbers

The court report has already drawn substantially more views than a typical CBS Boston Short receives in its first day.

the video's first day

usual first day here

2,642

this video

42,318

subscribers

376,000

no significant change in the last 7 days

total views

423,600,799

views per day

290,521

typical day: 424,302

the video

views

16,793

likes

67

comments

10

days online

1

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

WCCO - CBS Minnesota

421,000

FOX 13 Seattle

402,000

WSB-TV

391,000

KTVU FOX 2 San Francisco

389,000

CP24

380,000

CBS Boston

376,000

As of October 17, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.