Karen Read is accused of murdering her boyfriend, a Boston police officer who was left to die in the snow. Her supporters insist she is the victim of a hoax. Her trial, which began in April, has drawn intense media attention, and jurors will have the burden of answering a key question: Did she kill him?
Read’s boyfriend, John O’Keefe, 46, was found dead in the snow outside a friend’s house the morning after prosecutors say he was hit by a drunken Read as she backed out of her driveway in Canton, Massachusetts. But her lawyers continue to press ahead with their own claim that she is falsely accused and the victim of a cover-up.
The trial, now in its fifth week, produced several key statements that shed light on the case, which has several twists and turns.
Massachusetts woman accused of fatally running over police officer boyfriend — her attorneys say she was framed in a cover-up
Karen Read is charged with second degree murder
O’Keefe died on January 29, 2022, after being delivered to the home of friend and fellow police officer Brian Albert following a night of bar-hopping, Boston Magazine reported.
On the morning of the 29th, Read and two friends began looking for O’Keefe when he did not return home. He was found in the snow in front of his friend’s house with blood around his nose and mouth and several injuries.
Read was initially charged with manslaughter in connection with O’Keefe’s death, but prosecutors later upgraded the charge to second-degree murder. She also faces charges of motor vehicle homicide while under the influence and leaving the scene of a collision causing injury and death. She pleaded not guilty to all counts of the indictment.
Karen Read.
David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe/Getty
Prosecutors claim Read Hit O’Keefe is in the midst of relationship problems
As the trial unfolded, prosecutors argued that Read was under the influence when she returned to O’Keefe before leaving the scene.
Prosecutors suggested the couple’s relationship had soured and O’Keefe tried to end it before his death, the Associated Press reported.
Before the trial began, prosecutors said in a filing that O’Keefe’s DNA was found on Read’s broken taillight, which authorities cited as evidence that she hit him with her car, Boston 25 News reported.
Boston Magazine also reported that Read allegedly told first responders, “I hit him,” according to charging documents.
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John O’Keefe, left, and Karen Read. Karen Read and John O’Keefe Death of a Cop thanks to David Yannetti
The defense says Read is the victim of a cover-up
PEOPLE previously reported that in court documents, the defense claims that “photographs of O’Keefe indicate that he was severely beaten and left for dead, having suffered blunt force injuries to both sides of his face as well as the back of his head.”
The defense theory is that O’Keefe was beaten at Albert’s house and then attacked by a dog before being dumped in the snow, Boston Magazine reported.
The professor was accused of hitting a policeman’s boyfriend with his car and leaving him to die. Does the new evidence free her?
What did the witnesses say?
According to the AP, ATF agent Brian Higgins testified at the trial. Allegedly, Read exchanged flirtatious messages with him, according to the report. In the texts, Read allegedly wrote that her relationship with O’Keefe was “far from perfect.”
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John O’Keefe. Boston Police Department/Facebook
Higgins also testified that Read kissed him after he watched a football game with her and O’Keefe, AP writes.
Jennifer McCabe, who was at Albert’s home the night of the incident, was impeached by the defense in testimony about a Google search she conducted the morning O’Keefe was found, according to WHDH. According to the report, McCabe searched, with spelling errors, how long it takes for a person to die in the cold.
McCabe insisted she conducted the search after O’Keefe’s body was found, WHDH reported, but Read’s attorney, Alan Jackson, responded by claiming she first conducted the search at 2:27 a.m.
“You’ve been covering your tracks,” Jackson reportedly said. “You searched again to overwrite your original search at 2:27 am”
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Source: HIS Education