MA - Professor Karen Read, 43, charged with murdering police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe by hitting him with car, Canton, 14 Apr 2023

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It appears that Officer Saraf's dashcam was running the entire time from the moment he arrived until they took away JO in the ambulance. The defense has used bits and pieces to try and highlight what Karen was yelling.

I'm curious if we'll get a cleaned up and enhanced audio to prove what she said or didn't say. She was pretty loud, so I would think if she was screaming "I hit him" it would make it onto the mike.

Edit -
Just to add...IMO, this back and forth over what KR actually said just highlights the usefulness of bodycams. Every police department should be using them for civilian interactions in this day and age, rather than relying on peoples' notoriously unreliable memories.
 
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Lt. Walsh says he did not speak to the women on scene but observed two women "frantically moving around a lot". The only thing he heard KR say was "is he alive?”


Lt Walsh is excused. Next up is Canton FF/paramedic Katie McLaughlin


On Cross, Yannetti asks Lt. Walsh if KR appeared most upset of all the people outside 34 Fairview Rd. He confirmed


FF Mclaughlin testifies that KR told her "I hit him, she repeated it". She says she heard a woman standing next to KR tell KR she was hysterical and needed to calm down


FF Mclaughlin says she did not follow up because she had to drive the ambulance and it was said in front of a police officer

@TedDanielnews
 
ch_13 said:
It appears that Officer Saraf's dashcam was running the entire time from the moment he arrived until they took away JO in the ambulance. The defense has used bits and pieces to try and highlight what Karen was yelling.

I'm curious if we'll get a cleaned up and enhanced audio to prove what she said or didn't say. She was pretty loud, so I would think if she was screaming "I hit him" it would make it onto the mike.

Edit -
Just to add...IMO, this back and forth over what KR actually said just highlights the usefulness of bodycams. Every police department should be using them for civilian interactions in this day and age, rather than relying on peoples' notoriously unreliable memories.
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Memories are unreliable, and, in contrast to Canton policemen drinking in the blizzard, the paramedics were working, trying to save a life. I totally understand why their testimonies differ. They were preoccupied with something else. Likewise, the firefighters opted to show up at work, at night, should anyone need their help. I am always thinking about it, regardless of JO. People opt to choose lives, or not.
 
Weki said:
I am also leaning towards fit of rage in the moment snapped kinda thing. I agree he was not a catch and she had likely a lot of resentment built up. I’m betting she’s not much of a catch either. Her behavior afterwards suggests personality disorder and is consistent with those who kill their spouses. Her demeanor in the courtroom to me is also indicative of someone with a PD. She has devalued John and is not sorry. This wasn’t some accidental bump. Drunk and enraged she meant to do it. That’s murder. I hope she’s found guilty. JMO
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I didn't want to name what I see in her, but I see what you see ))). Not too stable even sober. However, in cases like this, no one can predict how things turn out when she is drunk. She might be angry drunk and kill him, or she may have one massive blackout, drive home and the next morning, delusionally think she killed him. Haven't you heard what drunk people say or do? How they confabulate? The whole situation is unbelievable. Canton PD officers drinking during the blizzard, when manpower would be needed. A policeman ends up dead. Could it be so that all cops were so plastered that they couldn't even track what happened during that night?

But I have the simplest question, what does recording from John O'K.'s phone show? Did he enter the house or not? You remember, in Idaho murders, they were talking about "handshakes with routers" with BK's phone, all that jazz. Idaho is a farming state. MA is all hi-tech, education, medicine. If they can't tell whether JO entered the house or not, all the case becomes questionable. Yanetti recruiting Turtleboy to raise awareness doesn't look good. But, there were professionals investigating. And where do we all stand if JO entered the house? If no proper investigation was done regarding JO whereabouts, if they just believed it was all KR, and did not properly investigate the case of a murdered policeman, where does this case go? Regardless of KR?
 
At the end of the day - which is apparently going to be about 5 weeks from now - the case against Read will come down to the physical evidence. And there are two main components to this. O'Keefe's body and the SUV. Anyone being truly objective about this case - and not focused solely on whether they think Karen isn't nice or a drunk or whether they believe cops do plant evidence sometimes - must take a hard look at those photos of the body and ask themselves how they could have happened in a low speed collision.

The FBI apparently has a biomechanical expert who will testify that the injuries are not consistent with a pedestrian incident. The defense has three biomechanical experts listed as well. On the other hand, the Commonwealth will need to put forth a viable, believable reconstruction of the incident showing how it happened. So far they've had a couple of different theories, but none seem to match up with the injuries. I'm very interested in what they come up with.
 
Madra said:
A fit of rage and decided to murder him by 3 point turn on a police officer's lawn! Even without the mountain of dodginess involved in the investigation the injuries alone will be enough to acquit.

My jaw will hit the floor if the jury comes back with a guilty verdict.
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Alcohol + Anger = People doing nonsensical things. IMHO I don't think she set out to murder him but I think they were arguing on their way to the house and she told him to GTFO and sped off hitting him in the process. She goes home and then has an oh crap moment and goes out looking for him because she knows something happened.
 
HarmonyE. said:
At the end of the day - which is apparently going to be about 5 weeks from now - the case against Read will come down to the physical evidence. And there are two main components to this. O'Keefe's body and the SUV. Anyone being truly objective about this case - and not focused solely on whether they think Karen isn't nice or a drunk or whether they believe cops do plant evidence sometimes - must take a hard look at those photos of the body and ask themselves how they could have happened in a low speed collision.

The FBI apparently has a biomechanical expert who will testify that the injuries are not consistent with a pedestrian incident. The defense has three biomechanical experts listed as well. On the other hand, the Commonwealth will need to put forth a viable, believable reconstruction of the incident showing how it happened. So far they've had a couple of different theories, but none seem to match up with the injuries. I'm very interested in what they come up with.
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But @Harmony, I might have missed it. Do we see the collision on camera? Because if not, the statement that it was a low-speed one might be also a hearsay.

KR states it was a low-speed one. If they still can't answer if JO entered the house or not, it means that her hitting him was not on the camera. If we don't have the collision on the camera, it is KR's word only that it was low-speed.

Unless we see on camera it was low-speed, and John fell, we don't know either way. And what would be the biomechanics' opinion re. a high-speed impact?
 
Weki said:
I am also leaning towards fit of rage in the moment snapped kinda thing. I agree he was not a catch and she had likely a lot of resentment built up. I’m betting she’s not much of a catch either. Her behavior afterwards suggests personality disorder and is consistent with those who kill their spouses. Her demeanor in the courtroom to me is also indicative of someone with a PD. She has devalued John and is not sorry. This wasn’t some accidental bump. Drunk and enraged she meant to do it. That’s murder. I hope she’s found guilty. JMO
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Me, too. I've been on the intentional side of things since learning about it in Apr 2023. She was angry he wanted her to leave - his home - we know the most dangerous time for a SO is when the relationship is in danger of dissolving. How dare he not want to remain in a volitive relationship with her!

JO just bought a pretty big house and she had, apparently, been asked to leave. She refused. Perhaps one of his children may testify as I'm not sure of this court's limitations on prior bad acts.

Youtube has numerous videos of pedestrians being hit by vehicles in all sorts of situ. There's not a doubt in my mind that every wound John suffered was from being hit, fast and furiously, by her SUV.

There was no reason to investigate the homeowner. JMO The incident happened on the side of his front lawn. He was not an eye witness to it. Besides, Karen Read loudly repeated various incriminating statements over and over again. She confessed to hitting him so how is the death of John Oliver the homeowner's fault?

All JHOO
 
louvillian08 said:
... Yeah the lead investigator shouldn't "joke" about seizing her phone without a warrant, looking for nude photos and hoping he would kill herself. All while leaking details of a private investigation to his buddies. This man clearly should not have been in charge of the investigation.
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This is what bothers me. MP might be not-so-smart investigator, sorry. Or, it all can be a smokescreen, and him creating an explanation for own behavior. We don't know why MP didn't enter BA's house. It could be his own decision, or someone from Canton PD asked him not to come in. "Ugh, we have this body of a policeman here, his GF ran over him...and, ugh, there are some people in the house, women, very upset. Can you spare them an additional trauma?" So MP could have been fed the narrative and asked not to enter the house, and you know, BA was recently shown on Boston TV, maybe the plans were to promote him. MT was not born yesterday. He sends his friends messages providing them his versions of the story. That a woman killed her BF, that she is good-looking, etc. That he is not going to enter the house because the owners are cops. IRL, who knows, maybe there is a pool of blood in BA's house but no one sees it because no one enters?
 
KMouse said:
Alcohol + Anger = People doing nonsensical things. IMHO I don't think she set out to murder him but I think they were arguing on their way to the house and she told him to GTFO and sped off hitting him in the process. She goes home and then has an oh crap moment and goes out looking for him because she knows something happened.
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Trying not to make any assumptions or exceptions about this case as I was not there on scene.

However, I agree with your post.. to generalize this has always been my thoughts/opinion. Idk

Will the jurors use their life experience and common sense? Will there be any damaging evidence from the commonwealth? Or will KR walk?
moo
 
MayMabel said:
As a Bostonian I can confirm the witnesses accent is 1000% ours. We put A’s where they don’t belong all the time and we have a strong aversion to R’s. When the R is at the end of the word it turns to an A (which I think most people recognize) but when the R is in the middle of the word we do all kinds of crazy things depending on which vowel precedes the R. He’s definitely one of us though!
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I lived in Boston for 12 years. Open vowels, yes. R's, not so horribly. Definitely not in the area from Boston to Worcester. Maybe some "Massachusetts boonies", if they exist. There are local accents within the states, I have noticed it.
 
DeDee said:
Me, too. I've been on the intentional side of things since learning about it in Apr 2023. She was angry he wanted her to leave - his home - we know the most dangerous time for a SO is when the relationship is in danger of dissolving. How dare he not want to remain in a volitive relationship with her!

JO just bought a pretty big house and she had, apparently, been asked to leave. She refused. Perhaps one of his children may testify as I'm not sure of this court's limitations on prior bad acts.

Youtube has numerous videos of pedestrians being hit by vehicles in all sorts of situ. There's not a doubt in my mind that every wound John suffered was from being hit, fast and furiously, by her SUV.

There was no reason to investigate the homeowner. JMO The incident happened on the side of his front lawn. He was not an eye witness to it. Besides, Karen Read loudly repeated various incriminating statements over and over again. She confessed to hitting him so how is the death of John Oliver the homeowner's fault?

All JHOO
Click to expand...
I would love to read all the messages between the two of them. KR doesn't strike me as somebody who would make it easy to leave a relationship.
 
Charlot123 said:
But @Harmony, I might have missed it. Do we see the collision on camera? Because if not, the statement that it was a low-speed one might be also a hearsay.

KR states it was a low-speed one. If they still can't answer if JO entered the house or not, it means that her hitting him was not on the camera. If we don't have the collision on the camera, it is KR's word only that it was low-speed.

Unless we see on camera it was low-speed, and John fell, we don't know either way. And what would be the biomechanics' opinion re. a high-speed impact?
Click to expand...

As far as anyone knows, there is no video of anything that happened in or around the house that night. (Not that the investigators looked very hard)

KR does not say it was a low speed collision. Her position is there was no collision, hence the reason why the defense does not have an accident reconstructionist on their expert list. They are going with biomechanical experts to refute any claims by the prosecution that O'Keefe's injuries were caused by a vehicle. "A capable biomechanical engineer is able to examine specific injuries and use reverse engineering by applying knowledge of injury mechanisms to determine if pathologic loading was generated within the event in question to cause the purported injuries". Stolen from the site of an expert.

The Commonwealth originally claimed she hit him while making a three point turn in the street. I believe this is because Matt McCabe first told police he saw evidence of such a maneuver when looking out a window of the house. But it seems they realized she could never get up enough speed doing a turn to shatter a taillight and kill a 220 pound man. The last theory we've heard is that she pulled forward over 60 feet and then backed up at 24 miles per hour (on a curve - which the jury will see tomorrow) and hit him with the rear passenger side taillight, shattering the taillight in 45 different pieces and knocking him sideways 12 feet onto the lawn.

Maybe they have another new theory, but it honestly it seems like they backed into this one. (Pun intended) First, I'm very familiar with the location and there is no possible way I could back up that fast on that road and stay on the road. Even fully sober in daylight with no snow. And I don't believe anyone could get up to 24 MPH in such a short period and stay on the road. There's no evidence from the site supports her leaving the road. Why would O'Keefe just stand there in freezing weather waiting for her to hit him? Drunk or not, most people would simply move out the way, assuming they hadn't run their jacketless *advertiser censored* into the house already. If she hit a 220 pound man hard enough knock him 12 feet and kill him, why was there no damage to the body of the SUV? Why was just the taillight involved?

But the biggest question - and what the biomechanical experts will no doubt address in detail - how on earth did those specific injuries occur if the CW's theory is correct? A small, deep injury to the back of his head coupled with lacerations up and down the front of one arm? Not to mention bruising happening to both fists at the same time?

There's no way the CW won't have a reconstructionist try to explain all of the above. It will be a tall order though.
 
Ok, so JO was dropped off outside of BA's house.

Isn't the defense going to ask anyone who was involved in the investigation:

'Did you go into BA's house at any point after arriving at the scene? The house where JO was dropped off presumably to join a party in progress.'

If these various people answer 'no' (and my understanding is they will say no) the next question should be:

'So, in that case you would be unable to say whether there was any evidence in the house that might have explained how JO became injured and ultimately died. If there had been evidence in the house of a crime related to JO, because you did not enter the house, you would be unaware of that, correct?'
 
themonk said:
Ok, so JO was dropped off outside of BA's house.

Isn't the defense going to ask anyone who was involved in the investigation:

'Did you go into BA's house at any point after arriving at the scene? The house where JO was dropped off presumably to join a party in progress.'

If these various people answer 'no' (and my understanding is they will say no) the next question should be:

'So, in that case you would be unable to say whether there was any evidence in the house that might have explained how JO became injured and ultimately died. If there had been evidence in the house of a crime related to JO, because you did not enter the house, you would be unaware of that, correct?'
Click to expand...

The first Canton cop on the scene has already testified that he didn't think it would be reasonable to even knock on the door of the house. I'm sure it would be more than reasonable if there was a body on my lawn, but I'm not a Boston cop.
 
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