Initial Case

John O’Keefe was a police officer in Boston who was found dead at around 6 a.m. on January 29, 2022, by Karen Read, his girlfriend. John was found lying in the snow outside of Brian Albert, a fellow police officer who was friends with O’Keefe. Prior to finding him, Read and O’Keefe had been experiencing a rough patch in their relationship, which was shown through text messages and witnesses. There was a broken cocktail glass and pieces of a tail light found at the scene. The cause of death was later confirmed to be blunt trauma to the head and hypothermia. Karen Read was arrested, but pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and leaving the scene of a motor accident. 

Read was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. Defense attorneys Alan Jackson and David Yannetti stated that O’Keefe was involved in a fight inside Albert’s house and that his body was beaten inside, and someone took him outside afterwards. There were scratches found on O’Keefe’s arms, which the defense claimed were from Albert’s dog. 

Hearing

On February 22, 2024, prosecutors claimed that they had DNA evidence proving that the broken tailight implicated Read in O’Keefe’s death. They also claimed that tailight material was found on O’Keefe’s clothing. On March 12, 2024, Read’s defense team stated that the FBI concluded that the evidence did not support the theory that O’Keefe died after being hit by an SUV. On March 26, 2024, Judge Cannone denied a motion from the defense team to dismiss the case. 

Several witnesses came forward to provide testimonies, the most notable of which were from a Canton paramedic who claimed that he heard a woman say “I hit him, I hit him”, which Read’s defense team claimed had changed over time and was not reliable. Albert also testified that neither O’Keefe nor Read had entered his home that night. 

Originally, jurors reached a deadlock, and the judge stated that she did not believe that they had deliberated long enough. Jurors were still not able to reach a decision after the extended deliberation, leading to a mistrial. After continued movements from the defense team to get the case dismissed and to drop two out of the three charges. After these movements, Read was tried in a second case and wanted to get some criminal charges dropped on account of double jeopardy concerns. 

A jury was picked, and the second trial began. There was more questioning of witnesses, and there were a couple of delays along the way, but more experts were consulted, and both the defense and prosecution made new arguments for their cases in hopes of coming up with a new outcome. 

Verdict

On June 18, 2025, jurors acquitted Read of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident. However, she was convicted of driving under the influence, but was only sentenced to one year’s probation. This verdict resulted in public outcry for some claiming that there should have been justice for O’Keefe and that this verdict caused distress to others involved in his death. 

Currently, there are no others who have been arrested for the death of John O’Keefe, so his death remains unsolved.