First witnesses take the stand in retrial of Karen Read

The first witnesses in the high-profile second murder trial of Karen Read took the stand on Tuesday.

Kerry Roberts, a friend of John O’Keefe, and Timothy Nuttall, one of the first responders who arrived at 34 Fairview Road in Canton on January 29, 2022, both gave testimony.

Read is accused of striking her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, with her SUV in 2022 and leaving him to die alone in the snow outside of a house party in Canton, a suburb about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Boston. She has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene.

Roberts told the jury that Read called her at 5 a.m. the day after the house party, screamed “Kerry! Kerry! Kerry! John’s dead!” and hung up. Roberts then went to O’Keefe’s house with Read to search for him and then to the Albert home.

Roberts said she couldn’t see anything when they pulled up but that Read said, “There he is,” and jumped out of the car.

“She ran right over to the mound of snow,” Roberts said. “Once she got to it, you could tell it was a mound of snow the length of a body.”

Watch witness testimony in Read’s second criminal trial:

The first witness special prosecutor Hank Brennan called was paramedic Timothy Nuttall, who testified that when he responded to the scene that morning, a frantic Read said, “I hit him. I hit him. I hit him.”

During cross-examination, Read’s Attorney Alan Jackson noted that Nuttall testified at the first trial that Read said “I hit him” twice, not three times. But Nuttall insisted Tuesday that she said it three times.

Jackson also challenged Nuttall that he heard Read tell others she hit O’Keefe. Jackson claimed Nuttal had never said that before.

In opening statements Tuesday, Brennan told jurors that “facts and data” will lead them to the truth, and that Read’s own statements will confirm it.

“She admitted what she had done that night,” said Brennan, who also played a clip from a television interview in which Read said, “I mean, I didn’t think I ‘hit him’ hit him, but could I have clipped him? Could I have tagged him in the knee and incapacitated him? He didn’t look mortally wounded, as far as I could see. Could I have done something that knocked him out, and in his drunkenness and in the cold, he didn’t come to again?”

Watch the opening statements in Read’s second criminal trial:

Many of the factors that made the first trial must-see television will feature in the second. Most of the same witnesses are back as are Read’s aggressive defense team and her supporters camped out near the courthouse. Read, who has been featured in several documentaries about her case, has become a minor celebrity.

Kerry Roberts is expected to be back on the stand when testimony begins again on Wednesday.