Karen Reed’s second murder trial begins with a new ju judge
Karen Reed began her second trial last year after being charged with the 2022 death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe.
Firefighters testified at Karen Reid’s murder trial on May 5, she heard the defendant say “I hit him” after Boston police officers were found not responding in the snow outside her Massachusetts home in 2022.
Katie McLaughlin testified that the former financial professor “schooled at him” at least four times, the day his boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46, was found unconscious in the snow in January 2022, Katie McLaughlin, the first responder to bringing Karen to the hospital, told her that she had “attacked him” at least four times. The testimony was said to have been repeated three times in the stands, a friend of the couple, star witness Jennifer McCabe, who reads at the age of 45.
McCabe faced intense questions from Reed’s lawyers about the differences in testimony she said to the big ju court in her previous trial in 2024 and ongoing trials. After the 2024 trial ended with the jury judge, the reads return to court.
The prosecutor, after reading Hit O’Keefe in drunken rage with the Lexus, escaped from the scene and died in the snow outside Canton, Massachusetts, the home of fellow Boston police officers. Defence counsel has long argued that the reading is framed.
Reed’s lawyer continued the argument and forced McLaughlin to see why she didn’t write down what she said at the time. They also burned investigators about the unconventional methods used to collect evidence.
McLaughlin and Galgar’s testimony comes as the case enters the third week of testimony. So far, ju-describers have heard testimony about the inexplicable text messages McCabe sent to other witnesses. McCabe also shared vivid details about discovering the body of one of her “close friends” and heard them admit to drinking a lot of recordings of what they read.
The incident turned into a long-standing legitimate story of whodunnit, which has garnered massive conspiracy from true crime fans around the country and spurred an array of podcasts, films and television shows.
Here’s what happened on the ninth day in Dedham, Massachusetts on May 5th:
Paul Gallagher, the highest-ranking officer who responded to the scene, was burned about the unconventional methods used to gather evidence after O’Keefe was found to be unconscious.
Gallagher arrived in his personal vehicle on January 29, 2022, shortly after O’Keefe was taken to hospital. Gallagher said the frozen ground was rapidly covered in snow, and the crime scene tapes were blowing hard in the wind.
After finding what appeared to be blood in the snow, Gallagher used a leaf blower to clean the area.
As the snow cleared and bright red blood was revealed, Gallagher gathered evidence of the red solo cup, obtained from an officer living nearby. The cup was then brought to the police station in a paper grocery bag.
“I thought it would be John’s DNA, and I wasn’t going to get a second chance with it,” Gallagher said. “It was either collecting it or never having it.”
The leaf blower also exposed a broken cocktail glass hidden in the snow. Gallagher sealed a box containing glass on the stand and showed it to the ju judge.
Reed’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, pushed Gallagher over the possibility that the evidence of the open solo cup could have been contaminated. Gallagher said he wouldn’t wait to get the right equipment to collect evidence for the weather.
Jackson also said Gallagher is “the heart of the recovery of evidence,” but he has not written a report and was not interviewed by other investigators until prosecutors questioned him more than two years later. Gallagher, as a supervisor, said his responsibility was to ensure that his subordinates write reports rather than themselves.
Gallagher said the state police later took over the investigation. The Canton Police Department rescued its “best detective,” Kevin Albert, as the homeowner’s brother.
McLaughlin, a Canton firefighter who drove O’Keefe to the hospital in an ambulance, said he heard he read at least four times at the scene, “I attacked him.” McLaughlin said the readings made a statement as he tried to gather information about O’Keefe’s medical history.
McLaughlin felt uncomfort to ask prosecutors about the “distracting scenes” and reading attitude.
“She was upset, I’m hysterical,” McLaughlin said.
Defence counsel Alan Jackson pushed McLaughlin why she didn’t write down or follow up on Read’s statement before she reported to her fellow first responders.
Jackson also questioned his relationship with members of the Albert family in a tense exchange and showed photos of McLaughlin and Caitlin Albert, daughters of Brian Albert Sr. McLaughlin said she had known Caitlin Albert since high school and although she doesn’t consider her a friend, she spent time together.
Jackson asked McLaughlin if Albert’s brother, a Canton police officer, was the one who set up an interview with Massachusetts State Police. McLaughlin said the interview was arranged by state troopers. “I’ve never spoken to Kevin Albert,” she said.
Sarah Levinson testified that she and her friends went to 34 Fairview Road to celebrate Brian Albert Jr.’s birthday. Levinson said the atmosphere was “celebration, light, joy” as friends and family came and went all night.
Around midnight, Albert’s father, mother, sisters, aunt, uncle and friend Brian Higgins arrived at the house. Albert’s aunt Jennifer McCabe is one of the key witnesses to the prosecutor. She is a sister to Nicole Albert, who is married to Brian Albert Sr.
McCabe testified that Reed and O’Keefe were to attend a party at Alberts’ home, but did not arrive.
Levinson said her friend left the short house to talk to her brother, but no one had entered the house since then. Levinson said she left 34 Fairview between 1:30am and 2am with McCaves as she was covered in light dust from snow that had covered the ground.
The reading defense attorney began to question Levinson by asking why he had never met Chloe, the German shepherd in Albert. “Is that because the dogs weren’t very good with strangers?” asked Alan Jackson.
Among the evidence of Reid’s defense, the main one was a series of marks on O’Keefe’s arms, which appear to have come from an animal attack. Reed’s lawyer, David Yanetti, alleged that the dog did that at the 2024 trial.
Two witnesses told the ju deputy who spotted the black SUV on his way to pick up a friend from a house where O’Keefe later turned out to be unconscious in the snow.
Heather Maxon said she saw a woman and a man in the passenger seat of the SUV when both cars made a turn to Fairview Road. Maxon said neither of them knew.
Maxon’s then boyfriend, Ryan Nagel, estimated he had arrived at 34 Fairview Road and saw the SUV parked nearby. Nagel says he saw a woman in the driver’s seat of the SUV, lit up by interior dome lights, but his glimpse was too short to identify her.
Both Nagel and Maxon said that other than Nagel’s sister, they have never seen them leave their SUVs while parked, lying on the grass or entering the house. After a brief conversation, Nagel’s sister finally decided to stay at home and the group left the scene.
Knowles returned to the stands on May 5th, closing her testimony briefly. Previously, Knowles said that when ju judges’ blood alcohol levels were tested at the hospital after 9am on January 29, 2022, the ju judges’ blood alcohol levels were between 0.078% and 0.092%. Based on a retrograde analysis, she found at 12:45am that the blood alcohol levels of Reed were between 0.14% and 0.28%, far beyond the legal limits in Masachette.
The findings were based on blood samples read at Good Sumaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Massachusetts.
Reed’s lawyers soothe the accuracy of the calculations, question knowledge about many factors that affect a person’s blood alcohol level, calling the results “inaccurate.” Knowles explained to prosecutors that the range of blood alcohol levels she produced was “deliberately wide” to explain many of the factors the defense raised.
Before her second trial began, Reed told Vanity Fair that she owed her lawyers a postponed fee of more than $5 million.
Reed told the magazine she is alive from the rest of her 401(k) retirement fund after losing her job as Fidelity Investments equity analyst and Bentley University finance professor after being arrested and charged with O’Keefe’s murder.
“If I can tell the truth about this incident on a public forum, that would be valuable to me,” she told Vanity Fair.
The justice of the Karen Read Lead Lead Defense Fund, hosted by Werksman Jackson & Quinn LLP, has raised over $900,000 from more than 11,000 donors. The donations continue during her second trial.
Reading supporters from Massachusetts onwards, selling t-shirts, organising events including a recent cocktail-style party, raising funds for her defense. Reading also sold her four-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Mansfield for $810,000. Sales ended on November 13th, 2024.
Courttv has been covering cases against Read and criminal investigations since early 2022, when O’Keefe’s body was found outside the Canton home.
You can see Courttv’s live feed of read court proceedings from Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts. Minutes begin at 9am.
Contributors: Carissa Waddick and Janine Santucci, USA Today; Jessica Tulphant, Patriot Leisure
(This story has been updated to add new information.)