John O’Keefe murder: Inside sensational case of Boston cop as accused girlfriend Karen Read goes on trial
NORFOLK, MASSACHUSETTS: The trial of Karen Read, charged with the murder of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, began in Massachusetts on Tuesday, April 16. Read, a 44-year-old financial analyst and college professor, is accused of second-degree murder in connection with O'Keefe's death.
This high-profile case has captured the attention of the state and beyond, marked by intricate legal battles, accusations of police misconduct, and persistent conspiracy theories. However, the prosecution alleges that an intoxicated altercation between the couple culminated in Read intentionally striking O'Keefe with her SUV, leaving him fatally injured in the snow.
Karen Read case a 'suicide mission' for prosecutors
Read maintains her innocence, asserting that she's being framed by individuals associated with the suburban party she attended before the incident. The case has “divided the town” with various factions passionately supporting Read and dissecting every detail of the case.
An FBI investigation is ongoing into potential police misconduct during the initial investigation. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” a source close to the Read case said. “It’s pretty crazy and yet the Norfolk DA is going ahead with the trial and no one’s stopping it. To me the [prosecutors] are on a suicide mission.”
Boston police officer John O'Keefe's final moments
According to Read, she and O’Keefe had been drinking with his acquaintance Jennifer McCabe at the local Waterfall Bar. Around midnight, McCabe invited the couple to the home of her brother-in-law Brian Albert, a retired Boston Police Fugitive Unit commander detective who gained visibility on Donnie Wahlberg’s TNT reality show, 'Boston’s Finest.'
Read dropped O’Keefe off there around 12.30 am. Despite the presence of approximately a dozen people at the house, the cop was primarily familiar with McCabe. Subsequently, the suspect drove the three miles to O’Keefe's residence in Canton, where he resided with his orphaned niece and nephew, and retired for the night.
According to Read, she woke up around 4.30 in the morning in a panic when she realized O’Keefe hadn’t come home. She tried to get in touch with O’Keefe, but no one answered. She then contacted McCabe, who said he didn’t know O’Keefe was at the party. She also reached out to an old friend of O’Keefe’s, Kerry Roberts. When she got no response, Read, McCabe and Roberts drove to Jennifer's house.
Karen Read's alleged confession after the discovery of John O'Keefe's body
From there, they proceeded to O’Keefe's residence and subsequently to Albert’s home. Upon arrival at the Albert residence on Fairview Road, Read discovered her boyfriend's body on the lawn and attempted to administer CPR. Allegedly, the first responders who arrived after Read, McCabe, and Roberts found the body overheard Read saying, “I hit him. I hit him,”
Read refuted this claim in August, “I said, ‘I hit him’? It was preceded by a ‘Did,’ and preceded by a question mark. What I thought could have happened was that, did I incapacitate him unwittingly, somehow, and then in his drunkenness [he] passed out? “I did not kill John O’Keefe. I have never harmed a hair on John O’Keefe’s head,” Read told ABC.
Subsequently, Read was arrested on February 2, four days after O’Keefyoe's discovery, and initially charged with manslaughter. Although, four months later, the charges were elevated to murder. She is currently out on bond. Central to the defense's argument is the assertion that O'Keefe's injuries are inconsistent with a hit-and-run, pointing to evidence suggesting alternative scenarios.
Karen Read's trial surrounded by doubt and legal disputes
Allegations of a cover-up orchestrated by influential local figures have further fueled speculation, with supporters of Read vehemently asserting her innocence. “The cops knitted this together like a tight cap,” said a resident anonymously. “That poor son of a bitch was beaten to a pulp, he wasn’t hit by a car. This is a bad, bad crime scene and the people trying to pin it on Karen are evil.”
Amidst the legal wrangling, the trial has become a battleground of narratives, with conflicting accounts and interpretations shaping the public discourse. “There is so much reasonable doubt in this case that you could drive a truck through it,” remarked Melanie Little, a seasoned trial lawyer from Long Island with three decades of experience handling numerous auto accident cases.
“It was totally mishandled. There’s no way Karen hit him with her car. But the crux of it is that [the Albert] family has been in Canton for generations. Most of the witnesses in the case are not only related but are longtime locals. Karen is not,” said Little, who has dedicated over 50 hours to analyzing the Read case through videos on her YouTube channel.
In August of last year, Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey released a video asserting that there was no cover-up in the case and condemning the "conspiracy theories" purportedly propagated by Read's supporters. Moreover, in January, the suspect attorney David Yannetti informed Judge Beverly Cannone, who presides over the case, that Josh Levy, the acting US attorney for Massachusetts, had expressed his ethical concerns during a motion hearing, stating that he "could not in good conscience allow this trial to go forward."
Subsequently, Levy took the unprecedented step of disclosing over 3,000 pages of documents related to the federal investigation of the Read case to both the prosecution and defense teams. However, the majority of these federal materials remain under a protective order and unavailable to the public. As proceedings unfold, the spotlight remains firmly fixed on the courtroom, where the quest for justice intertwines with the pursuit of truth.
