MA v. Karen Read: Killer or Cover-Up Murder Trial

DEDHAM, Mass. (Court TV) — A mistrial has been declared in the high-profile trial of a Massachusetts woman accused of killing her police officer boyfriend.

(L) Karen Read appears in court Jan. 5, 2024. (Court TV), (R) Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe (Boston Police Department)

Karen Read stood trial for the death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found dead in the snow outside the home of a fellow officer in Jan. 2022. Prosecutors accused Read of hitting O’Keefe with her car while dropping him off at a party at the residence and leaving him to die. Her attorneys alleged a sloppy investigation and a cover-up.

RELATED | Karen Read murder case: A timeline of events

After five days of deliberations, the judge declared a mistrial after the jury insisted they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict. A status conference is scheduled for July 22.

Read was charged with second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of a collision causing injury or death. She is facing life in prison if convicted at trial.

RELATED | Key players in the Karen Read murder case

Read’s case captured attention across the globe with allegations of a police cover-up orchestrated by parties with “significant relationships,” alleged “romantic entanglements” involving Read and O’Keefe, and even a blogger vocal in their defense for Read facing charges. Protesters have also taken center stage in their fight against a “buffer zone,” accusing the prosecution of going on an “unchecked bender.”

Following the mistrial, the Massachusetts State Police announced that Trooper Michael Proctor had been relieved of duty. The department said, “This follows our previous decision to open an internal affairs investigation after information about serious misconduct emerged in testimony at the trial. The investigation is ongoing.”

On July 10, Canton Police Chief Helena Rafferty confirmed to Court TV that Detective Kevin Albert, brother of homeowner Brian Albert, “was placed on administrative leave with pay as of June 13th pending an investigation related to the testimony of Trooper Proctor in the Karen Read trial.” Rafferty clarified that Albert’s leave is not related to Read’s case, but rather “testimony of (Proctor) related to a cold case they were working together and inferences made related to that.”

DAILY TRIAL UPDATES

DAY 35 – 7/1/24

• The judge declared a mistrial after the jury said they were at an impasse.
  • WATCH: Judge Declares Mistrial for Karen Read
• A status conference is scheduled for July 22.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 35 Recap
• WATCH: Report: Trooper Michael Proctor ‘Relieved Of Duty’

DAY 34 – 6/28/24

• The fourth day of jury deliberations ends without a verdict.
• The jury foreperson sent a note to the judge around 11:44 a.m. ET, that read, “Judge Cannone, I am writing to inform you on behalf of the jury that despite our exhausted review of the evidence and our diligent consideration of all of the evidence, we have been unable to reach a unanimous verdict. (Signed by the Foreperson)”
• Judge Cannone asked the jury to continue their deliberations because it was “too soon” and there was “too much evidence” to consider.
  • WATCH: Judge Asks Karen Read Jury to Continue Deliberations After Note
• Around 3:30 p.m. ET, the court checked the jurors’ progress. The foreperson informed the deputy that they would like to continue their deliberations until 4:15 p.m. ET. At that time, there was no verdict, and the jury was sent home for the weekend and will continue their deliberations on Monday.
• The jury has deliberated over 20 hours.
• Outside the courthouse, and for the first time since the trial started, anti-Karen Read protestors showed up at the courthouse. They want to show support for John O’Keefe’s family and feel the “circus,” referring to Read’s supporter, has clouded the reason Karen Read is on trial.
• WATCH: Killer or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 34 Recap

DAY 33 – 6/27/24

• The third day of jury deliberations ends without a verdict.
  • There were no questions from the jury on Thursday.
  • The jury has deliberated close to 15 hours.
    • WATCH: Karen Read Jury Excused For The Day, Deliberations Continue Tomorrow
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 33 Recap

DAY 32 – 6/26/24

• No verdict in the case against Karen Read on Wednesday.
• Testy exchange between Judge Cannone and Karen Read when she catches Read smirking at her. “Excuse me. Is this funny, Ms. Read?” Judge Cannone asked.
• Judge Cannone reprimanded Read following her attorney, Alan Jackson, contesting the verdict slip that the jury must fill out, arguing that the wording would unfairly steer jurors toward a guilty verdict on the charge of Manslaughter While Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence.
  • A special instruction was given to the jury to clarify how to decide their verdict on Count 2 of the indictment – Manslaughter While Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence.
    • WATCH: Karen Read’s Attorney Challenges Judge Over Verdict Forms
    • WATCH: Karen Read Trial: Judge Agrees To Add Language To Verdict Form
• The jury has been deliberating for close to nine hours
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 32 Recap

DAY 31 – 6/25/24

• Jurors began their deliberations after eight weeks of testimony.
• Defense Attorney Alan Jackson told jurors that the Commonwealth and their witnesses wants them [the jury] to “look the other way.”
  • “The incontrovertible fact is that you’ve been lied to in this courtroom,” Jackson said.
  • Jackson’s closing argument to the jury was that the police investigation went beyond mistakes and straight up the “thick blue wall” of corruption.
  • Read’s defense attorney emphasized how the lead investigator, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, had missteps and his private text messages about Read as he investigated the case, including wishing Read would kill herself.
  • WATCH: Karen Read’s Defense Attorney To Jurors: ‘You Have Been Lied To’
• The defense also believes the Alberts and McCabes colluded to keep a secret. The defense was barred from pursuing a third-party killer theory in earlier proceedings.
• Adam Lally, Commonwealth Prosecutor, said the defense invented “conspiracy theories” so the jury would look away from physical evidence. “It’s a three-card Monte trick,” referring to the defense’s theory.
  • The Commonwealth believes that Karen Read struck her boyfriend and Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe with her luxury SUV on January 20, 2022, after a night of drinking.
  • Lally presented a detailed timeline of Read’s actions on January 28 – 29, 2022.
  • Lally told jurors Read’s statement to first responders while standing over John O’Keefe’s body shortly after 6:00 a.m. that morning, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.”
  • WATCH: Prosecutor: Read Is ‘Guilty Of Each Of The 3 Indictments In The Case’
• Deliberations ended at 4:00 p.m. ET. Jurors deliberated for about two and a half hours.
• A female juror was dismissed for an unknown reason before deliberations began Tuesday morning.
  • Two female jurors were chosen as alternates.
• WATCH: Karen Read Verdict Watch: Matt Johnson Recaps Dramatic Day In Dedham
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 31 Recap

DAY 30 – 6/24/24

• Closing arguments expected Tuesday.
• Jurors heard from the defense’s final three witnesses before they rest their presentation of evidence.
  • WATCH: Karen Read’s Defense Rests
• Read’s defense believes someone inside the home on Fairview Road in Canton, Massachusetts, murdered Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe and left him for dead in a snowstorm in January 2022 after a night of heavy drinking.
• Retired Forensic Pathologist Dr. Frank Sheridan testified that some of the injuries to O’Keefe’s body were inconsistent with a person who was struck by a vehicle. He expected to see more bruising if O’Keefe had been hit by a vehicle.
  • Dr. Sheridan told jurors that the injuries to O’Keefe could have been sustained in a fight, and the injuries to O’Keefe’s arm were consistent with being scratches and possibly a bite mark from an animal like a dog.
    • WATCH: Pathologist: O’Keefe Injuries Are NOT Consistent With Being Hit By Car
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 30 Recap

DAY 29 – 6/21/24

• Commonwealth rests its case-in-chief after calling its 68^th witness, the medical examiner who performed John O’Keefe’s autopsy.
• Defense moves for a judgement of acquittal arguing that the Commonwealth has not proven that John O’Keefe’s injuries were the result of a vehicle strike and that Trooper Joe Paul’s theory that O’Keefe was sideswiped, projected forward and struck his head on the ground is conjecture.
• Prosecution argues the case is not based solely on Trooper Paul’s theory and asks that the judge consider all the circumstantial evidence including JOK’s DNA on the taillight, on the hair found in the passenger wheel well, trace fragments of taillight on the victim’s clothes, the evidence at the scene, the data from the Lexus, etc and asks the judge to deny the motion.
• Judge is satisfied the Commonwealth has met its burden and denies defense motion for a judgement of acquittal.
• Medical Examiner agrees both scenarios in which John O’Keefe incurred his head injuries are possible, the government’s position is that O’Keefe fell and hit his head on the ground, the defense position is that he was struck in the back of the head by an object and fell.
  • WATCH: Karen Read Defense Expert: ‘Either Teeth Or Claw Marks’ On John O’Keefe
• Defense calls as its first witness the plow driver who testified he did not see anything unusual on the Alberts’ front lawn but did see a Ford Edge parked near the flagpole of 34 Fairview around 3:15 AM.
  • WATCH: Karen Read Trial: Snow Plow Driver Denies Seeing Body On Lawn
• Defense Digital Forensic Expert testified Jennifer McCabe’s ‘Hos long to die in the cold’ was done at 2:27 AM, hours before John O’Keefe’s body is found at 6:15 AM.
• Defense expert claims O’Keefe’s GPS locations and health data do not rule out that he was inside 34 Fairview – as activity is not precise during the time periods recorded by the apps.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 29 Recap

DAY 28 – 6/20/24

• Jury hears profanity-laced voicemails that Karen Read left on John O’Keefe’s phone calling him a f’ing loser and a f’ing pervert in the minutes and hours after she allegedly hit him with her SUV and left him to freeze to death.
• Trooper Nicholas Guarino cross referenced data from John O’Keefe’s cell phone and Apple watch to track his locations in the early morning hours of January 29, 2022.
  • Guarino noted that O’Keefe had conducted a WAZE search of 34 Fairview at 12:20 AM and arrived at 34 Fairview at 12:24 AM.
  • Guarino testified O’Keefe’s phone indicated no GPS locations inside 34 Fairview and no movement was recorded by his phone between 12:25 and 6:15 AM. O’Keefe’s body is found around 6:15 AM.
  • O’Keefe’s Apple watch data suggested that around 12:22 he was ascending/descending three floors. Guarino explained that the Apple health data does not necessarily mean O’Keefe is climbing stairs as the app can record steps based on any kind of movement.
  • While the health app reflected ascending/ descending stairs GPS data suggests O’Keefe was still more than half a mile away from 34 Fairview.
    • WATCH: ‘The Kids Are Home Alone’: Jury Sees Karen Read’s Texts To John O’Keefe
• On cross defense attorney David Yannetti suggested the Trooper’s analysis is flawed, and his determinations of O’Keefe’s locations inaccurate as the app draws from different clocks and can be as much as three minutes off the time stamps that the Trooper is relying on.
• Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello performed the autopsy on O’Keefe and concluded his cause of death was a combination of blunt force trauma and hypothermia and the manner of death was undetermined.
  • Scordi-Bello opined that O’Keefe’s blunt force injuries came first, were not immediately lethal, but knocked out him out, allowing hypothermia to set in.
  • Scordi-Bello did not see evidence of an altercation.
    • WATCH: Medical Examiner: John O’Keefe Had Fractures, Lacerations To Skull
    • WATCH: John O’Keefe Had Fractures To Ribs, Not Hands: Medical Examiner
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 28 Recap

DAY 27 – 6/18/24

• The judge heard from defense expert Dr. Marie Russell a retired Emergency Medicine Physician and pathologist who opined that the scratches and cuts on John O’Keefe’s arm are the result of a dog attack.
• Prosecutors are seeking to exclude her testimony arguing late disclosure of this witness. She had been contacted by Defense Attorney Alan Jackson on May 17, six weeks into the trial, after a colleague reached out to him about her expertise.
• Russell informed the court she had become familiar with the case after reading about it in the Boston Globe. She then discussed it with LA Deputy DA John Lewin, with whom she worked another case. She told Lewin she thought she could be of assistance, given her expertise in law enforcement canine bites – a topic about which she published – and which she had read was a contested issue in Read’s case.
• Court TV viewers will know Lewin as the lead prosecutor in the case against real estate heir Robert Durst.
• Two experts with ARCCA, a private engineering consulting firm testified that they were contracted by the Justice Department and the FBI to make an independent determination as to whether the vehicle damage to Karen Read’s car was consistent with his injuries.
• Daniel Wolfe and Andrew Rentschler experts in accident reconstruction are expected to testify about the conclusions they drew from the evidence they were given. Wolfe is expected to testify about the damage to Read’s vehicle, and Rentschler also an expert in biomechanical engineering is expected to opine about John O’Keefe’s injuries.
• Among their findings, that there is insufficient evidence to determine the cause of John O’Keefe’s injuries. Prosecutor Adam Lally objected to testimony about that conclusion.
• The judge did not rule on the disputed issue or whether Dr. Russell’s testimony is admissible but told Assistant District Attorney Lally that she would give him a week to find a rebuttal expert to counter Russell’s opinion if she agreed to let her testify.
• WATCH: ‘There is No Case Against Me’: Karen Read Speaks Outside of Court
• WATCH: Deep Dive Into The Case Against Karen Read

DAY 26 – 6/17/24

• Text messages John O’Keefe and Karen Read exchanged in the hours before his death suggest they were in the throes of an argument that threatened the future of their relationship.
• Government’s crash expert opined that John O’Keefe’s arm took the brunt of the vehicle strike, and that he was still holding the glass in his hand when he was hit.
  • The accident reconstructionist opined that the taillight caused the striations to his upper arm and forearm, and that the glass created the scratches on the back of Read’s car.
    • WATCH: Karen Read Crash Reconstructionist Grilled Over Interpretation Of Data
• A Forensic software expert testified that McCabe did not delete the Google search ‘hos long to die in the cold’ at 2:27 am, and that the search occurred at 6:23 and 6:24 am.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 26 Recap

DAY 25 – 6/14/24

• Prosecutors called two experts Friday, one to debunk the defense’s contention that Jennifer McCabe participated in an alleged cover up of John O’Keefe’s murder and another to prove that Karen Read allegedly gunned her car in reverse and struck her boyfriend before leaving him to freeze to death in a blizzard.
• The Commonwealth’s forensic digital analyst testified that Jennifer McCabe’s ‘hos long to die in the cold’ Google search was done at 6:24 AM and not 2:27 AM, as the defense contends.
• Jessica Hyde explained the 2:27 time stamp was indication the tab was moved to the background after McCabe searched a sports site and that that 6:24 AM was the accurate time stamp for googling ‘how long to die in the cold.’
• The Defense contends Hyde’s’ analysis is flawed because the parameters of her assignment were restricted to the Google searches without access to McCabe’s call logs. Defense contends McCabe conducted the search about hypothermia hours before John O’Keefe’s body was found, deleted it and then searched again at 6:23 and 6:24 to conceal the initial 2:27 search. Defense lawyers argue this is evidence of a cover up intended to protect the Alberts on whose front lawn O’Keefe was discovered.  Lead investigator Michael Proctor who is admittedly friendly with Chris and Julie Albert is being accused by the defense of planting evidence at the crime scene to frame Karen Read.
• Hyde testified that the browser suggested ‘How long to digest food,’ during the 6:24 search making it more likely that it occurred when McCabe said she performed the search at the request of Read.
• Prosecutors also called an accident reconstructionist who opined that O’Keefe’s injuries and the evidence recovered around his body was indicative of a pedestrian vehicle strike. Data retrieved from software in the defendant’s Lexus suggested that O’Keefe was struck by the defendant’s car backing into him at 24 miles an hour. He further opined that the scratches on his arm were caused by the taillight and the dent in her car caused by the impact of hitting him, which would have forced his body to move forward and spin clockwise rather than fall underneath the wheels.
• Crash expert Joe Paul of the Massachusetts State Police testified that in a span of 10 seconds the SUV went from 0 to 24 m/p/ hour in reverse with the accelerator pressed at 74% (flooring the pedal would be 100%) and traveled a distance of 97 feet.
• Paul also proffered testimony outside of the jury’s presence that Read’s contact with O’Keefe’s car on the morning of January 29, 2022, would not have produced enough force to cause the kind of damage he observed on the defendant’s SUV.
• The defense is seeking to exclude his opinion, which was based on watching the Ring Video of Read backing out of the garage at 5:18 AM to look for O’Keefe, claiming it violates discovery rules. The judge will rule after she takes the weekend to review the exhibits.
• Joe Paul returns to the witness stand to resume his testimony on Monday.
• WATCH: Juror Dismissed From Karen Read’s Trial
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 25 Recap

DAY 24 – 6/13/24

• John O’Keefe’s DNA was found on the passenger taillight of the defendant’s car, and on a hair from the passenger wheel well.
  • There was a mixture of DNA on the passenger taillight, Troopers Michael Proctor and Sargent Yuriy Bukhenik were excluded as contributors to the mixture.
  • O’Keefe’s DNA was found on samples taken from reddish stains on his jean, orange t-shirt, and gray sweat shirt. He was the sole contributor of male DNA to the samples from his t-shirt and fingernail clippings. Mixtures of DNA were found on his jeans and gray sweat shirt but no comparisons were made to any other profiles.
• Surveillance video capturing Karen Read’s movements between 5:00 AM and 5:30 AM on the morning of January 29, 2022, suggest she traveled to 34 Fairview, before she went to Jennifer McCabe’s house – which may explain how she found John O’Keefe’s body in the middle of a pitch-dark blizzard.
•  Brian Tully, a Massachusetts State Police investigator testified data from Karen Read’s cell phone also suggest she was going to 34 Fairview at 5:18 AM. She should have arrived much sooner than 5:35 AM. The time lapse between 5:18 and 5:35 is more consistent with the drive time from Meadows to 34 Fairview then to Country Lane (McCabe’s residence)
  • An investigator testified that in the hours between 12:33 and 6:03 AM, Karen called John O’Keefe 53 times.
  • When asked about an eye witness report about seeing a Ford Edge (Albert’s car) from 2:30 to 3:30 AM parked in front of 34 Fairview, Tully said he dismissed the account claiming the witness was unreliable and had changed his story several times.
    • WATCH: Karen Read Investigator Defends Not Searching Albert Home
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 24 Recap

DAY 23 – 6/12/24

• Lead investigator Trooper Michael Proctor spent the better part of the day being grilled over his text messages mocking Karen Read, his relationship with the Alberts, and his alleged bias against the defendant.
• Defense Attorney Alan Jackson accused Proctor of having tunnel vision in his investigation, dismissing potential suspects who could have had motive, means and opportunity to kill John O’Keefe and pointed to Brian Higgins, who the defense has painted as a romantic rival for Karen Read’s affections.
• “You’re aware he texted John O’Keefe to come to 34 Fairview,” Alan Jackson said. “Do you agree he had the means to commit the crime. He’s a big guy. He’s former military, an ATF Agent.”
• “Just because he’s a big guy, doesn’t mean he has the means or the motive,” said Proctor.
• Jackson suggested Proctor was downplaying how close he was to the Alberts, noting that Proctor texted his sister inquiring about Julie Albert’s availability for babysitting his toddler.  The defense attorney suggested Proctor gave the Alberts deferential treatment and tried to protect them from any scrutiny and suspicion, which Proctor promptly denied.
• Defense also noted Proctor’s relationship with Kevin Albert, a detective with the Canton police department and the reason why Canton was conflicted out of the investigation.
• Proctor conceded he went out drinking with Kevin a few times as a colleague. They were working a cold case together in Canton. Proctor described them as acquaintances, but Jackson pointed to a text that after a night of drinking, Albert texted Proctor about having left his badge in his car – and was also looking for his service weapon.
• Jackson painstakingly recalled line by line some of the text exchanges in which the trooper commented on Read’s body, including a remark about her ‘leaky balloon knot,’ which was a reference to her rectum.
  • WATCH: Officer Admits Calling Karen Read A ‘Babe’ And ‘Nutbag’ With ‘No Ass’
• The defense attorney revealed that Read had to undergo a colectomy and had 10 surgeries in 18 months to contrast Read’s suffering against the trooper’s insensitive remarks.
  • WATCH: Trooper Grilled Over Text Saying He Hopes Karen Read Kills Herself
• On redirect Prosecutor Adam Lally asked Proctor what he believed Karen Read did to John O’Keefe, Proctor paused before looking at the jury and stating, ““I believe based on all the physical evidence and facts, Mr. O’Keefe got out of the vehicle holding the cocktail glass he walked out of the Waterfall bar with and Miss Read pulled ahead and struck him with her vehicle then left.”
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 23 Recap

DAY 22 – 6/10/24

• Trooper Michael Proctor’s personal text exchanges with friends and family were read to the jury during his direct examination revealing at times his contempt for the defendant and her attorney and early suspicions of her guilt.
  • WATCH: Proctor Calls Read a ‘Whack Job,’ Writes ‘No Nudes So Far’ in Texts
  • Proctor was reviewing the contents of Karen Read’s cell phone on the night of August 17, 2022 when a fellow trooper messaged him a picture of defense attorney David Yanetti.
  • He texted the group, which also included his supervisor Sargent Yuriy Bukhenik.
  • “I’m going through his retarded client’s phone. No nudes so far. I hate that man, truly hate him.”
  • Proctor said he was examining Read’s phone looking for evidence in the form of location data, texts, and Google searches, but stopped when he came across communication that Read had with her attorney.
  • “That was the update I gave the troopers in the office. It was a distasteful joke, I should have gave a proper update instead of that,” he said.
• In texts that he exchanged with a group of friends on February 20, 2022, Trooper Proctor responded to a friend’s message, “From all accounts, he didn’t do anything wrong. She’s a Wack job, c***, yeah, she’s a babe with a fall river accent though. No ass.”
  • Proctor explained the text came on a day when there was compelling evidence that Read had struck O’Keefe with her car, and that Brian Albert had nothing to do with O’Keefe’s death. He went on to acknowledge that his comments about Read were ‘unprofessional and regrettable.’
• In an earlier text exchange on January 29 that he sent to the same group of friends – Proctor suggested Albert would not be in any trouble because he was a Boston police officer.
  • In response to his friend’s text, “Sure the owner of the house will receive some shit.”
  • Proctor texted, “Nope. Homeowner is a Boston cop too.”
• Proctor interviewed Chris and Julie Albert as part of his investigation and acknowledged his relationship with the Alberts, characterizing them as acquaintances that he knew through his sister. He claimed his familiarity with the Alberts had no impact on the investigation.
• As part of his investigation, Proctor said he returned to 34 Fairview repeatedly because the rising temperatures had melted much of the snow and displayed for the jury some of the plastic pieces of taillight he recovered from the Albert’s front lawn.
• On cross examination defense attorney Alan Jackson noted that Proctor was not reprimanded for the inappropriate texts, and that he abused his investigative authority by attempting to look for nude pictures of his client.  Jackson suggested Proctor’s bias against Read compromised the investigation.
• WATCH: Karen Read Trial: Lead Investigator Michael Proctor Testifies
• WATCH: Killer or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 22 Recap

DAY 21 – 6/6/24

• Jurors heard a short clip of a statement that Karen Read gave to police. The comments she made promoted officers to tell her to stop talking.
• Massachusetts State Trooper Yuriy Bukhenik testified that investigators recovered John O’Keefe’s baseball cap and shards of plastic from there area where his body was found as the snow melted.
  • WATCH: Karen Read Trial: Investigator Testifies to Missing Evidence
• A key piece of video presented by prosecutors is exposed by the defense as misleading because it shows an inverted image of the defendant’s car, leading jurors to believe they are viewing the passenger side of the car with the defendant’s tail light when, in fact, they are seeing the driver’s side.
  • WATCH: Killer or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 21 Recap

DAY 20 – 6/5/24

• Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik a supervising trooper testified that surveillance video from the bars Karen Read and the victim visited the night of January 28, 2022, appear to show she consumed eight drinks in less than 3 hours.
  • Bukhenik said he recovered John O’Keefe’s clothes which were lying in a pile on the floor of his hospital room – and processed them by putting them into evidence. He displayed his blood-stained clothes to the jury – which prompted Margaret O’Keefe to leave the courtroom for a a spell.
  • Bukhenik also reviewed ring video from O’Keefe’s home and observed the defendant backing out of the garage at 5:07 AM the morning of January 29. She appeared to meet O’Keefe’s car which was parked in the driveway – the prosecutor noted the video shows no damage to O’Keefe’s car and no taillight fragments left from the impact. The defense maintains exit from the garage is when she damaged her trail light.
  • Sgt. Bukhenik interviewed Read at her parents’ house the afternoon of January 29, when she was asked how the damage to her taillight occurred. Bukhenik said she told him she didn’t know and that ‘it happened last night.’
  • Bukhenik testified he told Read that they would be taking possession of her phone and vehicle as evidence.
• Video shows the defendant’s car being driven into the Sally Port of Canton PD and crime scene tape used to cordon off the vehicle.
• Jurors also saw video of the defendant leaving McCarthy’s with a tall glass in her hand, and John O’Keefe leaving the Waterfall with a shorter glass in his hand just after midnight on January 29, 2022.
• A forensic scientist examined a broken glass found in the vicinity of John O’Keefe’s body and matched that glass to 6 of 9 pieces of glass fragments recovered from the scene.
• The trace evidence analyst also testified that pieces of red plastic found in debris scraped from John O’Keefe’s clothes were a match to the defendant’s damaged taillight.
  • WATCH: Scientist Compares Plastic Tail Light Pieces In Karen Read Trial
• On cross defense attorneys suggested lead investigator Michael Proctor planted or contaminated the items tested by the crime lab. They noted that Proctor found larger pieces of broken taillight weeks after O’Keefe’s death, when another Trooper could only find small pieces of broken tail light closer in time to the date of the incident.
  • The defense on cross also questioned Proctor’s handling of the evidence, because of his ties to the Albert family. The defense is accusing two members of the Albert family and Brian Higgins of being third-party culprits in John O’Keefe’s death.
• The defense noted that the one piece of glass that was on the ground recovered by Proctor did not match the glass or fragments of glass from the scene.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 20 Recap

DAY 19 – 6/3/24

• State Trooper testified he and his team performed a grid search in the area where John O’Keefe’s body was found and recovered several pieces of broken taillight and his missing sneaker. All the items were found at ground level close in proximity to each other and between the flagpole and the fire hydrant at 34 Fairview.
  • WATCH: Karen Read Trial: Jury Sees Photos Of Taillight Found At Scene
• Forensic Scientist Maureen Hartnett examined Read’s black SUV, observed a broken taillight, a dent in the trunk door, glass fragments on the bumper, and a hair on the rear quarter panel.
  • WATCH: Witness: Apparent Hair, Glass Found In Karen Read’s Bumper
  • Hartnett tested the undercarriage of Read’s car for blood which turned out to be negative.
  • Hartnett also examined O’Keefe’s clothing, sneaker, gray sweatshirt, orange t-shirt and jeans. Tests confirmed reddish brown stains on his clothes were blood, including a spot on his sneaker.
  • Holes and tears on O’Keefe’s right sleeve which appeared to coincide with the injuries to his arm, were swabbed and sent to a lab to test for canine DNA. Hartnett said she could not explain how the damage to the right sleeve occurred. Teri Kun an animal DNA expert testified earlier in the trial that her tests showed no results for canine DNA.
• Ashley Vallier a trace evidence analyst examined the debris collected from O’Keefe’s clothes and found pieces of red and clear plastic. She sent them on to another analyst for further examination.
  • Vallier testified she was able to reconstruct the plastic fragments she was asked to examine into a bigger piece that she said was a physical match to the taillight from Read’s car.
  • WATCH: Karen Read Jury Sees Shards Of Glass Found Near John O’Keefe’s Body
• Defense Attorney Alan Jackson noted that Read’s car was towed from Dighton, 40 miles away through a blizzard, suggesting any evidence collected from the car would have been compromised.
• Defense also questioned the chain of custody of the items the scientists examined suggesting they could have been mishandled and tampered with due to lack of control over the crime scene and their connection to lead investigator Michael Proctor – who they have argued was a close family friend to the Alberts- and the owners of the property where O’Keefe was found.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 19 Recap

DAY 18 – 5/28/24

• Brian Higgins concluded his testimony. Higgins testified that if he had seen O’Keefe on the side of the road when he left, he would’ve done anything to help him. Higgins also testified to feeling embarrassed by betraying his friendship with O’Keefe while flirting with Read.
  • WATCH: Brian Higgins Testifies That Karen Read Kissed Him
• The state called a physician who testified O’Keefe’s body temperature was 80 degrees when he was brought in and they could not warm his temperature back up. During cross, the defense was able to get testimony from him that he did not see any injuries to O’Keefe besides the laceration above his eye and the scratches on his arm.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 18 Recap

DAY 17 – 5/24/24

• Brian Higgins, an ATF agent, and Albert family friend testified he spent the better part of the day with Brian Albert and went to his house after drinks at the Waterfall but left without seeing John O’Keefe or Karen Read at or near the home.
• A text he sent John from 34 Fairview, ‘Where are you,’ went unanswered. He denied he sent it with the intent of getting O’Keefe to come alone even though he had sent an earlier flirtatious text to Read, which was ignored when they were at the  Waterfall.
• The defense has billed Higgins as a third-party culprit, an alternate suspect who may have participated in the assault on O’Keefe, so he could pursue his romantic interest in Read. Higgins testified that Read initiated the dalliance in the weeks before O’Keefe’s death and read a series of text exchanges in which they declared their attraction for each other.
• “I think you’re hot,” Read wrote in one message. “Feeling is mutual,” Higgins responded.
  • WATCH: ‘I Think You’re Hot’: Jury Sees Karen Read’s Texts To Brian Higgins
• Higgins said Read invited him over to watch the Patriots game shortly that day and before he left – Read kissed him on the lips. Text exchanges that followed suggested Read was frustrated and disappointed in her relationship with O’Keefe, she stated that she was happy, but things were ‘deteriorating,’ following their New Year’s Eve trip to Aruba. She wrote that O’Keefe ‘was all over’ a girl, which the jury heard was Marietta Sullivan who testified that the defendant cussed at her when she greeted John O’Keefe, a longtime friend with a hug.
• Read also expressed her frustration over having to take care of children that were not her own.
• “I’m with him all the time. He never seems to want to go anywhere w/o me. But honestly the issues with the kids bother me more than him actually cheating. They’re constant and it feels like a lose/lose,” she wrote in a text to Higgins.
• The Commonwealth is expected to argue that the texts were evidence that the relationship was failing and after an argument with O’Keefe,  Read backed her car into him in a drunken rage then fled.
• In his cross-examination of Higgins, Alan Jackson noted that Karen Read did not greet Higgins at the Waterfall and ignored a flirty text he sent her while they were there. The defense attorney suggested he went to 34 Fairview because he thought she would also be there.
• Jackson noted that Higgins testified at one previous hearing that he thought he saw a tall dark-haired male arrive at the house, suggesting he was not forthcoming in his testimony.
• Higgins said he could not be sure and was not familiar enough with Colin Albert to identify him. He went on to say that  he left the gathering in the kitchen/dining area briefly to look at some pictures of Brian Albert’s son who was in the Marine Corps.
• Higgins stated he left 34 Fairview around 12:30 AM.  O’Keefe never responded to his text, and he never saw him again. He also testified that he saw nothing out of the ordinary when he drove away. Before going home he stopped at Canton P.D., to move some vehicles in preparation for the incoming storm.
• The defense pointed to two calls from Brian Albert’s phone to Higgins around 2:22 AM  at around the same time Jennifer McCabe googled, ‘how long to die in the cold,’ were an effort to cover up the assault on O’Keefe and that  the text strings he shared with law enforcement were carefully curated before he replaced his phone.
• Higgins agreed he sought advice from his best friend, a federal investigator on how to extract information from his phone to share with police but retrieved the information himself using a kiosk accessible federal and local law enforcement.
  • WATCH: Karen Read Defense Accuses Brian Higgins Of Federal Crime
• Jackson also noted that Higgins spent time at the Albert home and at the Canton Police Department where he has an office after O’Keefe’s body was discovered the morning of January 29. Jackson noted Higgins had nearly unlimited access to the premises including the sally port, where investigators moved the defendant’s car.
• The inference being that Higgins could have tampered with Read’s car while it was being held at Canton P.D.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 17 Recap

DAY 16 – 5/22/24

• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 16 Recap
• A Google search ‘how (hos) long it takes to die in the cold’ from Jennifer McCabe’s cell phone made at 2:27 AM was deleted. Defense contends McCabe deleted the search because she knew it would implicate her in the alleged coverup.
• McCabe denies making the Google search at 2:27 AM, and testified the two Google searches she made for ‘how long to die in the cold’ were done at the request of the defendant at 6:17 AM & 6:23 AM.
  • WATCH: Jennifer McCabe: ‘I Never Deleted Any Search’
• Defense probed McCabe about a visit she had with Michael Proctor’s wife, which the judge said opened the door to details about the harassment she and her family have suffered, which McCabe said included a rolling rally outside her house, and a picture of semen on her daughter’s face.
• Defense Attorney Alan Jackson and McCabe also sparred over her testimony that Read confessed, ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,’ defense contends McCabe did not say it on 12 previous occasions that she was asked about the defendant’s statements.
• Family friend Marietta Sullivan took the witness stand to describe Karen Read’s hostility toward her after the defendant thought she ‘made out’ with John O’Keefe when they were on a family vacation in Aruba in early January 2022.
• Read allegedly cussed her out after she saw Marietta and O’Keefe in the hotel lobby together – Marietta who considers O’Keefe a close friend, and a big brother type said after the two cussed at each other in their first encounter, she went to her sister and told her ‘Karen sucks.’
• Marietta Sullivan’s sister Laura Sullivan described John O’Keefe as one of her closest friends and testified he was a mainstay in her child’s life– after the baby’s father – O’Keefe’s best friend took his own life.
• Laura Sullivan invited O’Keefe to Aruba. She said O’Keefe was not himself,  he seemed distant. At one point Karen said she wanted to make up for what she said to Marietta and wanted to pay for her room.
• Kerry Roberts a longtime friend of John O’Keefe testified the defendant called her at 5:00 AM the morning of January 29, and said, ‘John is dead, Kerry, Kerry Kerry,” and hung up. At the time O’Keefe had not been found yet.
• Roberts testified Read called her back and told her that she was ‘afraid John might be dead,’ ‘hit by a plow’ because he hadn’t come home.
• Roberts said that at one point Read said if John died she would kill herself and told Roberts she would have to care for O’Keefe’s children.
• Roberts becomes emotional when she is asked to view dashcam video from the morning of January 29, 2024.
• WATCH: Karen Read Trial: Kerry Roberts Describes Finding John O’Keefe

DAY 15 – 5/21/24

• Defense Attorney Alan Jackson’s cross-examination of Jennifer McCabe suggested McCabe colluded with her husband and family members to cover up the beating death of John O’Keefe and concocted the statement ‘I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,’ to pin the blame on Karen Read.
  • McCabe conceded she discussed the events with her husband and family members – who are also witnesses, but not for the purposes of aligning their stories as the defense suggests but with the goal of trying to determine what happened to her friend John O’Keefe, whose lifeless body was found on her sister’s front lawn the morning of January 29, 2022.
  • McCabe testified that their discussions were more focused on the harassment they were suffering.
  • Jackson noted that Kerry Roberts who accompanied the defendant and McCabe on the search for O’Keefe was interviewed at McCabe’s house within earshot of Jennifer and Matthew McCabe. He pointed to texts that Jennifer sent to a group that included her sister Nicole, and brother-in-law Brian. Texts that he says suggested she was trying to influence Roberts. McCabe denied that she was trying to influence Kerry, “she’s her own person.”
  • McCabe was asked about calls that she made to O’Keefe that did not show up on her call log but were noted on his. McCabe said she willingly turned over her phone so that it could be forensically examined, and the information extracted. Jackson accused her of deleting information to cover up her communications during the time prosecutors suspect John O’Keefe became incapacitated. McCabe conceded the police allowed her to delete text messages she exchanged with her daughters.
    • WATCH: Jennifer McCabe Gets Frustrated On Cross: ‘I Never Deleted Any Calls’
  • Jackson asked McCabe about what he described as an ‘off-the-books meeting’ she and Roberts had at the home of Officer Michael Lank, one of the first officers on the scene. She testified it was not a meeting, but that Roberts was dropping her daughter off, and Lank’s wife started talking to Kerry. McCabe said, ‘Kerry’s a talker’ and the discussion went on for about an hour in the car. The had not disclosed the impromptu meeting until police brought it up.
  • Jackson grilled McCabe on the where she parked the car and where she initially saw Read’s car at 34 Fairview. McCabe agreed that she had a clear view of Read’s car which said was in front of the house. However, when Jackson asked her “Where the body was?” She admitted she had no idea but asserted that she was focused on the car not the lawn.
  • No one who left the after party at 34 Fairview said they saw a body on the lawn except for Julie Nagel who testified that she saw a ‘black blob’ on the lawn as the car pulled away – she testified that she said something in the car. But the McCabes and Sarah Levinson who were also in the car do not recall her saying anything about a ‘black blob.’
• WATCH: Jennifer McCabe On Cross: ‘It Wasn’t A Story. It Was The Truth’
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 15 Recap

DAY 14 – 5/17/24

• Matthew and Jennifer McCabe detailed the defendant’s behavior during the early morning hours of January 29, 2022 from being awaken by her hysterical screams, to the frantic search for John O’Keefe, to her desperate attempts to revive his lifeless body.
• Jennifer McCabe said she was awakened by a phone call from John O’Keefe’s niece at 4:53 am the morning of January 29, 2022 in the background she could hear Karen Read repeatedly yelling her name. Read told her that she and John had a fight, and he did not come home and that the last time she saw him was at the Waterfall.
• According to McCabe, she told Read that she saw her car at her sister’s house at 34 Fairview,  but Read said she had a cracked taillight and could not remember being there, during the call Read asked,  “Did I hit him, could I have hit him,” amid continuing to scream her name. Soon after the call Read was outside her house yelling her name so loudly that her husband Matthew who was awaken by the screaming, worried she would wake the whole neighborhood.
• WATCH: Witness Woke Up To Karen Read’s Screams
• Jennifer McCabe testified  the defendant came running up the walkway, yelling her name and asked again, “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him,” and insisted that they go back to 34 Fairview.
• McCabe tried to calm the defendant down by telling her they would look for him and took over driving her car. Before they left Kerry Roberts arrived and she was followed by a snowplow. blizzard conditions had grown more severe, and visibility was impaired.
• Before going back to Fairview – the women stopped on Meadows Street to look for O’Keefe.  McCabe testified the defendant showed her the broken taillight and she observed pieces missing.
• O’Keefe’s niece was home, but it was clear that he was not. McCabe became emotional recalling that she told the 14-year-old that she would find her uncle and that everything would be okay.  The three women then drove to 34 Fairview, this time, they took Robert’s car. During the ride McCabe testified that Read continued to behave erratically, yelling their names, while asking if John could be with certain women in the neighborhood he had briefly dated.
• When they got to Fairview, and drove past the flagpole, McCabe testified Read screamed, “There he is. There he is,” and banged on the door to get out. Once out of the car McCabe said she ran ‘straight to John.’
• McCabe said Read was with O’Keefe by the time she got out of the passenger seat. Read had straddled O’Keefe who was on his back and lay on him, while Roberts wiped the snow from his face, according to McCabe the scene was still chaotic as Roberts and Read continued to yell at each another. At Robert’s urging Read started mouth-to-mouth CPR, prompting blood to come out of O’Keefe’s mouth.
• McCabe called 911 and Roberts asked her to alternate chest compressions. First responders arrived on the scene a few minutes later. A  paramedic asked for O’Keefe’s information, McCabe said Read stated, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.” “She said it 3 times, it was crystal clear.”
• At one point while the three women were in the back seat of a cruiser, Read looked at her bloodied hands and asked if she had her period. When they told her it was John’s blood, she stated  someone had to take care of the kids. When she saw first responders moving O’Keefe into the back of the ambulance, Read asked again, “Is he dead? Is he dead?”
• McCabe said Read grabbed her hands and asked her to google hypothermia, and ‘How long it takes to die in the cold?’
• McCabe said after she googled the question, she talked to police and gave them an overview of what happened. She also called her sister Nicole but did not get an answer. She went into their bedroom and woke them up to tell them that police wanted to question them.
• McCabe said she had another phone conversation with the defendant while she was in the ambulance, in which she repeatedly asked if John was dead, brought up the kids and asked McCabe to visit her. “I said yes,” said McCabe.
• Jennifer McCabe also testified O’Keefe wanted her to meet Kareen Read in 2020, because they shared a connection, she and Read both suffer from Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a chronic disease with a wide range of potential symptoms.
• McCabe said she liked Read found her easy to talk to and was welcomed into the circle of friends that O’Keefe was a part of after becoming the guardian to his niece and nephew.
• Read’s defense team has suggested McCabe’s Google search, “Hos long to die in the cold?” implicates McCabe in a cover-up scheme the defense alleges was created to conceal another suspect’s attack on O’Keefe.
• McCabe’s testimony is that the Google search was made while they were at the scene after they found O’Keefe. The defense contends the search was done at 2:27 AM, hours before the body was found and after Brian Albert made two calls to Brian Higgins, which Albert contends were butt dials.
• Jennifer McCabe returns to the stand Tuesday morning.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 14 Recap

DAY 13 – 5/16/24

• Matt McCabe who attended the after-party testified he saw the defendant’s SUV outside the house, but neither John O’Keefe or Karen Read entered the Albert house after they left the Waterfall for the Albert home.
• McCabe said he was expecting O’Keefe to stop by because he heard his wife share location details with him and looked out the window a few times to check on his arrival.
• He wondered what they were up to when they didn’t come inside. After a spell he checked again and when he didn’t see the car, he assumed they left.
• WATCH: McCabe On SUV Outside House: ‘It Was Weird That They Hadn’t Come In’
• Matt McCabe says Colin Albert is not at the house when he arrives.
• On cross-examination the Defense suggests Colin Albert is an alternate suspect that was overlooked by police because of his close ties to the lead investigator’s family.
• WATCH: Colin Albert Grilled About Proctor And Albert Families’ Close Ties
• Defense plays for the jury two videos of Albert making threats of violence to suggest he had threatened to beat people. Albert acknowledged he was making threats to members of a hockey team but it was chest-puffing that went back and forth between them.
• The defense also displays a picture of Colin Albert taken on Feb. 26, 2022, about a month after O’Keefe’s death, in which Albert’s right knuckles appear red and scraped. Attorney Alan Jackson ridicules his explanation that he fell on ice and landed on his knuckles.
• Defense notes in addition to the ice incident, Albert showed up at a hearing in July of 2023 with scraped knuckles and when asked about it he said the damage to his knuckles were the result of using a heavy bag without hand protection. Defense suggests Colin Albert likes to fight, despite his denial that he has never been in a fight except with his brothers when they were younger.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Colin Albert Testimony Highlights
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 13 Recap

DAY 12 – 5/15/24

• Allison McCabe breaks down on the stand when asked about the harassment Colin and her family have been subjected to by social media trolls while the trial was pending.
• WATCH: Witness Breaks Down On The Stand In Karen Read Trial
• McCabe testifies that Colin was not at the house when the defense claims O’Keefe was there.
• McCabe and Colin Albert present screen shots of the January 29 -midnight text exchange between them, where Colin asks for a ride home, and McCabe picks him up at around 12:10 AM.
• Richard  ‘Ricky’ D’Antuono drives his friend Ryan Nagel – Julie’s brother and another passenger to pick up Ryan’s sister, Julie at 34 Fairview. They encounter an SUV that travels ahead of them and parks in front of the house. The defense acknowledges the SUV is driven by Karen Read.
• WATCH: Jury Hears For First Time That Read Was Driving SUV In Front Of House
• Ryan Nagel says shortly after midnight he texts his sister that they are outside 34 Fairview. He observes only a female in the SUV parked in front of them. He sees the brake lights on, but did not see any damage to the car,  did not see anyone on the lawn or anyone get out of the car.
• WATCH: Ryan Nagel: SUV Taillights Were Intact, Never Saw Person Lying On Lawn
• Julie Nagel comes out to the truck and talks to her brother for a few minutes, invites them in, they decline, she decides not to leave with them and goes back into the Albert Home.
• Heather Maxon who is also in the car with D’Antuono and Nagel says she observes a female driver and a male passenger before the SUV arrives at the house. But when D’Antuono drives away from the house, she observes only the female in the SUV.
• D’Antuono drives a Ford truck, he parks behind Read’s car. Both vehicles are facing the same direction.  No one in the truck says they saw damage to the taillights, observe anyone exit the SUV, or sees the SUV drive in reverse and strike a pedestrian.
• Colin Albert testifies when he’s at the Albert home, he hangs out in the kitchen/dining area – does not go upstairs or into the basement.
• A forensic scientist with a specialty in animal DNA, says she tested two swabs from a shirt and found no canine DNA – on cross defense suggests there is no insight to the swabs given to her by the Massachusetts State Police, ie she does not know what part of the shirt the DNA came from.
• WATCH: Forensic Scientist: No Canine DNA On John O’Keefe’s Shirt
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 12 Recap

DAY 11 – 5/14/24

• Jury heard from a second witness who testified that she saw a black SUV in the front of the house, first around the mailbox, then closer to the flagpole where the victim was found.
• Julie Nagel testified that when she left the Albert home the morning of January 29, around 1:45 am, she saw a “black blob” around the flagpole area and said it was about 5 to 6 feet in length (John O’Keefe is 6’2). Nagel said she flagged it when she was in the car with Jenn and Matthew McCabe, who were giving her a lift home, but didn’t know at the time what she saw.
• David Yanetti attacked the witness’ credibility noting she had not disclosed that observation in a previous statement to police and that she had been drinking most of the night and was impaired.
• Yanetti also noted her close relationship with the Albert family having attended high school with Brian Albert Jr. and was friendly with his relatives and siblings. Nagel agreed she had been to the Albert home frequently and used their pool.
• Sara Levinson who left at the same time as Nagel did not see anything unusual on the front lawn, but she was focused on what was directly ahead because she was wearing heeled boots and was worried about slipping.
• Caitlin Albert and her boyfriend Tristin Morris were the last to leave. Caitlin wanted a ride back because she did not want to be snowed in at her parents’ home. They left close to 2:00 AM and did not see anything unusual on the lawn. She did not observe or hear anything unusual in front of her parents home.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 11 Recap

DAY 10 – 5/13/24

• None of the Alberts who have testified so far say they saw John O’Keefe and/or Karen Read enter their home on 34 Fairview in the early hours of January 29, 2024.
• Brian Albert Jr. testified he was marking his 23rd birthday with friends who had joined him at the house. At some point during the gathering his friend Julie Nagel went out to speak to her brother, that’s when he observed his truck as well as a dark SUV.
• Albert Jr. says he first noticed the SUV around the mailbox closer to the driveway then pull up closer to the flagpole after a few minutes but did not hear or see anyone get out of the vehicle.
• All of the Alberts testified that upon arriving at the house after the Waterfall, the mood was cheerful, and everyone was having a good time.
• On cross examination the defense tried to paint a picture that the Alberts colluded with one another to conceal Colin’s presence at the house, and that Brian Sr. had deleted the data on his phone to avoid having to turn it over to defense attorneys.
• Brian Sr. testified he upgraded his phone and that he was unaware of any data being deleted and claimed it was a coincidence that he upgraded his phone just before prosecutors alerted him to preserve the contents of his cell phone.
• Defense noted Albert made two calls to Brian Higgins in the middle of the night at 2:22 AM. Brian Sr. said they were butt dials, one made while he was intimate with his wife. The defense also noted that he called Higgins first before anyone else at 7:30 AM, after O’Keefe’s body had been discovered. A flurry of phone calls was exchanged between them as well as a call to the Chief of Canton P.D. The defense pointedly asked if Albert and Higgins were making the calls to get ‘their stories’ straight, Albert flatly denied the allegation.
• WATCH: Much Ado About A Butt Dial: The Cross-Examination Of Brian Albert
• The defense showed jurors a video of the path between the bulkhead doors leading out of the basement and into the front yard on the side where O’Keefe was found. The defense suggests this was one way the alleged conspirators got John O’Keefe out of the house and into that side of the yard after he had been fatally beaten.
• Caitlin testifies she’s the last of the group to leave. On cross David Yanetti grills her about her friendship with Katie McLaughlin – the firefighter who said she heard the defendant say, “I hit him, I hit him.”
• WATCH: Trial Exhibit: Brian Albert Appears To Talk To Karen Read At Bar
• WATCH: Karen Read Trial: Police Respond To Media Line Over Skirmish
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 10 Recap

DAY 9 – 5/10/24

• WATCH: ‘Some Funny Business Going On Here’: Turtleboy’s Attorney Addresses Court
• Homeowners of the property where John O’Keefe was found–denied he stepped foot in their house on January 29, 2022.
• Brian and Nicole Albert said they had invited their friends at the Waterfall to join them at their home– their son Brian Jr. was turning 23 years old.
• When they (Brian Sr., Nicole, Caitlin) arrived back at 34 Fairview sometime after midnight – Colin Albert was getting ready to leave. Brian Jr. had two friends over. According to the Alberts the mood was pleasant they were talking and listening to music.
• It had begun to snow and Brian Higgins who arrived first at the house after leaving the Waterfall cleared the driveway with a plow that he had attached to his truck to let the Alberts in. Jennifer and Matthew McCabe arrived after Higgins. But the Alberts testified John O’Keefe and Karen Read did not enter their home.
• WATCH: Brian Albert: ‘John O’Keefe And Karen Read Never Entered My House’
• Brian said he let their dog out briefly to relieve herself in their fenced in back yard. He waited by the door then walked the dog upstairs to their bedroom where she liked to sleep. He said from the doorway he has no view of the front yard.
• During the visit Brian said he and Higgins left the group for a few minutes to go upstairs to show Higgins some pictures of his son Jack, who was in the Marine Corps.
• Higgins left the party at 1:30 AM. The McCabes left shortly afterward (approx. 1:45), followed by Caitlin who was the last to leave the house at 2:00 AM when her boyfriend picked her up. Nicole said she went to bed around 2:00 after Caitlin left.
• On cross Nicole testified Chloe, a German Shepherd mix, injured a woman during an attack on another dog leading to the ‘rehoming’ of the dog to another state. Nicole said she made that information available but was not specific about who she told.
• WATCH: Karen Read Defense Questions Nicole Albert On Dog, Cell Phone Records
• Karen Read’s defense team contends that O’Keefe was assaulted and some of his injuries resulted from a dog attack. In pretrial hearings the defense suggested the Alberts’ dog should be located to test for canine DNA on the victim’s injuries.
• The defense has also argued that Brian Higgins, Brian Albert and Colin Albert, had motive and opportunity and any of the three or a combination of them assaulted John O’Keefe and left him to die in the cold.
• On cross Julie Albert appeared to dodge calls from police for weeks before meeting with them on April 3^rd. She also appeared to minimize her contact with Courtney Proctor, sister of the lead investigator, for whom she provided childcare.
• Defense suggests Julie and Chris Albert were not truthful about when their son came home from 34 Fairview the morning of January 29, 2024.
• Brian and Nicole Albert say Colin Albert was at their house but left shortly after they got home from the Waterfall shortly after midnight.
• Brian and Nicole Albert say they were awakened later that morning between 6:00 and 6:30 to Nicole’s sister Jennifer McCabe bursting into their room to tell them that O’Keefe was found dead outside their home
• WATCH: Nicole Albert Recalls Waking Up To Find John O’Keefe’s Body On Lawn
• Brian said he saw the collection of emergency vehicles outside of his house but did not go out.
• The Alberts sold their home in April of 2023, more than a year after the incident, denied it had anything to do with O’Keefe’s death.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 9 Recap

DAY 8 – 5/9/24

• Christopher and Julie Albert were neighbors of John O’Keefe, Chris testified they were friends and looked after O’Keefe’s house when he was away.
• WATCH: Karen Read Defense Questions Chris Albert On Timeline
• John O’Keefe and Karen Read joined the Alberts at the Waterfall Bar on January 28, 2022– Chris Albert said he was one of the last people to leave the bar and observed no strife between the couple.
• Chris and Julie both observed the defendant had a glass with clear liquid under her jacket when she came into the Waterfall.
• Christopher and Julie declined to go to the after party at his brother’s house.
• Julie left the Waterfall before Chris who was home around 12:20 pm. He said his son Colin came home about 10 minutes after he got home.
• Defense suggested John O’Keefe had a beef with Christopher over his lawn.
• Christopher and Julie sent John O’Keefe pictures of themselves holding drinks and straddling the fence around his property. The defense suggested they did this to antagonize O’Keefe because he was the ‘get off my lawn’ guy.
• Christopher agrees they teased O’Keefe and called him “Mr. Nebbercracker,” after the character in Monster House. Chris said it was all for fun and John O’Keefe thought the pictures he sent him were funny.
• Defense suggested Chris was feuding with John O’Keefe over complaints about his son Colin throwing beer cans on his property and cutting across his lawn. Chris denied the allegations.
• Defense suggested Chris was mistaken about what time Colin came home the morning of January 29.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 8 Recap

DAY 7 – 5/8/24

• Friends who were with John O’Keefe and Karen Read the night before he died testified that he was happy, excited and planning a vacation with the defendant.
• John O’Keefe was part of a circle of Basketball/Baseball parents who bonded over their children’s sports activities. Michael Camarano’s children were the same age as O’Keefe’s niece and nephew, and they routinely spent Fridays together while Camarano’s wife worked the overnight shift at a local hospital.
• WATCH: O’Keefe Best Friend Testifies As Jury Sees Bar Video From Night He Died
• Camarano said he and O’Keefe went to CF McCarthy’s  restaurant/bar on January 28, where they were joined by the defendant. He said they greeted each other with a kiss and appeared to be a happy normal couple. He observed no strife in the relationship, and said he could not recall O’Keefe ever discussing wanting to break up with Read.
• Camarano had to leave early to tend to his son after he learned he had been hit with a hockey stick and lost a tooth.  O’Keefe and Read left McCarthy’s later that night to join other friends including the McCabes and the Alberts at the Waterfall Bar. Friends who saw them together said they appeared ‘lovey dovey.’ In fact, they were so affectionate that Nicholas Kolokithas, said his wife asked, ‘Why aren’t you like that with me?”
• The defense noted that in the Waterfall video, while Karen Read was seen talking to O’Keefe and the women in the group, Brian Higgins and Brian Albert were rough housing or play fighting. Read’s defense contends that Brian Higgins, Brian Albert, Chris Albert, or any combination of the trio cold have assaulted O’Keefe.
• Video from the Waterfall also captured O’Keefe leaving the bar with a clear glass, like the one found at the scene of the crime.
• WATCH: O’Keefe’s Family Clutches Tissues, Strains To See His Final Moments
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 7 Recap

DAY 6 – 5/7/24

• The jury deciding the case against Karen Read viewed pictures of a piece of red plastic and a cocktail glass protruding from the snow in the same area where the victim lay fatally injured and freezing to death in the early hours of January 29^th, 2022.
• Prosecutors say the piece of red plastic recovered at the crime scene is a remnant from the taillight of the defendant’s car damaged when she allegedly backed into her boyfriend in a fit of drunken rage.
• Veteran Canton police officers Michael Lank and Sean Goode testified about recovering the evidence using a leaf blower to remove the snow, Solo drinking cups to collect blood droplets and a grocery bag to store the cups.
• Lt. Lank testified that they had to improvise because he was informed by Massachusetts State Police’s CPAC, the unit that investigates unattended deaths, that the agency would not be sending anyone to process the scene.
• Lank also interviewed Brian and Nicole Albert, the homeowners as well as Jennifer McCabe who accompanied the defendant to the scene and is related to the Alberts.
• Defense attorney Alan Jackson questioned the integrity of Lank’s investigation suggesting his long-standing relationship with two of the Albert brothers presented a conflict. Jackson noted both Goode and Lank were long time colleagues of Kevin Albert, who also worked for Canton P.D.
• WATCH: Karen Read Defense Questions Sgt. Lank About Aiding Albert Family
• Jackson challenged Lank about not checking for signs of fight when he went inside the Albert home, and not following proper police interrogation techniques when he interviewed McCabe and the Alberts within earshot of one another.
• Lank was also questioned about an incident in 2002, when he intervened to help Christopher Albert who was running from a group of men following an altercation with one of them.
• Lank said he intervened because Albert feared he was going to be attacked, and he agreed the confrontation became physical when he attempted to de-escalate the situation.
• Lank said he did not check the house for signs of a fight because he did not have probable cause and said that from his vantage point, he saw nothing amiss.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 6 Recap

DAY 5 – 5/6/24

• Defense accuses Commonwealth witness Katie McLaughlin of ‘perjuring’ herself after more pictures of her and Caitlin Albert surface. According to the defense one picture captures the former high school track teammates at a party as recently as June of 2021.
• WATCH: Karen Read Defense Accuses Prosecution Witness Of Perjury
• Lieutenant Paul Gallagher a supervising officer with Canton PD collected blood evidence from the crime scene using borrowed Solo cups from a neighbor and storing the samples in a grocery bag, which was pictured a few feet from the back  of defendant’s SUV.
• Gallagher said he used a leaf blower at the crime scene to remove snow where John O’Keefe’s body was discovered. The leaf blower revealed blood droplets as well as a glass. Noticeably absent were remnants of the taillight that police say is evidence of Read plowing into O’Keefe.
• WATCH: Karen Read’s Attorney Challenges Use Of Snowblower, Cups At Crime Scene
• Gallagher said he did not go so far as to question the occupants of 34 Fairview – where John O’Keefe’s body was found or search the home because he said he lacked probable cause.
• Sean Goode the Midnight Sargent, Canton PD testified about receiving 2 911 calls the morning of January 29. One he would later learn was made by Jennifer McCabe who called police to find out if they had picked up a John O’Keefe. The other call from Kerry Roberts, the defendant could be heard screaming in the background.
• Goode responded to the scene and questioned the defendant, who repeatedly and loudly asked, “Is he dead? Is he dead.” Goode said she was so distracted he did not continue to question her.
• Goode revealed that he had a long working relationship with Tim Albert, a detective with Canton PD.
• Goode accompanied Sgt. Michael Lank into the Albert’s home, where Lank took the lead in questioning them. Goode said he looked around the house but did not see anything amiss.
• When he moved his car at the scene his dashcam panned the front of the yard and revealed that the thick coat of snow that covered the lawn appeared undisturbed in front of the house except for where John O’Keefe was found.
• Testimony was taken from Sargent Michael Lank, who was the first to speak to the occupants of 34 Fairview, Brian and Nicole Albert. Defense Attorney Alan Jackson is seeking to elicit testimony to show the long-standing relationship Lank had with the Alberts including intervening to help Christopher Albert after a bar fight in 2002.
• WATCH: Karen Read Defense Questions Officer About Alleged Misconduct
• Albert got into a fight involving brothers Marc and Alfredo Lopilato. Lank allegedly assaulted Marc, punching him and biting him hard enough to cut through his skin. When the Lopilato brothers filed a complaint against Lank, they were charged with assaulting a police officer. Lank also subsequently had the brothers arrested for witness intimidation. According to the defense, the brothers were acquitted of the assault charges and prosecutors dismissed the witness intimidation charge.
• The judge is expected to rule tomorrow on how much evidence which could include testimony from one of the Lopilatos she will admit.
• WATCH: Hysterical Karen Read Heard In Background Of 911 Calls
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 5 Recap

DAY 4 – 5/3/24

• Firefighter Katie McLaughlin, who testified defendant Karen Read repeatedly said, “I hit him, I hit him,” while paramedics worked to revive her boyfriend, revealed on cross-examination that she has ties to the Albert family.
• WATCH: Paramedic: Karen Read Kept Saying: ‘Is He Dead? Is He Dead?’
• Defense attorney Alan Jackson elicited the revelation that McLaughlin and Caitlin Albert knew each other in high school and were part of the same circle of friends, though McLaughlin held fast that she was not a ‘close friend’ of Albert and did not know that she was at the Albert’s home when she responded to the distress call in Jan of 2022.
• Jackson was armed with pictures from social media of McLaughlin and Albert in group photos, but the judge stopped the defense from displaying them to the jury, siding with the prosecutor that they violated discovery rules.
• On cross Jackson suggested that McLaughlin’s story ‘evolved’ noting that the paramedic in a previous statement said the defendant’s comments were directed at a woman, and that the statement was a question.  McLaughlin maintained the defendant made the statement in response to her question.
• WATCH: Paramedic Says Her Memory Of Karen Read’s Statements Has ‘Evolved‘
• Prosecutors continued to paint the crime scene with more firefighter/paramedics who were dispatched to 34 Fairview this time in response to suicidal comments the defendant made. Firefighter Jason Becker said the defendant vacillated between periods of calm and agitation. He testified the Read told him that she referred to the victim as her husband and that that the two had had an argument and expressed sadness over the last thing she said to him but did not reveal what she said.
• Also, on Friday the jury visited the crime scene and view the defendant’s Lexus parked in front of the home. Several parts including the broken taillight were removed from the vehicle.
• WATCH: Jury Views Crime Scene Where John O’Keefe’s Body Was Found
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 4 Recap

DAY 3 – 5/2/24

• Four paramedics dispatched to the crime scene at 34 Fairview testified Thursday that Karen Read appeared distraught and two of the firefighters who treated John O’Keefe say she repeatedly said, “I hit him, I hit him.”
• Prosecutors allege Read killed John O’Keefe, her police officer boyfriend in the early hours of January 29, 2022 by backing into him in a drunken rage and leaving him to die in the frigid temperatures of a nor’easter. Two firefighters who questioned her directly said Read was upset and repeatedly said, “I hit him, I hit him.” Prosecutors have presented testimony from several first responders over the last few days who claim Read blamed herself for O’Keefe’s injuries and appeared agitated and hysterical when they arrived at the scene.
• WATCH: Karen Read Trial Exhibit: Dashcam Video Shows First Responders On Scene
• Defense attorneys have challenged the accuracy of the statements by pointing to inconsistencies, however prosecutors have attempted to explain that the different statements were made at different times.
• Paramedics attempted to resuscitate O’Keefe with ventilation, chest compressions, and repeated doses of epinephrine into his bone marrow before taking him to the hospital. They observed he was bleeding from his nose, eyes, and mouth, but noted scratches and cuts to his arm were not actively bleeding when they treated him, and concluded those injuries may have happened earlier.
• Defense attorneys contend that O’Keefe’s arm injuries were inflicted by the dog owned by the Alberts, owners of the home where O’Keefe was found lying in the front yard.
• Jurors will be able to view the crime scene on Friday when they visit the scene.
• WATCH: Does Karen Read Act Like Someone Who Committed Murder?
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 3 Recap

DAY 2 – 4/30/24

• First responders to the crime scene say they witnessed Karen Read distraught, attempting to give CPR to John O’Keefe, who was already stiff and cold in lying in a pool of blood by the time they arrived on the scene.
• Firefighter Timothy Nuttall who began ventilating him at the scene testified that John O’Keefe appeared to be appropriately dressed for the cold snowy weather.  Nuttall said O’Keefe’s hands were so stiff that it was hard to remove his coat to get a better view of his injuries which included a bloody nose, injuries to his arm, blood mucous and bile in his airway, which had to be sucked out before he was able to ventilate him.
• WATCH: Firefighter in Karen Read Trial: It Was A Scene of Heightened Emotions
• Nuttall said during a pause he said Karen Read responded, ‘I hit him, I hit him.’  A responding officer Steven Saraf said he heard her say, ‘This is my fault, I can’t believe this happened.”
• The defense challenged their memory of Read’s comments by referring to previous statements they gave that appeared inconsistent with their testimony. Saraf called it an ‘oversight’ that he did not include the admission in his report. Nuttall insisted that the comment came from Read herself in response to his question.  Another responding officer did not recall Read making the same statements, but did say she kept yelling, ‘Is he dead, is he dead?”
• Two police officers who responded to the scene testified that after John O’Keefe was moved to the ambulance – they did not observe any red plastic or broken taillight pieces.
• WATCH: Killer Or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 2 Recap

DAY 1 – 4/29/24

• In a dispassionate opening statement, prosecutor Adam Lally said forensic evidence from Karen Read’s Lexus SUV coupled with O’Keefe’s injuries proves that Read struck him with her car, hit him again when he was down, and left him to freeze to death. Lally said crime scene reconstruction data indicates Read’s car reversed 60 ft. at a speed of 22 mph around the time she’s believed to have struck O’Keefe with her car.
• Lally pointed to Read’s “repeated phraseology” of blaming herself with statements such as “I hit him” as admissions of guilt.
• WATCH: Karen Read Murder Trial: Prosecution Opening Statement
• Defense attorney, David Yannetti, said Read was framed and did not kill O’Keefe. Yannetti promised the jury it wouldn’t take long for them to question the reliability of evidence or witnesses in the “shoddy” and “biased” investigation led by Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor, who Yannetti said trained his sights on Read because of his personal ties to the Albert family.
• Yannetti shared disturbing details about texts Proctor allegedly sent to friends as the investigation began. Proctor allegedly said he hoped Read would “kill herself” and that he tried to find nude photos of her on her phone. Proctor also allegedly said the owner of the home where O’Keefe’s body was found would not catch grief because he too was a Boston Police officer.
• Yannetti said Proctor never searched inside the Albert home for signs of a struggle. The lawyer accused Proctor of falsifying a report to give the wrong time for when he impounded Read’s car. It was only after Proctor seized Read’s car that investigators started finding tail light pieces at the scene, Yannetti said, noting that Proctor’s prints were found on the evidence, too.
• WATCH: Karen Read Murder Trial: Defense Opening Statement
• Paul O’Keefe, the victim’s brother, was the first witness for the prosecution.
• John O’Keefe’s brother grew emotional on the witness stand describing his last texts with his brother “Johnny” and the condition of his body in the hospital. Paul O’Keefe also narrated video from John O’Keefe’s security cameras showing Read arriving, checking out her vehicle, and leaving. In between, Read collected her belongings from the house and left without saying anything to O’Keefe’s family, testified the witness, who said he once held Read “in high regard” for how she helped his brother with his niece and nephew.
• Erin O’Keefe, Paul’s wife and the victim’s sister-in-law, testified to her friendship with Karen Read.
• John O’Keefe’s sister-in-law testified to potential signs of discord between Read and O’Keefe. Erin O’Keefe said Read told her about a fights she had with O’Keefe in Aruba and the morning before O’Keefe died. After his body was found, Read allegedly told said “I don’t think I’m ever gonna see you guys again,” to which Erin said she responded “of course we [will]. We’re friends.”
• Erin said that during a trip over New Year’s Eve to Aruba, Read texted her to say that she fought with O’Keefe after allegedly seeing him kissing the sister of a friend with whom they were on vacation.
• Erin said that when describing what happened, Read “said she had to remember the bad times” which struck her as an odd comment, but said that Read had been medicated at the time.
• Canton Police Officer Steven Saraf, the first officer who arrived on the scene that night, testified that Karen Read was visibly upset and kept saying, “This is my fault, I did this.”
• The first responding officer described weather conditions the morning he responded to the scene. Officer Steve Saraf said he saw footprints around O’Keefe’s body but none from the direction of the house.
• Seraf observed footprints and track marks around O’Keefe’s body, but none coming from the house.
• The jury saw police dashcam footage of Read pacing back and forth and screaming.
• WATCH: Killer or Cover-Up Murder Trial: Day 1 Recap
• WATCH: Prosecution v. Defense: Who Had a Better Day In the Karen Read Trial?