Crime

Karen Read still waiting to get her SUV back, court docs show

Read's lawyer filed a motion to order the return of all of her personal property, including her car and cell phone.

Still images from an ARCCA reconstruction test show the shattering of an SUV taillight during the Karen Read retrial in Norfolk Superior Court on Wednesday, June 11, 2025. Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool

By Molly Farrar

July 28, 2025

2 minutes to read

Weeks after Karen Read was found not guilty of murdering her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, she’s asking for prosecutors to return her SUV, a key piece of evidence in her high-profile murder trial.

On behalf of Read, her lawyer Steven Boozang, who was retained after she was acquitted, filed a motion in Norfolk Superior Court to order the return of all of her personal property. The items listed are her 2021 Lexus LX 570 SUV and her personal cell phone.

“They just have some evidence that typically is turned over. Not sure if it fell through the cracks, but I had reached out about a month ago, hadn’t heard back.” Boozang told Boston.com. “It’s just been long enough. It’s time for her to move on with her life, and put this in the rear view.”

Boozang noted in the filed order that he had spoken with an assistant district attorney to negotiate the return of the property, which “ is in the possession, custody and control of the Massachusetts State Police,” the order read.

Read was accused of second degree murder after O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, was found dead in the snow outside a Canton home in January 2022. Prosecutors argued that Read struck O’Keefe in a drunken rage with her SUV while dropping him off at an afterparty after the pair had spent the night drinking with friends.

Her first trial ended in a hung jury, but after she was tried again, she was found not guilty of murder and convicted only of drunk driving — a misdemeanor for which she received a year of probation.

Read told Vanity Fair last October that she owed her lawyers more than $5 million in deferred legal fees. She’d drained her life savings, sold her Mansfield home for $810,000, and was reportedly living off the remainder of her 401(k) after losing her jobs as a Fidelity Investments equities analyst and Bentley University finance professor.

“I have a client here that’s entitled to her property, and if we can’t get it back, we’ll just have a judge decide,” Boozang said. “She’s an incredibly bright and strong woman, and she’s just moving forward with her life.”

The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the request.