DEDHAM, Mass. — Thursday marks Day 12 of witness testimony in Karen Read’s murder retrial. A key investigator was the first to take the stand in Dedham’s Norfolk Superior Court.
Read, 45, of Mansfield, 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 Brian Albert following a night of drinking.
NOW ON THE STAND: Massachusetts State Police Sergeant Yuriy Bukhenik -- He was ordered to forfeit accrued vacation days after Read’s first trial for failing to reprimand now-fired lead investigator Michael Proctor for text messages he sent about the murder case.
On Wednesday, the last thing the jury saw was a clip of a shocking statement Read made to an ID Discovery television crew.
“Jen McCabe! It’s me or her. Either I’m going down, Jen, or you are,” Read said in the clip played by special prosecutor Hank Brennan.
Outside the court, Read was asked about the video from the prosecution.
“You’ll see,” she said. “Their case is almost over. You’ll see.”
Before jurors watched the clip, they heard extensive testimony on McCabe’s now-infamous “hos long to die in cold” Google search on the morning O’Keefe’s body was found in the snow outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022.
Digital forensics examiner Jessica Hyde, of George Mason University, claimed a “reasonable degree of certainty” that McCabe’s search was made at 6:24 a.m. and not at 2:27 a.m., hours before O’Keefe’s body was discovered.
The prosecution questioned Hyde about the dangers of an untrained eye looking at the search and seeing the 2:27 a.m. timestamp. The defense pushed back on her findings outlined in reports and previous testimony.
She was questioned first by Brennan.
Brennan asked, “Is there any danger for an untrained eye to rely simply on the software when looking at a search like this? ‘Hos long to die in cold,’ and seeing the 2:27 a.m. timestamp?”
Hyde replied, “Absolutely...That timestamp actually means either the time that that tab was backgrounded, or if it’s the first time the tab has been opened when it was opened.”
Defense attorney Robert Alessi, referencing a 2023 report, asked, “You said the definitive reason as to why the timestamp is listed as 2:27:40 a.m. is ‘unknown.’”
Hyde added, “I do use the word.”
Also on Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police Trooper Connor Keefe took the stand and showed the jury items that were found at the scene of O’Keefe’s death, including two red pieces of broken taillight and a black Nike shoe.
On Tuesday, Trooper Kevin O’Hara testified police officers searched the site on the afternoon of Jan. 29, 2022. They found a shoe along the curb — O’Keefe was missing a shoe when he was found — and six or seven pieces of a broken taillight. The pieces were red and clear, and prosecutors showed the jury images of them. The search was suspended that day because of the darkness.
On Monday, retired Canton Police Lieutenant Paul Gallagher showed jurors a broken cocktail glass that was found at the scene and said he also discovered several drops of blood in the snow with a leaf blower.
The blood was collected in red Solo cups and placed in a paper Stop & Shop bag, Gallagher said.
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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.
A mistrial was declared last year after jurors said they were at an impasse and deliberating further would be futile.
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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