The Karen Read murder case is the Massachusetts prosecution of Karen Read for the January 2022 death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, whose body was found in a snowbank outside a fellow officer’s home in Canton. After a 2024 mistrial, a Norfolk Superior Court jury acquitted Read in June 2025 of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death, convicting her only of operating a vehicle under the influence.1NPR. Karen Read Acquitted Trial Verdict Not Guilty The case produced allegations of a police cover-up, the firing and decertification of the lead investigator, and a stack of civil suits that are still moving through state and federal courts.
Who John O’Keefe Was
O’Keefe was 46 and a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department when he died.2BBC News. Karen Read Acquitted of Boyfriend’s Murder He had become the legal guardian of his niece and nephew after his sister Kristen died of a brain tumor in 2013 and her husband died shortly afterward of a heart attack. He moved into a home in Canton to raise them.3CBS News Boston. Karen Read Trial John O’Keefe Niece Testimony After his death, the two children went to live with his parents.4Boston.com. John O’Keefe Guardian Niece Nephew Fundraiser
Read, then 44, had been with O’Keefe for roughly two years. She had previously worked as an adjunct professor at Bentley University and as an equity analyst at Fidelity Investments.2BBC News. Karen Read Acquitted of Boyfriend’s Murder Prosecutors described the relationship’s later months as “troubled,” and text messages exchanged on the day of O’Keefe’s death showed the two arguing, with O’Keefe repeatedly telling Read to stop calling him.5Boston 25 News. Text Messages Karen Read John O’Keefe Exchanged Before His Death His niece and nephew both testified the relationship was “sometimes rough.”6WCVB. Karen Read Trial Live Updates
The Night of January 28–29, 2022
Read and O’Keefe went out to the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton on the evening of January 28. Afterward, Read drove O’Keefe to 34 Fairview Road, the home of Brian Albert, a recently retired Boston police officer, where a group from the bar was gathering. Jennifer McCabe, Albert’s sister-in-law, had invited the couple. Also inside were ATF agent Brian Higgins, Nicole Albert, and other friends and family of the Alberts.7Court TV. Key Players in the Karen Read Murder Case
Around 1:00 a.m. on January 29, Read left O’Keefe a voicemail in which she said, “John, I f—— hate you.” At about 6:00 a.m., Read, McCabe, and a friend named Kerry Roberts drove back to the Albert home to look for O’Keefe. They found his body lying in the snow on the front lawn. An autopsy determined the cause of death was blunt impact injuries to the head and hypothermia.8CBS News Boston. Karen Read Trial Timeline John O’Keefe What happened between those two moments was the entire case.
What Prosecutors Said Happened
Prosecutors alleged that Read, in a “fit of rage” over relationship problems, backed her Lexus LX570 SUV into O’Keefe outside the Albert home around 12:32 a.m. and drove away, leaving him to die in the cold.9MassLive. Karen Read Retrial Biggest Takeaways From Week 6
Their case rested on four pillars. Accident reconstructionist Dr. Judson Welcher testified that data from Read’s SUV showed her driving in reverse at roughly 23 miles per hour, covering about 87 feet at the scene, at approximately three-quarters throttle. Forensic analysts reconstructed the SUV’s broken right rear taillight and found O’Keefe’s DNA on it; DNA analyst Nick Bradford testified that it was 740 nonillion times more likely the DNA came from O’Keefe than from an unknown individual.10Union Leader. Scientists Confirm Victim’s DNA on Taillight of Karen Read’s Vehicle Welcher’s reenactments using the same model of vehicle produced blue paint transfer and arm injury patterns he said were similar to O’Keefe’s, and he testified that a bruise on O’Keefe’s right knee matched the bumper height.9MassLive. Karen Read Retrial Biggest Takeaways From Week 6 Prosecutors also pointed to Read’s own words: witnesses testified they heard her say “I hit him, I hit him” when the body was discovered, and clips from documentary interviews captured her asking her attorney, “What if I clipped him in the knee and he passed out?”11ABC7. Karen Read’s Defense Set to Call First Witness in Retrial
What the Defense Said Happened
Read’s defense team, led by attorney Alan Jackson, argued that O’Keefe was beaten inside the Albert home, possibly attacked by the family’s German shepherd, then dragged outside and left in the snow. Officers with personal ties to the Albert family, the defense said, framed Read as a “convenient outsider.”12Boston.com. Karen Read Case Key Players Retrial Jackson pointed to three men — Brian Albert, his brother Kevin Albert (a Canton police detective), and Brian Higgins — as having “motive, means and opportunity.” None of them has been charged with any crime in connection with O’Keefe’s death.13Court TV. MA v. Karen Read Killer or Cover-Up Murder Trial
Dr. Marie Russell, a retired emergency room physician, testified that abrasions on O’Keefe’s arm were consistent with a dog attack, citing patterns she attributed to teeth and claws. Nicole Albert testified the family’s dog Chloe was rehomed in May 2022 after attacking another dog and injuring its owner. Prosecutors countered that swabs from holes in O’Keefe’s sweatshirt tested negative for canine DNA, and Welcher maintained the arm injuries matched a vehicle sideswipe.14Boston Globe. Karen Read Trial Dog
The defense also focused on a Google search made by McCabe. Phone records showed McCabe searched “hos long to die in cold” at 2:27 a.m., hours before the body was found. McCabe testified that Read asked her to look up how long it takes to die of hypothermia after they found O’Keefe; the defense argued the timestamp proved McCabe already knew O’Keefe was outside and later tried to delete the search.7Court TV. Key Players in the Karen Read Murder Case
Higgins, who had exchanged flirtatious text messages with Read before O’Keefe’s death, testified that he threw his cellphone away and said he “had every right to do that.” He denied driving to a military base and dumping the phone and SIM card in separate dumpsters, though he conceded the destruction may have happened in October 2022, after he had received a court notice not to alter or destroy data on the device.15Boston.com. Karen Read Murder Trial Brian Higgins
The Lead Investigator’s Downfall
Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor led the investigation and became one of the case’s most damaged figures. Testimony at the first trial revealed that Proctor had sent derogatory messages about Read to friends and coworkers, calling her a “whack job,” mocking a medical condition, and texting his sister that he hoped Read “kills herself.” He had also shared sensitive investigative information with people outside law enforcement and had social ties to the Alberts: his sister was close friends with Julie Albert, and Colin Albert had been a ring bearer at his wedding.12Boston.com. Karen Read Case Key Players Retrial In one message, Proctor wrote that Brian Albert would not face trouble because he was “a Boston cop too.”13Court TV. MA v. Karen Read Killer or Cover-Up Murder Trial
A State Police Trial Board found Proctor guilty of unsatisfactory performance and consuming alcohol on duty after hearings in early 2025. Colonel Geoffrey Noble concluded Proctor’s conduct created an image of bias and brought the department “into disrepute,” and Proctor was dishonorably discharged on March 19, 2025. In December 2025, the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission formally suspended his law enforcement certification, barring him from police work anywhere in the state. Proctor withdrew an appeal of his firing in October 2025. Special prosecutor Hank Brennan said a federal investigation into the case ended without charges.16CBS News Boston. Michael Proctor Fired Karen Read Massachusetts State Police17Police1. State Board Revokes LE Certification for Mass State Police Investigator Proctor was excluded from the retrial.
The Mistrial and the Verdict
Read’s first trial ran two months at Norfolk Superior Court before Judge Beverly Cannone. It ended in a mistrial on July 1, 2024, after jurors deliberated five days and reported they were “hopelessly deadlocked.” Read’s team argued jurors had actually reached unanimous not-guilty verdicts on the murder and leaving-the-scene counts and were hung only on manslaughter, and that retrying those two counts would violate double jeopardy. Judge Cannone ruled that because no verdict had been announced in open court, all three counts could be retried.18NBC News. Judge Declines Dismiss Murder Case Karen Read July Mistrial
Jury selection for the retrial began April 1, 2025. The proceeding included 31 days of testimony and 49 witnesses. Deliberations began June 13, 2025. On June 18, 2025, the jury returned its verdict:1NPR. Karen Read Acquitted Trial Verdict Not Guilty
- Second-degree murder: not guilty
- Manslaughter while operating under the influence: not guilty
- Leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death: not guilty
- Operating a vehicle under the influence: guilty
Judge Cannone sentenced Read to one year of probation, the standard consequence for a first-time DUI offender.1NPR. Karen Read Acquitted Trial Verdict Not Guilty
What Is Still in Court
The criminal case is over. The civil litigation is not.
In August 2024, O’Keefe’s brother Paul and Paul’s wife Erin filed a wrongful death suit in Plymouth Superior Court against Read and two Canton bars, alleging Read killed O’Keefe and that the bars overserved her.19NBC Boston. Karen Read in Court Today O’Keefe Family Civil Lawsuit In October 2025, a judge allowed the suit to proceed, refusing to dismiss the emotional distress claims though dismissing one claim.20Court TV. Karen Read As of May 2026 the case was in discovery, with the family moving to compel Read to comply with document requests covering her social media posts, the sale of her Lexus, and communications with blogger Aidan Kearney.21MassLive. Karen Read’s Legal Team Accused of Delays as Discovery Fight Heats Up
On June 4, 2026, Read filed a civil suit against the Massachusetts State Police, the Town of Canton, Proctor, and former Canton Police Sergeant Sean Goode. The complaint alleges the departments hired “virulent bigots” and that Proctor and Goode harbored deep biases, particularly against women, that drove them to frame her. It cites roughly 13,000 messages of bias involving the named officers, including remarks targeting women, Black Americans, Asian Americans, Jews, Hispanics, Arabs, and LGBTQ individuals.22ABC News. Karen Read New Lawsuit Crusade to Expose Corruption Bigotry Colonel Noble said the messages “do not reflect the values of the Massachusetts State Police and are not tolerated within our ranks.”23A&E. Karen Read Timeline A separate lawsuit Read filed against the Alberts, McCabes, and others was moved to federal court in November 2025.20Court TV. Karen Read
Running the other direction, on April 17, 2026, McCabe, Brian Albert, Colin Albert, and Higgins filed a 14-count defamation suit in Barnstable County Superior Court against Read and Kearney, alleging a “deliberate campaign of lies” to falsely implicate the plaintiffs in O’Keefe’s death and seeking damages for defamation, conspiracy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.24Hinckley Allen. Hinckley Allen Files Defamation Lawsuit Against Karen Read and Aidan Kearney Read’s team called the suit “desperation on a page.” Kearney’s attorney said “proving the truth of the allegedly defamatory statements is an absolute defense.”25CBS News Boston. Karen Read Turtleboy Aidan Kearney Defamation Lawsuit
The fallout has spread through Canton’s police force as well. Kevin Albert was placed on paid administrative leave in June 2024 after testimony about his ties to Proctor and later suspended following an internal investigation.8CBS News Boston. Karen Read Trial Timeline John O’Keefe26NBC Boston. Canton Police Sgt Sean Goode POST Commission27WCVB. Michael Proctor Sean Goode Texts CPCS Massachusetts