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Karen Read’s retrial is almost here. This is some of the most hotly debated evidence in her case.
Nothing in Karen Read's murder case escapes debate, but some pieces of evidence have faced more scrutiny than others.
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The evidence in Karen Read’s murder case remains as contentious as ever on the eve of her second trial, from a broken taillight to alleged dog bites and the infamous Google search that turned her case into a national spectacle.
Read, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a fatal crash in the 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.
Prosecutors allege Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe in a drunken rage while dropping him off at a fellow Boston officer’s home in Canton shortly after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022. Read’s lawyers have floated an alternate theory that O’Keefe entered 34 Fairview Road for a house party and was beaten, attacked by homeowner Brian Albert’s dog, and eventually dumped outside in the snow.
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Read, they contend, was framed in a widespread law enforcement coverup.
Read’s first trial ended in a hung jury last July, and her retrial is imminent. With jury selection now underway, here’s a brief guide to some of the most contentious evidence in the case.
John O’Keefe’s injuries
O’Keefe’s official cause of death was “blunt impact injuries of head and hypothermia,” Dr. Irini Scordi-Bello, a medical examiner in the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, testified during Read’s first trial. Scordi-Bello also noted scrapes of various sizes along his right arm.
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While prosecutors allege O’Keefe was mortally wounded in a collision with Read’s SUV, crash reconstructionists from ARCCA Inc. previously testified O’Keefe’s fatal head injuries weren’t consistent with getting struck by a car and that damage to Read’s SUV was inconsistent with hitting O’Keefe. Another defense witness, retired emergency room physician and forensic pathologist Dr. Marie Russell, further opined O’Keefe’s arm injuries came from a dog attack.
Scordi-Bello testified she saw no major signs of “what I would call a significant altercation,” though Read’s lawyers have disputed that finding.
“Of course there’s evidence that he was in a fight,” defense attorney Alan Jackson said during a 2023 hearing. “The back of his hands, deeply bruised. Those are called defensive wounds; I don’t care what their medical examiner called it. Anybody who’s seen any sort of a fight, a street fight, knows that the back of the hands, the back of the arms get the brunt of the punches as you cover your face.”
‘Hos long to die in cold’
Key to the defense team’s coverup claim is witness Jennifer McCabe’s infamous “hos long to die in cold” Google search. McCabe, Albert’s sister-in-law, was present at 34 Fairview Road after midnight on Jan. 29 and returned hours later with Read and another woman to look for O’Keefe.
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She maintains she made the “hos long” search at Read’s insistence after they found O’Keefe unresponsive in the snow around 6 a.m., though Read’s lawyers allege McCabe actually made the search hours earlier, at 2:27 a.m.
Defense expert Richard Green defended the 2:27 a.m. timestamp during Read’s first trial, even as two prosecution experts, Jessica Hyde and Ian Whiffin, asserted the earlier time actually indicates when McCabe first opened the Safari browser tab. Hyde and Whiffin put McCabe’s search at around 6:20 a.m.
SUV data
A State Police crash analyst, Trooper Joseph Paul, testified data from Read’s SUV indicates the car shifted into reverse and accelerated up to 24.2 mph before its speed suddenly dropped to 23.6 mph and the steering wheel jostled. Paul asserted the data “appears to be consistent with a pedestrian strike” and put the purported collision at about 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 29.
However, Read’s team pressed Paul on his lack of advanced credentials in crash reconstruction and cast doubt on his conclusion that O’Keefe was “projected” several feet after he was purportedly struck.
Karen Read’s taillight
Read’s SUV had a dent in the trunk door, scratches on the rear bumper, and a broken right taillight, according to testimony from Maureen Hartnett, a State Police forensic scientist.
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Read’s lawyers have suggested she damaged her taillight backing into O’Keefe’s car while pulling out of his driveway to go look for him on Jan. 29. Prosecutors claim she did it backing into O’Keefe himself.
Investigators testified about discovering pieces of broken red and clear plastic in the area where O’Keefe was found, and another State Police forensic scientist, Ashley Vallier, said many of the pieces were a physical match for the taillight housing from Read’s SUV. According to Vallier, debris from O’Keefe’s clothing also showed microscopic pieces of what appeared to be red and clear plastic.
‘I hit him’
Several witnesses testified Read repeatedly said “I hit him” after finding O’Keefe’s body in the snow outside 34 Fairview Road. Read denies doing so and claims that if anything, she said, “Did I hit him?” or “Could I have hit him?”
John O’Keefe’s phone data
Read’s lawyers have argued O’Keefe’s Apple Health data indicates he took 80 steps and climbed three flights of stairs after arriving at 34 Fairview Road, even though witnesses inside the house maintained he never entered. Massachusetts State Police Trooper Nicholas Guarino testified the Apple Health data is misleading and said Waze data showed O’Keefe was still traveling in Read’s car at the time.
What the plow driver saw
Brian Loughran, a Canton snowplow driver, testified he didn’t see anything on the lawn outside 34 Fairview Road when he plowed the area early on Jan. 29. He did, however, claim to have seen a small SUV parked in front of the house. Authorities have questioned Loughran’s recollection and the reliability of his testimony, noting he is colorblind and was driving in a blizzard at the time.
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Separately, another witness who was at 34 Fairview Road earlier on the 29th, Julianna Nagel, testified she saw “a black blob” on the lawn in the area where O’Keefe was later found.
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