Live video, updates: Jennifer McCabe back on the stand in Karen Read retrial

DEDHAM, Mass. — Jennifer McCabe is expected back on the stand on Day 7 of witness testimony in Karen Read’s retrial.

NOW ON THE STAND: Jennifer McCabe, a key witness and friend of Karen Read and John O’Keefe, and Brian Albert’s sister-in-law.

Follow along with Ted Daniel’s live court updates:

McCabe was one of the last people to see John O’Keefe alive, and infamously Googled, “hos long to die in cold,” on the morning of O’Keefe’s death.

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.

McCabe is set to return to court at 9 a.m. and is expected to be asked about that Google search.

McCabe was first called to the stand on Tuesday and 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.”

Read is accused of striking John O’Keefe, her Boston police officer boyfriend, with her SUV and leaving him to die alone in a blizzard outside of a house party at the home of fellow officer Albert following a night of drinking.

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.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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