As Karen Read faces trial again for the murder of her boyfriend, online sleuths are fascinated by the wild evidence, conflicting details and alternative theories presented during her first high-profile trial.
Read is accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her car in the middle of the night in January 2022 and leaving him to die in the snow.
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Her murder trial began in April, but on July 1, the judge declared the trial void due to a jury deadlock.
The Read case sparked a wave of excitement on the Internet, as both the prosecution and the defense gave very different accounts of what happened the night of O’Keefe’s death.
On January 29, 2022, O’Keefe’s visibly mutilated body was found outside a friend’s house in Canton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, after a night of drinking.
The cause of death was given as blunt force trauma and hypothermia.
Read more about Read’s process
The previous evening, O’Keefe had been at a bar with his girlfriend Read, where they met mutual friends who invited them to a house party.
Read’s lawyers claim she dropped O’Keefe off with his friends and left before a fight broke out among the partygoers.
O’Keefe was then attacked by a horde and beaten to death; even a dog took part in his murder, Read’s defense claimed in court.
The defense further argued that law enforcement worked together to frame Read because other police officers were involved in the fight, which they said occurred while she was at home.
Prosecutors, however, countered by claiming that Read hit O’Keefe with her car in the boyfriend’s driveway and left him to freeze to death, bringing a dramatic end to their tumultuous relationship.
At the crime scene, detectives found pieces of a broken taillight and prosecutors claimed this was proof that she was responsible for the death.
Jennifer McCabe, a friend of the couple, testified in court that Read screamed “I hit him” when O’Keefe’s body was found the next morning and that Read asked her to find out how long it takes for a person to die of hypothermia.
Meanwhile, Read’s defense tried to turn that testimony against McCabe by claiming it was part of the master plan to murder O’Keefe.
The mystery deepened when a witness’s Google search was presented in court.
The sister-in-law of the owner of the house where O’Keefe was found unconscious was reportedly searching for “how long one can die in the cold” at around 2:27 a.m. – hours before Read reportedly discovered her boyfriend’s body.
A chronology of the case of Karen Read
- 29 January 2022: O’Keefe’s body is found in front of a friend’s house.
- February 1, 2022: Read was arrested and charged with manslaughter, negligent homicide, and hit-and-run.
- February 2, 2022: Read pleads not guilty in Stoughton District Court.
- June 9, 2022: A state grand jury indicts Read on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and hit-and-run.
- 12 April 2023: Read’s lawyers release court documents that they say contain “bombshell exculpatory information,” including Jennifer McCabe’s Google search.
- 20 November 2023: Residents of the divided community vote 903 to 800 to investigate the Canton police in the case.
- May 23, 2023: During another pretrial hearing, the defense explains that the murder of John O’Keefe was a massive cover-up involving members of the police force and their friends and family.
- February 22, 2024: Prosecutors announce long-awaited results of crime scene evidence tests, claiming O’Keefe’s DNA was found in the shattered taillight of Read’s vehicle.
- 12 April 2024: Read’s defense attorneys say in court that Brian Albert, his son Colin Albert and Brian Higgins could each have killed O’Keefe at the party that night.
- 16 April 2024: Read’s trial began before the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
- May 17, 2024: Jennifer McCabe, who was with Read when she discovered O’Keefe’s body, testified that during her search, Read repeatedly said, “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?” She also said that later, when emergency responders were on the scene, Read said, “I hit him.”
- June 3, 2024: The defense accuses police of placing the broken pieces of Read’s car’s taillight at the crime scene.
- 24 June 2024: The defense has concluded its arguments.
- July 1, 2024: After five days of deliberation, a judge declared the jury failed.
Norfolk Assistant District Attorney Adam C. Lally argued in court that Read had instructed the sister-in-law to conduct the search after finding his body and that the timestamp was incorrect.
District Attorney Michael Morrissey, meanwhile, argued in court that the defense’s scenario of the fatal dog attack did not match O’Keefe’s autopsy.
The forensic pathologists concluded that a five-centimeter-long cut on the back of his head, two black eyes and several skull fractures were not consistent with a dog attack or a fight.
Case derailed
The prosecution’s evidence came to an abrupt halt when it was revealed that the lead investigator, Michael Proctor of the Massachusetts State Police, knew Read before taking over the murder case.
Proctor, who presented evidence related to the taillights in court, admitted calling her a “crazy person” in text messages before O’Keefe’s death.
At one point, Proctor confessed in court: “I hope she kills herself.”
Proctor has been suspended without pay since last month and an internal investigation is underway into his “unprofessional” conduct, police said.
Theories spread
Proctor’s shocking admission sparked the ongoing “Free Karen Read” movement, whose members firmly believe in her innocence.
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His supporters include mainly online sleuths who dissected the evidence presented at trial and came to the unproven conclusion that law enforcement had closed ranks to stand behind one of their own.
A member of the movement, Rita Lombardi, who was present on every day of the trial, called the prosecution’s charges “the worst cover-up in the history of our country.”
“When I heard about this case, I was horrified and it was a call to action for me – I could not stand by and do nothing,” Lombardi, 60, told The US Sun exclusively.
“I knew I had to help her (…). She was being tricked by the very people who swore to protect us,” she claimed.
“We have never had a case like this in the history of our country and I hope there will never be another one like this.”
“We demand truth and justice. We demand the rehabilitation of an innocent woman – and to do that we have to fix the system.”
Dispute over the second trial
In court on Friday, Read’s defense attorneys argued that there was no need for a second trial because the original jury wanted to acquit her on two of the three counts.
Attorney Martin Weinberg said that although the jury failed to reach a verdict on two counts, retrial of her would amount to double jeopardy.
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits prosecution of someone twice for the same crime.
“Don’t make Ms. Read the first person in Commonwealth history to be charged with murder again,” Weinberg said in court.
However, prosecutors insisted that the trial must continue because the jury had not reached a formal verdict.
The judge said at Friday’s hearing that she would announce her ruling at a later date.
If Read’s trial continues, it is scheduled to begin on January 27, 2025.
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