DEDHAM, Mass. — Jennifer McCabe, one of the last people to see John O’Keefe alive, took the stand in Karen Read’s murder retrial on Tuesday.
McCabe infamously Googled, “hos long to die in cold,” on the morning of O’Keefe’s death, but was not questioned on the search Tuesday.
Instead, McCabe was asked about the discovery of O’Keefe’s body and the preceding events. She described conversations she had with Read on the morning of January 29, 2022.
“‘Jen! Jen!’ And then she’s screaming that John didn’t come home,” McCabe recounted. “She started saying, ‘Could I have hit him? Did I hit him?’”
“She also informed me that she had cracked her taillight,” McCabe continued.
A short time later, McCabe traveled with Read to 34 Fairview Road and found O’Keefe’s body in the snow near a flagpole in the front yard.
“I was frozen, I was shocked, I couldn’t believe that was him just lying there,” McCabe detailed. “I just remember when I was doing the compressions, it just. I don’t really know how to explain it. It just felt very funny.”
McCabe had been at 34 Fairview the night before. She says Read and O’Keefe were also invited to a get-together there. She saw Read’s Lexus pull up, but she says neither she nor O’Keefe ever came in.
McCabe told special prosecutor Hank Brennan that O’Keefe never texted her during the time in question.
“I have nothing to say to Jen McCabe. I would say the dashcam and the 911 calls speak for themselves,” Read said outside court after testimony wrapped. “If you want to know what the scene was like, just watch the video. Don’t take anyone’s word for it. Watch the video.”
Even though McCabe wasn’t asked about it Tuesday, the jury is aware of her “hos long to die in the cold?” Google search.
Digital forensics expert Ian Whiffin, a product manager at digital forensics firm Cellbrite, testified for the prosecution before McCabe.
On Monday, Whiffin told the jury that John O’Keefe’s phone data reveals he never entered 34 Fairview Road, but the defense challenged that opinion Tuesday, pressing him on the accuracy of the information.
Defense attorney Robert Alessi asked Whiffin about a report he authored that shows O’Keefe’s phone traveled 36 steps or around 84 feet.
“According to your report, the phone of John O’Keefe could be in the house, correct?” Alessi asked.
“Based on the low accuracy information? Yes,” Whiffin responded.
“The answer is yes,” Alessi said.
“Yes,” Whiffin conceded.
“You did not include that depiction in your timeline that you discussed with the jury yesterday, did you?” Alessi continued.
“I did not, no,” Whiffin said.
Special prosecutor Brennan fired back and suggested the defense is cherry-picking sections of Whiffin’s report to distort the findings.
Read’s lawyers have said that McCabe’s search happened hours before O’Keefe was discovered, which could implicate her rather than Read. McCabe has said she made the search later at Read’s insistence after they found O’Keefe. Whiffin also told the jury that the search happened after John O’Keefe’s body was found.
Jennifer McCabe will be back on the stand on Wednesday.
A mistrial was declared last year after jurors said they were at an impasse and deliberating further would be futile.
Prosecutors allege Read intentionally backed into O’Keefe after she dropped him off at a house party and returned hours later to find him dead. The defense has claimed that she was a victim of a vast police conspiracy and that O’Keefe was fatally beaten by another law enforcement officer at the party.
Read has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death.
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