Karen Read’s defense claims investigator hoped she’d ‘kill herself,’ searched her phone for ‘nude photos’ as trial opens over cop boyfriend’s death
The murder trial of Karen Read got off to an explosive start Monday in Massachusetts with her defense team alleging shocking abuses of police power in their opening statement.
Read’s defense claimed a lead investigator in the case “searched (her) phone (for) nude photos” and texted his friend he “hoped [Read] would kill herself.”
The prosecution claimed Read admitted to first responders she hit her partner, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, with her car after a drunken argument shortly after dropping him off at a house party in the early hours of the morning in January 2022.
During their opening statements at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Read’s legal team claimed she is being set-up by an influential family who lived in the Canton home outside of which O’Keefe’s body was found, as part of an elaborate cover-up.
Read’s lawyer, David Yannetti, told the court Massachusetts State Trooper Michael Proctor was also a friend of the homeowner and “told his high school buddies that he was searching for nude photos of Karen Read” — without first obtaining a warrant.
Yannetti also alleged Proctor texted a pal on his personal phone he “hoped (Read) would kill herself.”
When one friend replied the homeowner would catch “a lot of grief” for a body being found on his property, Proctor replied, “nope,” since the homeowner was also a Boston police officer.
“His fingerprints are all over the Commonwealth’s evidence,” Yannetti said.
“Michael Proctor predetermined the outcome of this case,” he later added.
Leading up to the trial, Proctor and the Massachussetts State Police have denied any wrongdoing, but it is known the FBI have an open investigation about local authorities’ handling of the entire ordeal.
Read’s lawyers argued O’Keefe was attacked by a dog during a fight with someone in the house which led to his death, rather than being hit by Read’s car.
“Karen Read was framed,” Yannetti said during opening statements. “Someone not named Karen Read ambushed John. Somebody probably didn’t mean to kill him, but somebody went too far.”
“You will learn, in short, that the police did no real investigation of the case, and you will question why…You will question why they focused solely on Karen Read.
“Karen Read was a convenient outsider.”
Prosecutors allege Read was in a rage following a drunken argument with O’Keefe, a 16-year police veteran, when she intentionally hit him with her Lexus SUV.
O’Keefe was pronounced dead at a local hospital and an autopsy later concluded he died from hypothermia and head trauma.
Prosecutors described how about six hours after they claim Read hit O’Keefe, she returned to the scene with two other women and when first responders arrived, Read confessed, prosecutor Adam Lally said during his opening statement.
“The defendant stated repeatedly, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,’” Lally told jurors.
Later in the day, Canton police officer Steve Saraf, who was first on the scene, testified saying Read was hysterical when O’Keefe was found without a pulse.
“She kept saying ‘This is all my fault, this is my fault, I did this. She was very hysterical. She kept asking ‘He’s dead. Is he dead?” Saraf said on the stand.
Video from Saraf’s police cruiser also showed Read acting erratically and screaming “no!”
Lally also alleged O’Keefe’s DNA was found on Read’s taillight, and one of his hairs was found on her bumper.
“You are the sole arbiters of the facts of this case, you are the ones who find the facts —I will reiterate that: facts—of what the evidence demonstrates in this case,” Lally continued.
“The defendant struck John O’Keefe with her car, knocking him back on the ground, striking his head on the ground, causing bleeding in the brain and then leaving him there for several hours in a blizzard with temperatures in the teens, wind swirling around, snow piling up on his body.”
O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow outside a house in suburban Canton, 14 miles south of Boston, on January 29, 2022.
The case has gripped Massachusetts. Many local stories claim O’Keefe’s death has “divided the town” and torn it apart in the months since Read’s arrest.
