The Controversial Case of Karen Read and John O'Keefe

hello and welcome back to the crime reel today's case is slightly different to our usual narrations as there has been no resolution and the outcome still hangs in the balance sorry to sound a little bit bossy but may I suggest that you watch today's case with no other distractions as they really is a great deal to take in also please subscribe as there will be updates to this case ongoing and that way you will see them so the case was recently tried at Norfolk Superior Court in deam Massachusetts and ended in a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury the Norfolk County District Attorney's Office who are convinced that they have found the guilty party have stated that they will be seeking a retrial whilst the case is the subject of a great deal of media retention both in Massachusetts and throughout the United States it is less well known in other parts of the world so as always I will try to detail the facts that I have researched as impartially as possible in order to reflect the information that has been put forward by the prosecution and also the defense teams I would then be fascinated to hear your thoughts and opinions as to what you believe actually happened in this case in the comment section below so let's start today with an outline of the events of the 28th and 29th of January 2022 before moving on to look at the information that has been presented by those who believe that the defendant is guilty and the counterarguments of those who are claiming her innocence on Friday the 28th of January 2022 a group of friends were out drinking at CF McCarthy's Bar in can a town of around 24,000 people about 20 M south of Boston Massachusetts this group included amongst others 41-year-old Karen Reed her boyfriend John O'Keefe a 46-year-old Boston police officer fellow police officer Brian Albert and Brian's sister-in-law Jennifer McCabe the group left McCarthy's Bar at around 11:00 p.m. that evening and headed across the street to the waterfall Bar and Grill they stayed there for around an hour before many of them headed to Brian's home on Fair View Road which was less than 2 miles away to continue the party it was Brian's son's 23rd birthday on the 29th and the group planned to join him for some early hours celebrations the weather that night was horrendous New England was experiencing a major storm with heavy snowfall and blizzard-like conditions Canton was being covered in a blanket of more than 20 in of snow with temperatures dropping to 12° Karen and John traveled to Brian's house in Karen's black Lexus SUV Karen was driving despite having consumed a significant amount of alcohol that evening she didn't want to attend the party because she was having stomach issues so parked up outside Brian house to drop John off before heading home at around 5:00 a.m. on the 29th of January Karen became concerned that John had not returned home Karen called Jennifer who had been with him the previous evening to see if Jennifer knew where John was she did not another friend Kerrie Roberts picked up Karen and Jennifer to go and look for John when they arrived back at Brian's home at around 6:00 that morning they found Jon face up and unresponsive in the snow on the ground outside Brian's house in a panic Karen laid on top of his body in an attempt to warm him up she attempted to provide CPR John was rushed to the Good Samaritan Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 7:59 a.m. John had been with the Boston Police Department for 16 years and his death came as an utter shock to the people who knew knew him Police Superintendent in Chief Gregory long issued a statement saying that John was a kind person dedicated to his family and will be greatly missed by his co-workers and anyone who had the privilege of meeting him we are stunned and saddened and offer whatever support we can to Jon's family John's family also issued a statement through the Boston Police Department which read as follows John was not only a dedic ated police officer he was an exemplary Guardian son brother uncle and friend when John's sister passed away and then her husband did as well a short time later John welcomed the opportunity to raise his beloved niece and nephew and build a home and a life around their needs it is heartbreaking for us to suddenly be talking about him in the past tense an autopsy was completed on the 31st of January 2022 which concluded that Jon's cause of death was hypothermia and blunt impact injuries to the Head it was clear that he had been in the cold for a significant amount of time before being found and transported to the hospital exactly how Jon had ended up in the snow having sustained trauma to his head was unclear and an investigation got underway on the 1st of February 2022 Jon's girlfriend Karen Reed was arrested and charged with manslaughter motor vehicle homicide and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle collision which had caused the death she was taken to the Blue Hills Barracks for processing and appeared in court the following day where she pled not guilty to the charges brought against her 4 months later on the 9th of June 20122 Karen was indicted on a new charge by a Norfolk County grand jury the Char charge was second deegree murder if she is found guilty of this she could face a maximum sentence of life in prison under Massachusetts law Karen who was an equity Analyst at a financial firm and part-time professor of Finance at Bentley University in walam was released on $50,000 cash bail the prosecution and defense began their preparations for trial working on two very different descriptions of the same event the prosecution believed that John and Karen's relationship was in tatters and that after arriving at Brian's house that night she made a three-point turn rammed John with her car and left him to freeze to death in the snow David Yanti for the defense team called the charges against Karen a tremendous reach and believes that Karen is Being Framed in a coverup which they say involves Brian Albert a now retired Boston police officer officer who owned the house where Jon's body was found and the investigating officers are in on the scheme to frame Karen high-profile California lawyer Alan Jackson who represented Kevin spacy in Nantucket in 2019 was brought on to the team claiming that the investigation had been infected with personal relationships and conflicts of interests and coverups and we intend to shine as much light on it as possible to stop this very obviously compromised prosecution in its tracks so let's take a look at the arguments for and against each scenario in this case according to the prosecution the police established that several people recalled seeing a dark SUV matching Karens pulling up outside Brian's home just after midnight on the evening in question the SUV remained outside for around 15 minutes before leaving no no one came into the house at this time when Jennifer Brian's sister-in-law and others left the house at about 1:30 a.m. there had been no sign of John since they had all been at the bar together Karen's friend Carrie Roberts who helped look for John the following morning said that she believed that Karen was still drunk from the previous evening and that Karen did not remember the previous night Karen allegedly told Carrie I wonder if he is dead it's snowing he got hit by a plow when the women arrived at Brian's house Karen immediately spotted Jon in the snow by the time the Emergency Services arrived Karen's face was Bloody from attempting to administer CPR and she was near hysterical when Katie mclocklin a paramedic who attended the scene asked Karen whether she knew the causes of Jon's injuries Karen allegedly looked at one of her friends and said I hit him I hit him I hit him I hit him however since then it has been queried exactly what she did say that morning was it that she had hit him or could I have hit him others recall hearing her say is that my boyfriend is he dead or this is all my fault I did this the defense would later argue that Katie's story had changed over time and attempted to tie this to her connection to members of Brian's family she was asked how well she knew Brian's daughter Caitlyn Albert Katey confirmed that she went to school with someone by that name it was eventually established that Katy and Caitlyn had numerous mutual friends but they were not close and that she had seen Caitlyn occasionally in the Years following High School Karen was taken to the hospital at around 9:00 a.m. that morning where she had her Bloods taken the results of this blood test showed that her blood alcohol level was at or just below the legal driving limit at that time this indicated that it would have been significantly higher when she was driving the night before further investigation would conclude that she had consumed at least nine vodar and sodas the previous evening however the bartender would later state that no one in the group seemed overly drunk the prosecution presented extensive details about the fact that Jon and Karen's relationship was extremely strained and John had wanted to call it quits the pair had reconnected during the pandemic and had been together for about 2 years at the time of Jon's death John relied on Karen to help with the care of his niece and nephew who he had been raising following the death of his sister and her husband something which apparently caused tension between the pair the niece and nephew told investigators that Karen and John argued frequently approximately two to three times a week and that during a recent argument over groceries John had said that he needed a break from Karen John's niece also stated that the week before his death John had told Karen that their relationship was not healthy and had run its course evidence was also presented of a voicemail which was found on John's phone in which Karen had screamed John I effin ha you called him a pervert and accused him of cheating on her about a month before before his death John and Karen along with his niece and nephew joined friends on a trip to Aruba during which it was claimed that Karen had accused JN of kissing someone else they had argued for about 20 minutes in the hotel room in front of the children the defense however claimed that on the night of Jon's death there did not appear to be any problems between the couple and they were seen being loving and affectionate towards each other they were happy and excitedly planning a holiday together additionally a man by the name of Brian Higgins who was a friend of John's and who had been present at Brian Albert's home the night of Jon's death admitted that he had flirty texts with Karen who had surprised him with a kiss on the lips about 2 weeks earlier when Brian Higgins had asked Karen if she was happy in her relationship with JN Karen allegedly told him that Jon had cheated on her during the AR Ruba trip when questioned by the defense about this Brian Higgins admitted that he had destroyed his phone for unrelated reasons a few months after Karen was charged with Jon's murder in terms of physical evidence the police search of the area outside Brian's home uncovered a broken cocktail glass consistent with the one John had been holding when he left the bar as well as several drops of blood they also found three pieces of plastic which appeared to be from the backlights of a car after Karen's SUV was seized it was determined that these were consistent with the broken rear light on her vehicle the prosecution also stated that a forensic specialist who examined Karen's SUV found a dent with chipped paint in the trunk door a broken tail light and scratches on the bumper as well as human hair on the rear passenger side quarter panel of the vehicle and also the embedded within the bumper of that vehicle are pieces of cocktail glass the prosecution would later say that they had recovered Jon's DNA from the rear light of caren's car and that the hair found on the rear passenger side of the SUV belonged to John the defense would state that it was forensically determined that no human DNA was detected in relation to the hair the defense would also go on to argue that there were discrepancies in the way that Karen's SUV was seized and evidence collected the vehicle was towed to the police station 40 m away that's 40 during a blizzard and as such any evidence would be compromised the police also had access to the vehicle for 78 unaccounted for minutes and after this time a second search was completed at Brian's house and according to David Yanti from the defense miraculously revealed for the first time red and white pieces of plastic found on the ground consistent with the tail light of M Reed's vehicle the only physical evidence against MRE in the entire case Alan Jackson said that the lead investigator indicated that Karen's car had been seized at 5:30 p.m. on the 29th when video evidence showed that it was actually seized at 4:12 p.m. accounting for the 78 minute time difference the defense further noted that one piece of plastic that was recovered at the scene was not a match to the vehicle whilst a witness for the prosecution testified that She Could reconstruct the plastic fragments she was asked to examine into a bigger piece that she said was a physical match to the rear lights from Karen's car the defense also challenged the prosecution's conclusion that Jon's injuries have been caused by being hit by a vehicle they argued that the medical examiner findings instead describe a man who was subjected to a violent assault stating that Jon had been beaten severely and left for dead having sustained blunt force injuries to both sides of his face as well as to the back of his head and that John had defensive wounds on his hands consistent with a brutal fight deep scratches or bite marks to his right upper arm and forearm they put forward the theory that Jon had been badly beaten inside the house and said that the injuries to Jon's arms were consistent with being attacked by a dog there was a German Shepherd also known as an alcian in the house at the time of the attack they say that after the attack John was dumped outside to die and they set about framing Karen for the crime the defense included pictures of marks on Jon's arms in court filings which they say are consistent with a dog attack the prosecution argued that evidence submitted to a Veterinary forensic laboratory concluded that there was no canine DNA associated with the swaps taken from John's clothing in the area of his injuries the defense countered this by suggesting that there was no indication as to what part of John's shirt the DNA actually came from the prosecution reiterates what the medical examiner had previously said where they had described Mr O'Keefe's right arm injuries as scratches caused by a blunt object the doctor noted that they appeared in a linear pattern the doctor detailed that she observed no signs of an altercation or fight from her examination of Mr o'keef with autopsy results remaining confidential in Massachusetts the jury were left with the two sides different interpretations of the findings Additionally the prosecution stated that 12 people had corroborated the fact that John had not entered Brian's house that night the defense went on to say that the dog had mysteriously been found a new home out of state 5 months after the attack and in addition to getting rid of the dog Brian also remodeled his basement within months of Jon's death and then went on to sell the home a home which which was never searched following the events of that night Alan Jackson claims that evidence is being destroyed right under our nose at trial it emerged that the police department did not have evidence containers as they investigated the crime scene so had to improvise officers scooped up Frozen coagulated blood in red Solo drinking cups that they got from a neighbor and placed them in a brown Stop and Shop bag addition Al the defense brought to the Court's attention that after Jon's body was discovered the police officer spoke to Brian Albert and his wife Nicole for around 20 minutes in their home the officer did not record the interview and he did not search the home because he had no probable cause to do so he did not ask for anyone's phone nor separate the people in the home or take notes of his discussion with Brian and Nicole the prosecution stated that microsc opic pieces of plastic from the rear light were found in Jon's clothing however during the defense's cross-examination about the recovery of the plastic and other items found as the snow began to melt they queried why this had not been put into a report until November 2023 over a year and a half later they also highlighted how clothes that John had been wearing and were retrieved from the hospital were not processed into evidence until the 4th of Fe February which was 6 days after the crime a huge piece of evidence for the defense which they stated would not only clear Karen's name but would implicate others in Jon's death was the discovery that Brian Albert's sister-in-law Jennifer mccab completed a search on her phone at 2:27 a.m. on the 29th of January several hours before John was found the search was how long to die in cold car defense team stated that there is simply no innocent explanation for mcab search at that time this evidence unequivocally exonerates Karen because it establishes that individuals who were in the house at Fair viiew Road that night were aware that John was dying in the snow before Karen even knew he was missing an analysis of Jennifer's phone by defense experts also showed that the Google search was intentionally deleted as well as Communications between Jennifer Brian Albert and Brian's wife Nicole the defense claimed that the prosecution withheld this evidence for over a year stating that it's Unthinkable that the prosecution would have McCabe's cell phone in their possession for more than a year do a forensic analysis on that phone and then fail to turn over this exculpatory evidence but that's exactly what happened it makes you wonder what else that prosecu ution has failed to turn over to the defense we will not rest until we have uncovered all the evidence which will establish that the prosecution of Karen was a miscarriage of Justice from the start whilst at first glance this would seem damning to the prosecution's case the prosecution explained that the search was actually made at Karen's behest when JN had been found in the snow the 2:27 a.m. timestamp for the search was not accurate due to the way in which the phone data is written into the phone's database they went on to say that at 2:27 a.m. Jenifer had conducted a Google search for her daughter's basketball team and she used the same open tab a few hours later to search about hypothermia therefore making the defenses claim that this unequivocally exonerated Karen redundant the defense would alleg that the lead State Police investigator Michael Proctor had a conflict of Interest as Michael is a close friend of Brian Albert the owner of the house where John's body was found and that the extended families of both Michael Proctor and Brian Albert were known to each other and had attended events such as family weddings at the trial Michael was grilled about derogatory text messages that he had sent about Karen during the investigation and made to read them aloud including a text stating that he hoped Karen would kill herself and and also that he joked that he was reviewing the contents of her phone but hadn't found any nudes yet the massachuset State Police Department announced that Michael Proctor who had been the subject of an internal investigation into a potential violation of Department policy due to allegations that he was not truthful with his relationships with people he had identified as Witnesses in the case had been relieved of Duty shortly after the end of the tri and subsequently suspended without pay the defense filed a motion for judge Beverly Canon to be removed from the case on the claim that she personally knew people involved in the case the judge refused stating that the motion for her recusal was not credible and all four points raised in the defendant's motion are without Merit earlier in that hearing defense attorneys held up poster boards showing enlarged screenshots of a text message exchange and a venmo transaction that purportedly showed the judge's connections to people involved in the case something which the judge said was untrue Alan Jackson stated that the district attorney Michael morresy had publicly stated that any suggestion of a pre-existing relationship between the Proctors and the mccabes or the Proctors and the Alberts is false but Karen's legal team has presented photographs demonstrating what they say is unassailable evidence of a personal relationship between Michael Proctor and the witnesses including a 2012 picture of Michael in a wedding party with Albert Proctor's then 10-year-old nephew and also a photograph of Jennifer McCabe's car outside the Proctor's home on the night of September the 25th 2022 for an the books meeting the prosecution claimed that their families only have a distant connection Federal prosecutors and the Boston office of the FBI had taken the extraordinary step of conducting an inquiry into Karen's prosecution whilst it was ongoing the defense would go on to claim that crash reconstruction experts hired by federal authori lives determined that Jon's injuries were inconsistent with being struck by a vehicle they said that this information was contained in the thousands of pages the acting us attorney Joshua s Levy's office provided to the defense and prosecution however the prosecution would state that the federal materials are largely consistent with the prosecution's theory of the case there was no suggestion of a third party culprit no suggestion of cover up of evidence no suggestion from the 12 Ian Witnesses testimony that we have received or transcripts of theater testimony all of them confirmed that Mr o'e never entered the Canton home there was no fight there was no eyewitness to the circumstances that led to Mr O'Keefe's death whilst the prosecution acknowledge and the defense say that they have proved links between witnesses to varying degrees it should be considered that many of the people involved in this case grew grew up in Canton and never left old friendships remained from school days and new ones formed over Children of the parties involved the defense claimed that Brian Higgins who had exchanged flirty texts with Karen and Colin Albert Brian Albert's 20-year-old nephew were alternate suspects who could have participated in what they claim is the assault on John Colin said that he had been at the house that evening but left around 121 10 a.m. and did not see John the defense portrayed him as hot-headed and aggressive and suggested that his parents were not being truthful when detailing the time their son returned home that morning it should be noted that Brian Albert Brian Higgins and Colin Albert did not have any visible injuries following John's death which may possibly have occurred if there had been an altercation whilst the conflicting evidence in this case is something which occurs between prosecution and defense all of the time the cover up accusations and way in which the case has divided opinion and become a media circus certainly is not the case has split the town of Canton the residents of this divided Community voted 903 to 800 in favor of auditing the Canton Police Department over the case police chief Helena rafy welcomed the outside review saying that it will end the wild speculation over the Department's handling of the investigation the meeting approved $200,000 to hire an independent consulting firm as more Rumblings of a police coverup were made public Karen gained increasing support from the general public Facebook pages gained thousands of followers and a fund for Karen's legal expenses had raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars by the end of of 2023 she was often greeted by a large group of supporters outside the courthouse during pre-trial hearings holding banners stating free Karen Reed and honk for Justice at times Karen's supporters began booing and shouting at Jon's grieving parents brother and friends with this in mind a 200 foot buffer zone was established around the courthouse Karen's case sparked an interest in in 41-year-old Aiden Kerney the controversial blogger better known as turtle boy he posted hundreds of articles about her story and sold free Karen Reed merchandise with the turtle boy logo whilst raising money for Karen's legal defense fund with a large following on his website he accused investigators of framing her naming it the Canton coverup he posted multiple YouTube videos where he accused Witnesses of participating in the crime and went on to publicize some of these Witnesses home addresses work and telephone numbers he also organized a rolling road rally in which demonstrators traveled in a convoy of vehicles to the homes of Witnesses in Karen's case and confronted another witness at the pizza shop which they owned before going on to urge his online followers to call the business and place orders without picking them up a Aiden also illegally accessed vehicle information for Witnesses with the help of a civilian police dispatcher on more than one occasion on his website he said that he was hoping that his reporting would influence the jury pool adding that he had staked his entire reputation on Karen's innocence in October 2023 he was arrested on charges of witness intimidation and conspiracy he plad not guilty and was really released on his own recognizance with an order to stay away from the witnesses even though he had this order to stay away he was still allowed to attend the court proceedings so that he could continue to cover the case as he had a journalistic interest in reporting it when further charges were added in December and Aiden's bail revoked his lawyer claimed that the authorities were trying to throw the book at him and we all know why they're trying to throw the book at him it's because he's actually making progress in this investigation later a massachusett state police affidavit alleged that Karen had fed information to Aiden in 189 phone calls lasting over 40 hours over a period of 7 months this information included personal details about Witnesses in the case autopsy photographs crime scene photographs images of her car and the 911 call made when Jon's body was found this could lead to Karen as well as Aiden facing witness intimidation charges as the buildups to the court case continued to play out in both traditional and social media Karen made an appearance on an episode of dat line again claiming that she was innocent and had been set up also when asked on the courthouse steps if she was stating that she didn't commit the crime Karen replied we know who did it we know and we know who spearheaded this cover up you all know shortly afterwards the Norfolk County district attorney Michael Mory took the extremely unusual step of issuing a video statement outside of Court he condemned the harassment of witnesses as baseless and disputed many of the defense's claims stating that inuendo is not evidence false narratives are not evidence these people are not part of a conspiracy and have not engaged in any cover up to have them accused of murder is outrageous to have them harassed and intimidated based on false narratives and accusations is wrong they are witnesses doing what our justice system asks of them John's supporters would wear yellow pins stating Justice for JJ whilst Karen supporters after being banned from wearing free Karen Reed t-shirts adopted the color pink to show their support jury selection began on the 16th of April 2024 with the obvious hurdles of finding people who did not have an opinion on the case and the trial began on the 29th of April the prosecution called almost 70 Witnesses whilst the defense called just three Karen did not take the stand closing arguments took place on the 25th of June 2024 and the jury began their deliberations 3 days later the six women and six men of the jury sent a note to the judge saying that they were deadlocked the judge instructed them to continue deliberating on the 1st of July the jury sent a further note to the judge stating that they were deeply divided and that they remain deadlocked the judge then declared a mistrial by hung jury since the completion of the trial it has been reported that the jurors had unanimously concluded that Karen was not guilty of murder or of leaving the scene of the deadly accident but were deadlocked on the remaining lesser charge of manslaughter before a mistrial was declared the defense said that the mistrial was announced without questioning the jurors about the individual charges and hope to show that the state of Massachusetts cannot retry Karen for murder due to Double Jeopardy rules amongst all the drama of a high-profile court case with the accusations of a police cover up it is easy to forget that at the heart of this case was the death of a 46-year old man who from those who knew him was described as one of the best John's Sister Christine died from an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2013 and 8 months later her husband Steven died unexpectedly from a heart attack Kristen and Steven had two young children Kaye who was then six and Pat Patrick who was three John took on responsibility of raising the children as his own and provided them with a stable loving home after their worlds had fallen apart he had been living the life of a bachelor in Dorchester but moved to Canton adjusted his lifestyle and work schedule to take care of the children John's brother Paul is convinced that Karen is responsible for Jon's death and believe that her facing consequences for this would provide some form of Justice to their family who have suffered so much tragedy John's family say that his death has been overshadowed by the circus-like atmosphere of Karen's trial it would seem that the drama in this case shows no signs of letting up any time soon and the situation seems to be changing on a daily basis I shall make an update video in the not too distant future and Link it to this one as I said at the beginning of this video I'll would be fascinated to hear your opinions on this case in the comments section below please remember to subscribe and click like that concludes today's story there won't be a or petty crime message today thanks for listening to the crime R stay safe goodbye