Red Solo cups and grocery bags: Karen Read defense takes aim at evidence collection at scene of cop boyfriend’s death

One of the police detectives who Karen Read’s attorneys claim “framed” her in the death of her Boston cop boyfriend testified on Tuesday leading to tense exchanges between the defense and the witness and several objections by prosecutors.

Prosecutors say Read backed up her SUV 60 feet at 24 mph when she hit John O’Keefe , 46, as she was dropping him off at a party at a Canton home following a night of drinking on Jan. 29, 2022. Read returned to the home around 6 a.m. where she and others discovered his body in the front lawn of that home. She’s charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of personal injury and death.

O’Keefe died of blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia. According to prosecutors, Read’s blood alcohol level was between .13 and .29, which is over the legal limit to drive of 0.08.

Read’s attorneys say she is the victim of a cover-up. They allege that when she dropped her boyfriend at the home of fellow Boston cop Brian Albert, O’Keefe actually made it inside the house where a fight ensued. An unconscious O’Keefe was dumped out on the lawn to die, Read’s attorneys say. The defense theory is that law enforcement is framing Read to protect Albert and his family who are well-known in the town. Albert’s brother is a detective for Canton police while another brother owns a pizza joint in town.

Left: Karen Read stands for the jury at her murder trial on May 7, 2024. Right: Investigators used red Solo cups and a grocery store bag to collect blood. (Law&Crime Network)

Canton police Sgt. Michael Lank, who testified Tuesday in the sixth day of the trial, is one of the cops in an the alleged cover-up. While the Canton Police Department would eventually cede the investigation to the Massachusetts State Police, Lank was the first officer to interview Brian Albert, his wife Nicole Albert and Nicole’s sister Jennifer McCabe. He also was part of the team of investigators who because of the ongoing blizzard conducted an unorthodox evidence collection process which included removing snow with a leaf blower and scooping up blood with red Solo cups and putting it inside a paper grocery store bag.

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When Lank arrived on scene he talked outside with McCabe, who had driven Read back to the home after Read realized O’Keefe hadn’t made it home. Lank testified he had McCabe wake up her sister and brother-in-law. Lank said after they woke up he and Canton police Sgt. Sean Goode went inside and interviewed McCabe and Brian and Nicole Albert. Read’s attorney Alan Jackson questioned Lank why it was not more important to separate witnesses.

“You thought is was appropriate to let all the witnesses get together and just discuss the facts before you had the opportunity to interview them separately?” Jackson asked.

Norfolk County Assistant Prosecutor Adam Lally objected and the judge said Jackson had made his point.

Lank testified that while he was on scene he called the dispatch for the Massachusetts State Police, which handles all death investigations. Jackson tried to establish that Lank initially thought O’Keefe may have been in a fight. Jackson, apparently reading from the dispatch transcript, said Lank told dispatch “I’m not sure if he’s been in a fight or whatever. Our medics don’t believe he’s gonna make it.” That plays into the defense theory that O’Keefe was beaten. Jackson got Lank to admit he didn’t initially tell dispatch that he believed O’Keefe had been hit by a car.

Lank said at that point of the investigation cops thought a “multitude of things” could have caused the trauma to O’Keefe’s head. It led to this exchange between Jackson and Lank.

Question from Jackson: So based on what you had been told, you knew there was a person laying unconscious just outside a residence that may have been involved in a physical altercation. That’s fair?

Answer from Lank: It’s a possibility but again there were a multitude of things that were going through my head as possibilities.

Q: But that’s one of them, one of the premier possibilities?

A: I wouldn’t say it’s premier, I’d say it was one of the possibilities.

Q: And it’s logical to believe that if a fight had occurred it may very well have started in the residence 30 feet away?

Lally objected and judge sustained. The lawyers had a brief side bar with the judge before Jackson continued his line of questioning.

Q: Lt. Lank, given what you believed at the time and the possibility that there was a ‘fight or whatever’ did you logically think in your mind that your state of mind that it could have possibly started in the house?

A: If it had been a confrontation it could have started anywhere

Q: But the house is part of anywhere, right? So the house is not excluded in your mind as a starting point for the investigation. Is that right?

Lank said based on what McCabe told him there was no indication that he made it into the house.

Canton police Sgt. Michael Lank testifies at the Karen Read murder trial on May 7, 2024 (Law&Crime Network)

McCabe had told Lank that O’Keefe and Read ran into her, Brian Albert, her sister and others at a Canton bar the night before. The Alberts then invited Read and O’Keefe back to their house for an after party which led to Read driving O’Keefe to the house where he was found dead on the front lawn. McCabe told Lank O’Keefe had never made it inside.

“So you just took Mrs. McCabe’s word for it?” Jackson asked.

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He asked Lank whether a witness had ever lied to him and Lank answered in the affirmative. The defense attorney then questioned as to why Lank didn’t go beyond the front foyer of the home when interviewing the Alberts and McCabe or go into the basement in which Read’s lawyers have previously said is where the alleged fight occurred that rendered O’Keefe unconscious. Lank said he did not have probable cause to search the home and everything he did see inside seemed “in order.”

Read’s attorney went on to question the evidence collection methods and whether it could have been tainted or tampered with. Jackson noted that the paper bag with the plastic cups had not been sealed by evidence tape. The defense attorneys have previously indicated that they believe investigators planted O’Keefe’s blood on Read’s SUV. Lank testified that since Canton police is a smaller agency and doesn’t typically process scenes, coupled with the bad weather, the cops collected evidence as best they could. He said he did not believe any evidence was tampered with or tainted.

The initial investigation did not turn up any piece of Read’s taillight on the front lawn. It was only days later when some of the snow had melted that cops discovered more than 40 pieces of taillight.

Jackson also asked Lank about an incident from 2002 in which Lank helped one of Brian Albert’s brothers after a bar fight. The defense claims this is an example of Lank helping the Alberts out of hairy situations. Lank told Lally on redirect that the 2002 incident had no impact on the O’Keefe investigation. Lally said Monday that the defense “overestimates” Lank’s role in the investigation.

Tuesday’s testimony ended with a Canton police Lt. Charles Rae who responded the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, to O’Keefe’s home to check on his niece and nephew who were alone. O’Keefe was their legal guardian. Rae’s dashcam shows Read’s SUV parked in the driveway with damage to the right rear taillight. Rae’s testimony will continue Wednesday morning.

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