Karen Read Denies Guilt in ABC Interview, Prosecution Prepares for Retrial in 2025

Murder In The Morning | Daily True Crime News

Karen Read, a 44-year-old woman from Mansfield, Massachusetts, who is accused of second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, broke her silence in a never-before-seen interview aired on ABC’s *20/20* on Friday. In the interview, Read spoke at length about the night O'Keefe, a Boston police officer, was found dead in a snowbank outside a home in Canton after a night of drinking at two local bars.
Read, whose first trial ended in a mistrial in July, recounted the moment she discovered O'Keefe’s body on the morning of January 29, 2022. “As you come down Fairview, there’s a bit of a decline, and it curves to the left, and my eyes are peeled, and I said, ‘He’s right [expletive] there,’” she told *20/20*.
Read jumped out of the car and found O’Keefe on the ground with injuries, including two black eyes. “His eyes were shut, and he had spots of blood in different areas on his face, and he was still — not stiff, but still,” she said. O’Keefe was not dressed for the blizzard conditions that night, which raised further questions during the trial about the circumstances leading to his death.
The prosecution claims Read and O'Keefe had been fighting and that she struck him with her SUV after leaving a party. "Would you say that you were angry with John that night?" *20/20* host Matt Gutman asked. "Yes," Read admitted. However, the defense argues that O'Keefe was beaten up and dragged outside after an altercation in the basement of fellow officer Brian Albert’s home.
The defense contends that O’Keefe's injuries were inconsistent with being hit by a car. They allege that O’Keefe was beaten and bitten by a dog inside the house before being left outside to die. Read went on to suggest a cover-up involving other officers present at the scene, telling Gutman, “Because he’s dead,” when asked why anyone would want to conceal the truth.
Prosecutors have faced several setbacks during the case, including a mix-up involving surveillance footage and a Massachusetts State Police trooper being suspended after inappropriate text messages surfaced. Despite these issues, the prosecution is moving forward with a retrial set for January 27, 2025. Judge Beverly Cannone recently denied Read’s request to dismiss the second-degree murder charge and another charge, signaling that the case will proceed.
In addition to the criminal charges, O’Keefe’s family has filed a civil lawsuit against Read and the two bars where the couple had been drinking that night. The family argues that Read’s defense has “outrageously created a false narrative” about O’Keefe’s death and seeks damages for both compensatory and punitive losses.
O’Keefe’s cousin, Renay, expressed the family’s grief during the *20/20* interview. “He was lost in this whole circus. And I think none of us want him to be lost. I think that’s the saddest part of this whole situation, that he’s not remembered as who he is and who he was during this whole thing,” she said.
As both sides prepare for the retrial, the case continues to captivate public attention, with many eagerly awaiting the outcome. For now, the legal proceedings are moving forward, and the civil lawsuit will likely follow after the criminal trial concludes.
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