Karen Read, a 44-year-old woman from Massachusetts, is at the center of a high-profile case in which she is accused of fatally running over her police officer boyfriend, John O’Keefe, in January 2022. In her first media interview with ABC’s “20/20,” Read claimed that she has been framed by the police in what she describes as a conspiracy to blame her for the mysterious death of her boyfriend. O’Keefe was allegedly run over by Read with her SUV following a night of heavy drinking and left to die outside a friend’s house. The incident occurred as O’Keefe was being dropped off to attend a party at the residence owned by retired officer Brian Albert.
Read, along with two friends, went to Albert’s house to look for O’Keefe and found his body early the next morning. She describes the moment she found her boyfriend’s body, recalling his eyes were shut, blood spots on his face, and feeling an odd sensation of being cold while he was dying beside her. The defense has raised eyebrow-raising assertions that O’Keefe was fatally injured in an altercation at the house party and left outside to frame Read for the crime as part of a larger conspiracy within the police department. They point to the placement of injuries on the victim’s body, such as trauma to the head and hands, as evidence of an attack rather than being hit by a large vehicle.
A key piece of evidence against Read is a broken tail light on the back of her Lexus SUV, with shards of red plastic consistent with such a light found on O’Keefe’s body at the scene. Additionally, her blood alcohol content was far above the legal limit, and furious voicemails left on the victim’s phone by Read, accusing him of infidelity and expressing hate for him, further support the prosecution’s case. Despite these incriminating details, Read maintains her innocence and denies the possibility of having hit O’Keefe unwittingly in her large SUV.
Read is facing charges of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter in connection with O’Keefe’s death. Her trial, which took place in July, ended in a mistrial, and prosecutors plan to retry her in January. The highly publicized case has attracted large crowds of protesters on both sides, with Read thanking her supporters following the mistrial, comparing them to protestors of the Vietnam War. The case continues to capture public attention as the legal battle unfolds, with conflicting narratives surrounding the events leading to O’Keefe’s tragic death.
