Trooper’s texts reveal ‘true feelings’ about Karen Read, lawyers say

The prosecution and defense offered vastly different facts and theories as Read's sensational murder trial got underway Monday.

Soon after Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe was found cold and lifeless on a snowy lawn in Canton in 2022, a Massachusetts State Police trooper assigned to the murder investigation allegedly sent a series of shocking texts about the main suspect in the case — O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Read.

According to lawyers for Read, who is now on trial for O’Keefe’s murder, Trooper Michael Proctor texted his friends and called Read “names you would reserve only for your worst enemies.” The alleged texts came to light as lawyers presented opening statements Monday in Read’s murder trial, previewing their respective cases for the jury.

Proctor “told his friends that he hoped that she [Read] would kill herself,” defense attorney David Yannetti told jurors, attempting to poke holes and show possible bias in the state’s investigation.

After seizing Read’s cellphone, Proctor allegedly “told his high school buddies that he was searching her phone for nude photos of Karen Read, and he was disappointed he hadn’t found any yet,” Yannetti continued. “That is the professional and unbiased investigator who was chosen to lead the investigation into the death of John O’Keefe.”

Proctor is currently under an internal affairs investigation, though State Police have not said whether the probe is connected to Read’s case. An attorney for Proctor did not respond to a request for comment Monday but previously said said the trooper “remains steadfast in the integrity of the work he performed investigating the death of Mr. John O’Keefe.”

Prosecutors allege that after a night out, Read struck O’Keefe with her SUV while dropping him off at an after-party held at a fellow Boston officer’s home in Canton on Jan. 29, 2022. Read, 44, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of a collision causing injury and death.

Lawyers for the Mansfield woman say she was framed for O’Keefe’s death, suggesting O’Keefe was actually beaten inside the home and attacked by the homeowner’s German shepherd. They’ve alleged a widespread conspiracy among law enforcement and other after-party guests.

What prosecutors said

Several witnesses who were inside the home that night saw Read pull up to the house shortly after midnight, Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally said in his opening remarks. However, Lally said no one saw O’Keefe enter the house; instead, the after-party guests allegedly watched Read’s car pull away and assumed the couple had left.

When O’Keefe didn’t return home from the after-party, Read and two other women — Kerry Roberts and Jennifer McCabe — went out searching for him. In the coming weeks, witnesses will testify that after she discovered O’Keefe’s body that morning, Read repeatedly stated, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,” Lally alleged.

According to prosecutors, Read also asked McCabe — whose brother-in-law, Brian Albert, owned the home where O’Keefe’s body was found — to look up how long it would take for someone to die of hypothermia.

“You’ll hear some dispute as to when that search was made,” Lally said, adding that testimony from three forensic extraction experts will indicate that McCabe made the search shortly before 6:30 a.m., and at Read’s request. Read’s lawyers allege McCabe made the search at 2:27 a.m.

Lally also described cracks in Read’s relationship with O’Keefe, citing screaming matches and “text messages of an amorous nature” that Read exchanged with one of O’Keefe’s friends.

According to Lally, data from Read’s car indicates that while the SUV was in front of Albert’s home around 12:45 a.m., it traveled more than 60 feet in reverse at approximately 24.2 mph.

He said O’Keefe was seen on surveillance video leaving a bar with a cocktail glass in hand earlier in the night, and investigators allegedly found shards of glass on Read’s bumper. Pieces of a broken tail light were also reportedly recovered at the scene, and witnesses will testify that DNA evidence links O’Keefe to Read’s tail light and a hair found on the back of her car, according to Lally.

O’Keefe’s parents sat with their heads hung as Lally described O’Keefe’s injuries, his mother occasionally dabbing away tears.

What Karen Read’s lawyers said

While Judge Beverly Cannone previously cautioned Read’s lawyers against raising a third-party culprit defense in opening statements, Yannetti didn’t mince words as he stepped up to address the jury Monday.

“Karen Read was framed,” he said. “Her car never struck John O’Keefe. She did not cause his death, and that means that somebody else did.”

Yannetti said jurors will start to question prosecutors’ case against Read early on in the trial.

“You will question the veracity of the commonwealth’s witnesses, and you will question their shoddy and biased investigation, a faulty investigation that led to Karen Read sitting here today,” he said. “You will learn, in short, that the police did no real investigation of this case. And you will question why.”

Yannetti described homeowner Brian Albert and his family as well-connected to local law enforcement, reiterating prior allegations that Trooper Proctor had close ties with the Alberts.

“Karen Read was a convenient outsider,” he said.

Yannetti asserted that Read actually broke her tail light while backing out of O’Keefe’s driveway that morning — a theory prosecutors have disputed. The defense attorney also alleged that investigators only began to find pieces of tail light outside Albert’s home after Proctor seized Read’s car.

Yannetti conceded that Read considered “exploring her options” when she exchanged romantic texts with Brian Higgins, O’Keefe’s friend and a witness in the case. But he said Read and O’Keefe were also making future vacation plans, indicating they meant to continue their relationship.

First witnesses take the stand

Paul and Erin O’Keefe — John O’Keefe’s brother and sister-in-law — were the first witnesses to take the stand for the prosecution, with Paul O’Keefe testifying that he and his wife used to socialize occasionally with his brother and Read.

“I thought we had a good relationship,” Paul O’Keefe said of his feelings toward Read. “I held her in very high regard. I thought she was a good influence on my niece and nephew.”

O’Keefe said he once served as a sort of “referee” after witnessing an “intense” verbal argument between his brother and Read, though he described the confrontation as “typical couple’s fighting.”

Flashing forward to Jan. 29, 2022, O’Keefe described seeing his brother’s wounded body at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, likening John O’Keefe’s swollen eyes to ping-pong balls.

Paul O’Keefe said he also saw Read at the hospital “being restrained by hospital employees, … screaming the same things: ‘Is he alive? Is he alive? Is he alive?’”

He said he blew Read a kiss.

Canton Police Officer Steven Saraf testified about what he saw when he arrived at Fairview Road the morning O’Keefe died. Saraf, the first police officer to arrive at the scene, said Read appeared to be giving O’Keefe CPR and had blood on her face.

“Ms. Read was visibly upset. She kept saying, ‘This is all my fault. This is my fault. I did this,’” Saraf said. “And she was very hysterical. She kept asking, ‘He’s dead. Is he dead? Is he dead?’”

Read’s case has attracted widespread attention online amid a passionate “Free Karen Read” movement spearheaded by controversial Turtleboy blogger Aidan Kearney. In a scene more reminiscent of a tailgate party than a murder trial, Read’s supporters gathered a short distance from the courthouse Monday, carrying signs and wearing pink in a show of solidarity.

Wrapping up their opening statements, the prosecution and defense offered jurors two vastly different tasks for the weeks ahead.

According to Lally, a guilty verdict is “the only true and just verdict” for Read.

Yannetti, meanwhile, asked jurors to “keep [their] eye on the ball.”

“You have one job and one job only to do during this trial, and this job, quite frankly, is not to solve this case,” he said. “Your only job during this trial is to determine whether the commonwealth, the prosecution, has proven to you each and every element of the crimes they have charged beyond a reasonable doubt, to a moral certainty.”