Did Karen Read kill John O'Keefe? Was Karen Read having an affair? Is Karen Read being framed by members of law enforcement? All are questions surrounding the Karen Read murder case that has gripped a small Massachusetts town as the trial gets underway.
The Karen Read murder trial is underway in Massachusetts, with jury selection expected to be complete by Monday.
It may be no easy feat to find an impartial jury in the divisive case that has gripped the small town of Canton, located approximately 20 miles south of Boston.
Read, an equity analyst and college professor at Bentley University is accused of murdering her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe.
She is charged in Norfolk County Superior Court with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
Read has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintained her innocence ever since the day a grand jury first indicted her on these charges.
Her defense has laid out a very different series of events than the prosecution regarding the night O'Keefe died. But the one thing that both sides do agree on is that Read and O'Keefe were both out drinking on the night of Jan. 28, 2022, and that the couple was invited to have a nightcap at the home of a fellow member of the Boston Police Department, Brian Albert.
O'Keefe then got into Read's car and the couple drove to Albert's home.
From there, the stories differ.
Karen Read Case - Prosecution
Prosecutors have said in multiple court filings that O'Keefe and Read allegedly had a strained relationship at the time of his death.
The statement of case filed by prosecutors said that in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, Read left O'Keefe a voicemail, saying: "you are f***ing using me right now, you are f***ing another girl . ... you are a f***ing loser, f*** yourself."
She also called him "a f***ing pervert,” and yelled, “John, I f***ing hate you,” according to the statement.
In addition, O'Keefe's niece, 14, and nephew, 10, said in an interview with the Norfolk Advocates for Children that the couple "argue frequently," according to the statement.
O'Keefe had been raising his niece and nephew for eight years at the time of his death, gaining custody of the two in 2014 after they lost their mother, O'Keefe's sister, to a brain tumor, and their father to a heart attack in the months.
"They both described a recent argument, within two weeks of O’Keefe’s death, where he had asked [Ms. Read] to leave his house, but she refused to leave," said the statement. "O’Keefe’s niece described a second argument within a week of his death where she heard O’Keefe tell [Ms. Read] that he wanted to end the relationship, that it had run its course, that it was not healthy, and that they argued too often. [Ms. Read] did not want the relationship to end and again refused to leave the house."
All of the guests who went to the Albert's home that January night after the bar said they never saw O'Keefe enter the residence, according to prosecutors.
A friend of O'Keefe's, Jennifer McCabe, who is Albert's sister-in-law, said in an interview with Massachusetts State Police (MSP) troopers that she saw a black SUV arrive at Albert's home that evening, which looked similar to Read's vehicle, according to the statement.
McCabe provided investigators with her text messages from that time, which allegedly show that she texted O'Keefe "Hello" from her cell phone and then told him where to park his vehicle, according to the statement.
"Ms. McCabe then observed the black SUV move from its initial place where it had stopped on the street, near the driveway, and proceed to the left side of the property, where Mr. O’Keefe’s body was subsequently discovered later in the morning," said the statement.
McCabe said that she saw the SUV drive away from the residence approximately 15 minutes after arriving, and then, about four hours later, got a call from O'Keefe's niece looking for O'Keefe, according to the statement.
O'Keefe's niece said in an interview with the advocate that she called McCabe at the behest of Read, who allegedly woke up the girl in the middle of the night while "screaming and acting frantic," according to the statement.
In her interview with Norfolk Advocates for Children, the niece "indicated ... that the defendant changed her story several times while speaking to Ms. McCabe on the phone, with initially the defendant stating that she and the victim got into an argument and she dropped him off," said the statement.
Read and McCabe then met and with another friend, Kerry Roberts, went looking for O'Keefe.
Inside Edition Digital reached out to Roberts for comment, but the individual who answered that call hung up the phone before answering any questions.
While driving that early morning, McCabe told troopers that Read allegedly said, "Could I have hit him” and “Did I hit him" while also speaking about a broken tail light on her car, according to the statement.
Roberts told MSP troopers that Read called her that morning and allegedly said: "John’s dead. Kerry, Kerry, I wonder if he’s dead. It's snowing, he got hit by a plow.”
The group arrived at Albert's home while it "was snowing heavily with the wind blowing, creating poor visibility," according to the statement.
McCabe said that it "initially confused" both her and Roberts when Read "immediately stated that she saw the victim," said the statement.
O'Keefe's body was covered in six inches of snow, but there was no snow underneath his body, according to the statement.
The snow had begun falling at approximately 12:11 a.m. according to the statement, which also said that is when Read and O'Keefe left the bar and traveled to Albert's home.
Read and emergency responders attempted to revive O'Keefe. He was eventually transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after 7 a.m., according to the statement.
One of the first responders, Canton Firefighter Katie McLaughlin, said she approached Read about O'Keefe's injuries when she arrived on the scene, according to the statement.
"Ms. McLaughlin asked the defendant if she knew where the victim had suffered the trauma to his face/eye and the defendant turned to her friend and stated repeatedly, 'I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,'" said the statement.
Both of O'Keefe's eyes were swollen shut and bruised, according to the autopsy report.
Read later spoke with MSP troopers as well, who impounded her car as evidence in the case, according to the statement
Later that day, members of the MSP Special Emergency Response Team arrived on the scene and recovered "two red plastic pieces of a tail light" and a "clear plastic tail light" that were all "consistent with the broken tail light" of Read's car, according to the statement.
Opening statements in the case are expected this week, at which time prosecutors are expected to tell jurors that Read killed O'Keefe by hitting him with her car and then left him out in the snow to die. The autopsy report concluded that he had suffered blunt force injuries before hypothermia set in on the night of his death, authorities said.
Karen Read Case - Defense
Read's attorneys say that she is being framed, and in a motion seeking cell phone records, said that "the actual perpetrators of this crime are Jennifer McCabe and Brian Albert."
Police have not charged either McCabe or Albert with a crime and neither has been declared a suspect or person of interest in the case. Neither McCabe nor Albert responded to Inside Edition Digital's requests for comment.
"Contrary to the Commonwealth's theories, photographs of O'Keefe suggest that he was beaten severely and left for dead, having sustained blunt force injuries to both sides of his face as well as to the back of his head," said that cell phone motion. "In addition to suffering numerous defensive wounds on his hands consistent with a brutal fight, O'Keefe also suffered a cluster of deep scratches and puncture wounds to his right upper arm and forearm."
The defense said that "Apple Health recorded O'Keefe taking 80 steps (ic, traveling approximately 87.74 meters) and climbing the equivalent of three floors with his location data pinging in close proximity of the Albert Residence" after being dropped off that night, according to the motion.
McCabe then "inserted herself into the 'search,' making every effort to delay Ms. Read in returning to the Albert Residence to look for him and ensuring that she was in control of the narrative provided to police when O'Keefe’s body was discovered," said the defense in their motion.
The defense does not deny that Read's niece contacted McCabe that night on Read's behalf.
McCabe then called 911 when Read discovered the body, Read's attorneys said at which time a trooper arrived on the scene who is close friends with both the McCabe and Albert families, according to the defense's motion.
That trooper is now the focus of an internal investigation by MSP over "a potential violation of Department policy" a spokesperson told Inside Edition Digital.
The reason for the investigation is not being shared by MSP at this time and the spokesperson said that the trooper "remains on full duty."
Albert's wife Nicole told police that she first learned about O'Keefe when her sister, McCabe, came into their bedroom that morning and woke them up with the news, said the motion.
Cell phone records obtained by the defense show that McCabe "actually made two calls to her sister, Nicole Albert's cell phone at 6:07 a.m. and 6:08 a.m. both of which were answered by someone and were subsequently deleted," according to the motion.
The defense wrote in the motion:
Thus, Brian and Nicole Albert were among the first individuals to be notified that O'Keefe was lying unresponsive mere feet away on their front lawn, and in spite of being in such close proximity, made no effort to go outside and assist or otherwise investigate the emergency that was unfolding on their doorstep. Either Nicole is lying, or Jennifer McCabe was on the phone with her husband, Brian Albert. Either way, Brian and Nicole Albert chose to sequester themselves in their home— distancing themselves from the investigation—rather than check on O'Keefe, assist in life-saving efforts, speak with responding officers, or otherwise investigate the circumstances surrounding the fact that their family member had just discovered the body of a Boston Police Officer on their front lawn.
The defense also said in this motion that the Canton Police Department edited the incident report from the event:
The two Canton Police Department Incident Reports are (almost) identical and purport to have been created and generated on the exact same date at the exact same time. However, the report produced on October 25, 2022 (“the Altered Report”), is different from the report produced months earlier on February 2, 2022 (“the Original Report”), in two very significant respects: (1) the Altered Report swaps the single crime scene photograph included within the report from a photograph that was taken on the morning of January 29, 2022 by Canton PD (where there were clearly no pieces of Ms. Read's taillight at the crime scene), to a crime scene photograph taken on February 3, 2022 by Massachusetts State Police (when ‘Trooper Proctor purportedly recovered pieces her taillight at the scene days later after he had already taken possession of her vehicle);* and (2) the Altered Report, replaces Brian Albert's “primary” cell phone number (the very same number Jennifer McCabe deleted from her cell phone belonging to “uncle brian a”) with a completely different number. Thus, the witnesses in this case have made repeated attempts to conceal, hide, and erase any reference to Brian Albert's cell phone number in connection with this case
The defense said a German shepherd owned by Albert caused the scratches found on O'Keefe's arms in their motion. The defense was not able to run tests to confirm or deny this because Albert allegedly rehomed the dog and sold his home soon after O'Keefe's death, according to the motion.
Brian and Nicole Albert both said that they did not know O'Keefe or Read "particularly well" and "neither was aware that the [couple] planned on coming over that night," according to the statement.
The defense does not question that but said that the lack of an investigation into the homeowners and McCabe greatly compromises Read's ability to mount an adequate defense to the charges against her in their motion.
Because the McCabes and Alberts were never questioned as suspects, the government failed to recover (and uncover) significant evidence suggesting that they are at fault. The defense, quite clearly, has a good faith belief that Brian Albert and Jennifer McCabe are implicated in O'Keefe’s murder. Furthermore, the cell phone evidence that was withheld by the government for more than a year clearly establishes that Jennifer McCabe and her family members have taken affirmative steps to delete and tamper with evidence that was provided to law enforcement in this case and improperly influence the investigation into O'Keefe’s death.
Karen Read Case - Variables
Three hours before the discovery of O'Keefe's body at 2:27 a.m., cell phone records allegedly show that McCabe did a Google search for "hos [sic] long to die in the cold," according to multiple court filings.
Four hours later, at 6:23 a.m., she allegedly searched again for “how long ti [sic] die in cikd [sic]” followed one minute later by "hos [sic] long to die in the cold," according to court filings.
McCabe said that she made those searches at Read's request when she discovered the body and that the 2:27 a.m. search was not made at that time but instead typed into a search window last used at that time, according to prosecutors.
The defense said in motions that McCabe made the two latter searches in an "attempt to override her inculpatory search."
One person the defense is not accusing of any wrongdoing from the party that night is Brian Higgins, a man who prosecutors said had a "romantic entanglement" with Read.
Higgins said in an interview with MSP troopers that Read "made an advance on him and gave him a kiss on the lips," two weeks before O'Keefe's death, according to a memorandum in response to the defendant's motion to dismiss filed by prosecutors in February.
He also said that Read texted him and invited him to her home, which he declined, according to the memorandum.
Read allegedly stopped by Higgins' home unannounced days before O'Keefe's murder to discuss their relationship but nothing of a sexual nature happened at that time, according to Higgins. Higgins said that Read allegedly told him that O'Keefe had an affair a few weeks prior during a trip to Aruba, according to the memorandum.
Brian Higgins did not respond to Inside Edition Digital's request for comment.
Karen Read Trial
Read's fate will be decided in Norfolk Superior Court, where crowds of supporters gather each day to support Read. Meanwhile, O'Keefe's family members said they are constantly being harassed, including his mother, who had lost two of her three children in the past 10 years. Prosecutors also accuse some Read supporters of witness intimidation.
Judge Beverly Cannone will preside over the proceedings. Adam Lally, an assistant district attorney in Norfolk County, has been named the lead prosecutor.
Read's initial defense attorney, David Yannetti, is now her second attorney, while her lead attorney in the case is Alan Jackson.
Jackson served as the Assistant Head Deputy for the Major Crimes Division at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and has previously represented high-profile defendants including Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Phil Spector.
Jury selection is expected to be completed on Monday with opening statements tentatively scheduled for later this week. The case is expected to last from six to eight weeks, according to Judge Cannone.
