234 John O'Keefe Cause of Death: Karen Read or a Police Conspiracy?

Let’s go back to January 28, 2022 – Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe and his girlfriend, Karen Read, had been fighting. They decided to decompress and meet up in a bar in Canton, Massachusetts, knowing that a blizzard was coming and they were likely going to be snowed in for a few days. Karen met her boyfriend and his buddies at a bar about a mile from John’s home, and then they went across the street to meet up with more of his friends. After last call, the couple was invited to an after party about 2.5 miles away at the home of Boston Police Officer Brian Albert. Karen didn’t enter the house, for reasons we will get to later, but she dropped of John and then drove herself to his home where she allegedly fell asleep on the couch. When Karen awoke around 5AM, she noted that John had not come home and began searching for him with the help of some friends. They found him dead in the snow in front of the Albert residence, eventually leading to the arrest of Karen Read. Prosecutors allege that Karen backed into John with her SUV, and left the scene, causing John O’Keefe to die d/t a basilar skull fracture and hypothermia. She was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and leaving the scene of a deadly crash. The defense, however, claims that John O’Keefe was likely killed by someone inside the house and that the witnesses, many of whom were affiliated with the Boston Police Department, utilized their resources to cover up the true cause of death and frame Karen Read. The trial, lasting more than 2 months, and including more than 600 pieces of evidence and 70 witnesses, ended in a mistrial last July. The foreman told the judge “The divergence in our views are not rooted in a lack of understanding or effort but deeply held convictions that each of us carry, ultimately leading to a point where consensus is unattainable,” the jury of six men and six women were hung after 4 days of deliberation. Polling of the jurors revealed that they had all agreed that she was not guilty of murder or leaving the scene but had been confused about how to deliver a partial verdict. She is currently being retried for the same charges.