Testimony of first responders to a scene where a woman is accused of running over her policeman boyfriend, leaving him to die in the snow, could weaken prosecution case

Karen Read, a financial analyst and former university professor, is accused of murdering John O’Keefe, 46, two years ago

O’Keefe, a 16-year veteran of Boston PD, was found dead around 6am on January 29, 2022, outside a home in Canto, MA, where Read dropped him off for an afterparty around 12.45am

Prosecutors claim she backed over him with her SUV and left him to freeze in the snowstorm of January 28, 2022

Defense countered O’Keefe was run over with a vehicle, instead was mortally beaten at the party and dumped outside

The homeowner, fellow officer Brian Albert and several guests from law enforcement claim O’Keefe never made it to the party

That statement allegedly, has been contradicted by statements made to FBI by same people, meanwhile Albert and his wife tore up their basement, sold their home of several years and moved

Read is claiming she’s being framed for her Boston police, attempting to coverup the misdeeds of their officers who beat up their friend

Under cross examination on Tuesday, the firefighters who responded to the scenes recanted their earlier claims, admitting that injuries on deceased pointed to his having been bashed to death

The significant trove of contradictory evidence has defense pointing to police attempt at a deliberate coverup, or mismanaged investigations

FBI investigation into official conduct where several members of local law enforcement were involved, has morphed into a parallel investigation of O’Keefe’s death
 

Karen Read, [left], is on trial in Norfolk Superior Court, south of Boston, accused of running over her policeman boyfriend John O’Keefe, [right], in 2022, leaving him to die in the snow.

First responders to a scene where a woman allegedly ran over her policeman boyfriend and left him to die during a New England snowstorm dropped a kink in the case of the prosecution in court Tuesday, after acknowledging that the deceased could have been beaten to death, much like the argument of the defense.
Karen Read, 44, is on trial in Norfolk Superior Court, south of Boston, claiming she was ‘framed by police as part of a vast conspiracy’ to blame her for his death.
The trial kicked into high gear Monday with attorneys on both sides detailing their views of the case.

Killed: Read’s boyfriend, Boston PD veteran John O’Keefe, [photo], 46, was found dead 6am on January 29, 2022, outside a house where she dropped him off in a snowstorm for an afterparty about 12.45am

Read a financial analyst and former Bentley University professor is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for allegedly backing over O’Keefe with her SUV in a snowstorm after an argument two years ago

John O’Keefe, a 16-year veteran of Boston Police Department, was found dead around 6am on January 29, 2022, outside a home in Canton, 12 miles outside Boston, where Read dropped him off for an afterparty around 12.45am, in the middle of a snowstorm.
The homeowner, Brian Albert, 46, is a Sergeant in the same Boston Police Department as O’Keefe.
Accused of killing her partner Read, a financial analyst and former Bentley University professor is now facing second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for allegedly backing over him with her SUV in the snow after an argument.
Countering the allegations in court on Tuesday, her defense team instead claims O’Keefe, 46, was beaten up by people at the party and thrown outside where he died on the lawn. 
‘Karen Read was framed. Her car never struck John O’Keefe. She did not cause his death and that means somebody else did,’ defense attorney David Yannetti said, making his opening statement.

Read’s defense claims in their opening statement that she was framed by police as part of a vast conspiracy: ‘Karen Read was framed. Her car never struck John O’Keefe. She did not cause his death and that means somebody else did’

John O’Keefe was found in the snow outside this home in Canton, Massachusetts just outside Boston, in the early hours of January 29, 2022 

‘You will question the Commonwealth’s theory of the case. You will question the quality of the Commonwealth’s evidence,’ Yannetti told the jury. 
‘You will question the veracity of the Commonwealth’s witnesses and you will question their shoddy and biased investigation.’
Two cops and two firefighters who were among the first on the scene that fateful morning and they testified on the second day of the trial on Tuesday.
Initially, Timothy Nuttall, a Canton firefighter who treated O’Keefe at the scene, said he couldn’t say whether the injuries, including a hematoma or egg over his right eye, came from a fight. 
Pressed further by Read’s attorney Alan Jackson, Nuttal acknowledged the injuries were consistent with getting beaten up. 

Read’s case, and her claims that she was framed, attracts dozens of protesters to every one of her court appearances. Her supporters gathered around a phone plugged into a speaker to listen to opening arguments in her trial a short distance down the road from the court as the trial judge ordered protesters to stay at least 200ft from the courthouse

Read’s defense says she went home after dropping O’Keefe off and woke up about 4.30am in a panic as he hadn’t come home.
She called Jennifer McCabe, a friend of O’Keefe with whom they had been drinking at Waterfall Bar the previous night, and they went in search of O’Keefe. McCabe is also the sister to Albert’s wife, Julie.
Returning to the house in Canton, the pair found John O’Keefe lying on the snow-covered lawn, bleeding from his nose and mouth with swollen eyes, and Read began CPR.
A key part of the prosecution’s case is that Read essentially admitted to the crime at the scene by yelling ‘I hit him!’ over and over, along with ‘this is my fault. I did this’.

Read’s defense has said that O’Keefe [right], was bashed at the party, and possibly attacked by a dog as marks on his arm looked like bites. Prosecutors allege the couple’s two-year relationship was breaking down and she ran him over after he repeatedly tried to dump her

Prosecutors also alleged Read said ‘could I have hit him? Did I hit him?’ and ‘what if he’s dead? What if a plow hit him?
‘I don’t remember anything from last night, we drank so much I don’t remember anything’.
Further raising doubt for the prosecution case Tuesday, Read’s defense was able to get both responding police officers to acknowledge they never heard Read say ‘she hit O’Keefe’.
The defense also used the testimony from the police and firefighters to raise doubts more broadly about the investigation.
They were able to get Canton police officers Steven Saraf and Stephen Mullaney to acknowledge they never saw pieces of broken taillight at the scene. 

Video evidence from the next day, on a display screen in the court, shows no evidence of broken taillight at the scene. Investigators alleged they found a cracked right rear tail light near where O’Keefe was found and scratches on her SUV

This video from scene of the alleged crime doesn’t appear to support the prosecution allegation that fragments were found near O’Keefe’s body and are proof that Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe. She says it was broken as she left her home that morning in a panic to look for him.

Prosecutors allege the fragments of Read’s broken taillight were found near O’Keefe’s body and are proof that Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe. She claims it was broken as she left her home that morning in a panic to search for her missing boyfriend.
When police and paramedics arrived, they found Read still trying to revive O’Keefe, her face covered in blood from giving him mouth-to-mouth.
All of the witnesses in their evidence described Read as distraught and screaming and that O’Keefe had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.
Officer Saraf and first responder Timothy Nuttall were both asked about their claims of Read saying she hit O’Keefe.

Prosecutor Adam Lally questions a witness during Karen Read’s murder trial on Tuesday. The prosecution allege Read backed over O’Keefe with her SUV in the snow after an argument

Timothy Nuttall, [photo], from the Canton Fire Department, testifying Tuesday at Read’s murder trial, under cross examination recanted his claim that he heard Read say she hit O’Keefe

Defense attorneys on Tuesday attempted to discredit officer Saraf and raise doubts about the integrity of the investigation by pointing out mistakes made in the police dispatch log, including the wrong address where O’Keefe’s body was found. 
They also pointed out that Saraf never wrote in his police report that Read said, ‘This is my fault,’ only that she screamed, ‘Is he dead?’
In response, Saraf said yes, but when Jackson tried to suggest Saraf’s memory of that morning was evolving, Saraf said that the discrepancy between what he initially wrote and what he later testified at the trial was ‘an oversight 
The defense team also tried to raise doubts about what Nuttal heard, suggesting he was too focused on saving O’Keefe’s life to hear conversations around him. 
Investigators alleged they found a cracked right rear tail light near where O’Keefe was found and scratches on her SUV. 
Prosecutors are also expected to present evidence of injuries suffered by O’Keefe consistent with him being hit by the car and strains in the couple’s relationship including a ’20 minute screaming match’ witnessed by O’Keefe’s two adopted children they had while on vacation in Aruba.

Karen Read’s defense attorney Alan Jackson questions a witness during Read’s murder trial

The defense has spent months arguing in court that the case was marred by conflicts of interest and accused prosecutors of presenting false and deceptive evidence to the grand jury.
The house at 34 Fairview Road in Canton that O’Keefe’s body was found outside was owned by McCabe’s brother-in-law Brian Albert, 60, a Gulf War veteran who was on the Boston Police Fugitive Unit until his retirement. 
Other notable attendees were Brian’s brother, Canton Police Department detective, Kevin Albert.
Another attendee, Brian Higgins, one of the three people who Read’s defense team says had “a motive, the opportunity and means to attack John O’Keefe,” is an agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Higgins. a friend of Brian Albert reportedly, was at the Fairview Road home the night before O’Keefe was found dead.

Top defense attorney David Yannetti, representing Karen Read, questions a witness during Read’s murder trial Tuesday

On Monday, Yannetti argued that close relationships between investigators and those in the house resulted in authorities focusing solely on Reid, whom the defense described as a ‘convenient outsider’.
Yannetti also claimed investigators failed to consider the possibility that O’Keefe got into a fight at the party and was left for dead outside. 
While not offering evidence of who was responsible, they laid out of a series of missteps in the investigation, when the failed to investigate a history of animosity between O’Keefe and the family who owned the home. Furthermore, no one searched the home for signs of a struggle.
Yannetti notes investigating officers are expected to provide evidence that Read’s taillight was damaged when she hit O’Keefe’s car hours later at their home, not at the party.
He disputes the prosecution narrative that the couple had a strained relationship. They got along well that night [he said], and had made plans for several trips in the months ahead.

Karen Read, flanked by her defense team, arrives court for the beginning of her trial on April 15. Amidst echoes of coverup and framing by police. The FBI has opened a parallel investigation into the O’Keefe’s death

The trial which began after two years of intrigue, conspiracies, social media circus, and a secretive parallel FBI investigation saw the prosecution lineup 87 witnesses, The defense has 77witnesses.
The commonwealth’s case is expected to last three to four weeks and the defense’s two weeks.
Prosecutors allege the as the couple’s two-year relationship was breaking down, she rammed her car into O’Keefe who had tried repeatedly, to dump her.
Read’s black Lexus SUV had a broken taillight when it was seized by Massachusetts State Police investigators, pieces of which allegedly had O’Keefe’s DNA on them.
The case, and Read’s claims of a wide-ranging conspiracy against her, whipped up intense speculation online that spilled over into the real world.

Ordered by the trial judge to keep their distance, protesters stand outside Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham on Monday for the first day of the Karen Read murder trial in the death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe

On the other side of the fence are protesters who believe Read is guilty. They showed up with placards demanding ‘Justice for O’Keefe’

The court was picketed every day of the trial so far by Read’s supporters, including a local true crime blogger who was jailed for allegedly harassing witnesses.
Such is their ferocity that Judge Cannone banned protesters from coming within 200ft of the courthouse or its car park during the trial.
No one can enter the courtroom wearing buttons, photographs, clothing, or insignia relating to the case, or anyone involved.
‘Law enforcement officers who are testifying or are members of the audience are also prohibited from wearing their department issued uniforms or any police emblems in the courthouse,’ the order read.

Anthony Flematti, acting lieutenant in the Canton Fire Department, [photo], testifies during Read’s murder trial

O’Keefe was pronounced dead and his autopsy ruled he died of head trauma and hypothermia, with no obvious signs of a fight.
Read was charged with manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle collision causing death on February 2, 2022.
She pled not guilty, even as the charge was upgraded to murder on July 10 that year after a grand jury indictment, as her defense insists that O’Keefe was bashed at the party, and possibly attacked by a dog as marks on his arm looked like bites.

High flying defense attorney Alan Jackson seen [photo] questioning a witness during Read’s murder trial, leads her defense team

With the odds seemingly stacked as Albert’s family reportedly has lived in that area of Norfolk County for generations, with deep connections to law enforcement both in Canton and Boston, while Read is more of an outsider.
Her defense is led by high-powered defense lawyer Alan Jackson, who says, ‘Certainly the Massachusetts State Police is involved. There are people that were in that house that are involved,’ her said during a pretrial hearing. 
‘Brian Albert is involved. Jennifer McCabe is involved. The rest of the folks that were in that house, there’s some level of involvement by every one of them. Every single one of them. 
‘We’re not going to rest until we get to the bottom of exactly who’s behind this coverup. 
‘Not only Karen Read deserves this. John O’Keefe deserves this, and has deserved this from moment one. And that’s why they’re not going to rest.’ 

Homeowner, Boston police Sergent Brian Albert, [photo], was among the group drinking on the night of Jan. 28, 2022, Along with his wife Julie and the other guests attending their son’s birthday party, the Alberts claim O’Keefe never made it to the party – His brother Kevin Albert, a Canton Police Dept detective was also at the party

Albert’s sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe [photo], allegedly googled ‘how long it takes to die in cold,’ on her cell phone, hours before O’Keefe’s body was found. She deleted her searches before handing over her phone ‘believing no one could find her deleted history,’ defense claims

Massachusetts State Police announced they have opened Internal Affairs Investigation into State Trooper Michael Proctor, [photo], the lead investigator in the case. He has connections with some those involved including the Alberts

Read said the same thing on the courthouse steps after a hearing last year, saying ‘you all know’ who did it and who was covering it up. 
‘I tried to save his life. I tried to save his life at six in the morning, I was covered in his blood. I was the only one trying to save his life,’ she said.
A key component of the defense is that O’Keefe’s injuries, in the view of some experts, are not consistent with being hit by a car.
‘The damage on the car was inconsistent with having made contact with John O’Keefe’s body. In other words, the car didn’t hit him, and he wasn’t hit by the car,’ Jackson said at a hearing.

Prosecutors say the defendant [right], is a jealous girlfriend who believed O’Keefe, [left], was cheating on her – despite her own ‘romantic entanglements’

The defense, and Read’s army of supporters, argue his injuries were only above the neck and his right arm – which the SUV wouldn’t have hit.
He also has injuries to his hands that looked like boxer’s fractures, and a two-inch gash at the back of his head despite there being little blood at the scene.
Officer Brian Albert and others at the party told police O’Keefe never arrived at the party.
Within months of O’Keefe’s death, Albert and his wife ripped up the basement floor of their home and sold it, after living there for many years, just as they re-homed their German shepherd named Chloe, which the defense said had a history of biting people, not long after that.
McCabe ran a Google search for ‘ho(w) long to die in the cold’, which the defense claimed was sent at 2.27am but prosecutors insisted was at 6.23am – after the body was found.

Defense alleges that police had been aware of this piece of evidence for a year but refused to hand it over to defense
The is also considerable disagreement about the broken taillight prosecutors claim is a key indicator of her guilt.
Footage showed Read come very close to O’Keefe’s car in their driveway as she raced off to look for him at 5.07am, which the defense was when the taillight was broken – not from her backing into O’Keefe.
The defense also claims other video of the house showed the taillight intact before Read left the driveway.
Prosecutors countered that no taillight fragments were found at the house, but they were at the crime scene – including on O’Keefe’s body.
Read’s supporters, including retired law enforcement and crime scene investigators, claimed police must have planted the evidence.

There has been no shortfall of those who believe Read is being framed by errant law enforcement, including Matthew Pervier, [photo], seen with a sign in support of Read

Prosecutors painted Read as a jealous girlfriend who believed O’Keefe was cheating on her – despite her own ‘romantic entanglements’.
They will introduce angry voicemails and text messages, both from the night he died and earlier, to support the claim.
She allegedly said ‘you are a f**king loser, f**k yourself’ and ‘John, I f**king hate you’ about 1am on January 29, 2022.
Prosecutors alleged there was a ‘continuing animosity’ between the couple after Read accused O’Keefe of cheating on her with a friend’s sister during a holiday to Aruba four weeks before his death.
They cited voicemails and texts around the time of his death where Read was still angry and accusing him of cheating.

Trial judge Beverly Cannone [photo], who banished protesters to 200 ft from her court, also banned the wearing buttons, photographs, clothing, or insignia relating to the case, or anyone involved inside the courtroom

Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Read had her own ‘romantic entanglement’.
‘The defendant complains that the Commonwealth attempted to besmirch the defendant in some manner and fabricate problems within her relationship with the victim as a motive for murder by introducing testimony about an incident four weeks prior in Aruba,’ they wrote.
‘Yet the defendant avoids mention or challenge to the venomous voicemails she left on the victim’s cellphone as well as evidence of other issues in their relationship, including the defendant’s recent romantic entanglement.’

Smiling couple, but the prosecutors alleged there was a ‘continuing animosity’ between them after Read accused O’Keefe of cheating on her with a friend’s sister

Online sleuths – True crime bloggers, podcasters, and TikTok videographers, along with professional and amateur sleuths – obsessed about the case and largely believe Read.
‘That poor son of a b***h 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,’ one local said. 
Melanie Little, a lawyer with 30 years of car accident litigation experience, who has analyzed the case in more than 50 hours of video on her YouTube channel says: ‘There is so much reasonable doubt in this case that you could drive a truck through it.
‘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.’
The most prominent of them all is Aidan ‘Turtleboy’ Kearney, who produced more than 300 blog posts and videos about the case.

Read’s online supporter Aidan Kearney [wearing hoodie], was arrested on 16 felony charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy then thrown in jail for two months when his bail was revoked over unrelated charges of assault and battery on his girlfriend

There would be more, except he was arrested on 16 felony charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy, and was thrown in jail for two months when his bail was revoked over unrelated charges of assault and battery on his girlfriend.
Many of his videos show him harassing witnesses in the case. His defense in court was invoke the protection of his First Amendment rights.
His charges include eight counts of intimidation of a witness, five counts of picketing a witness and three counts of conspiracy to intimidate a witness.
‘It’s clear that Mr Kearney is encouraging his minions, his followers in the context of his blogs, YouTube, etc,’ prosecutors said at a hearing on his case.
Kearney’s ‘minions’ make up most of the crowds at frequent demonstrations at Read’s court appearances and at other times.

Best known of Read’s online defenders is Aidan ‘Turtleboy’ Kearney, seen streaming live outside the court on Tuesday, has produced more than 300 blog posts and videos about the case – and paid a price for his opinions after he broke the biggest stories in the Karen Read case

Some of the protesters seen parading the streets visiting the homes of witnesses who allegedly aided the coverup, including a police dispatcher, are also facing charges.
Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey who remarked that so many people are posting about the case, made a five-minute video slamming conspiracies: ‘Conspiracy theories are not evidence,’ he said. 
‘The idea that multiple police departments, EMTs, fire personnel, the medical examiner, and the prosecuting agency are joined in, or taken in by, a vast conspiracy should be seen for what it is – completely contrary to the evidence and a desperate attempt to re-assign guilt.’

Turtleboy Kearney raises his hands as he walks out of Stoughton District Court after his arraignment on October 11

An FBI probe into allegations of a police coverup has morphed into a parallel investigation of O’Keefe’s death.
Federal agents released almost no information about the investigation, but are said to have interviewed every witness police interviewed in the course of local investigations.
Party attendees according to a source, directly contradicted prosecution allegations, admitting to agents that O’Keefe was indeed at the party,

Norfolk County DA condemned protests and harassment of witnesses while defending the Trooper Proctor led investigation. Insiders say ‘It’s pretty crazy’ that the DA is going ahead with the trial’ which has been described as a ‘suicide mission’

Aiden Kearney is surrounded by supporters outside Norfolk Country Superior Court as he walked out following his trial on charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy, in the Read murder trial

Buttressing defense claim that Massachusetts acting US attorney Josh Levy told all parties he ‘could not in good conscience allow this trial to go forward’. Levy has since released 3,000 pages of federal investigation reports to both prosecution and defense, has not been made public.
Despite the unnerving FBI probe, the prosecution has continued. ‘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,’ a source close to the case said.
The lead state police investigator, Trooper Michael Proctor, it was announced since March 13, has been under internal investigation for ‘a potential violation of department policy’.
Proctor is still working as the nature of the potential violation and whether it relates to the Read case remains unclear. His his lawyer Michael DiStefano has said: ‘Trooper Proctor remains steadfast in the integrity of the work he performed investigating the death of Mr John O’Keefe’.