Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘Karen Read; The Perfect Storm’ of ABC’s ’20/20,’ the viewers are provided with a detailed account of the complicated and unsolved murder case of former police veteran, John O’Keefe, who was found dead in the driveway of a Canton residence in January 2022. As the investigation led the police to a prime suspect, the evidence was not sufficient enough to get a conviction. Thanks to the exclusive and in-depth interviews with the loved ones of the victim, the episode gives us an idea about the aftermath of the murder.
John O’Keefe Was Found Murdered During a Snowstorm in Early 2022
John J. O’Keefe, III, also known as “JJ” or “Johnny,” had been serving the Boston Police Department for over 16 years with dedication. The beloved son of John Joseph O’Keefe II and Margaret Ann Welsh O’Keefe was born on December 8, 1975, and raised in Braintree, Massachusetts, alongside his siblings — sister Kristen O’Keefe Furbush and brother Paul O’Keefe. After graduating from Braintree High School, he joined Northeastern University. By then, he had developed a passion for law and criminal justice. Thus, in order to pursue a career in that field, he went to the University of Massachusetts Lowell or UMass Lowell and earned a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice.
A tragedy befell in November 2013 as he lost his sister, followed by his brother-in-law after a couple of months. With nobody to take care of the late couple’s children, John took that responsibility and moved to Canton in 2014 to raise his niece and nephew. The dedicated member of the Boston Police Department found love in 2020 in an equity analyst named Karen Read. They began dating soon and she became an integral part of his life. In the early morning hours of January 29, 2022, the 46-year-old police veteran did not make it home after a night of party. When his partner noticed that he was not on his side of the bed, Karen called up a couple of women and went looking for him as he was neither texting back nor picking up his phone.
While there was a snowstorm outside, the three women drove down to the residence of Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer, on Fairview Road, where they discovered John lying in the snow, unconscious. While Karen began performing CPR in a desperate attempt to save her boyfriend, one of the other women called 911 and informed the authorities about the situation. Soon, the authorities arrived at the scene of the crime and taped the perimeter. As they inspected the area for clues, John was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead before 8 am that same morning. The cause of his death was reported to be blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia.
Despite Suspicions on Someone Close to John O’Keefe, Nobody Has Been Convicted Yet
After the announcement of John O’Keefe’s death, a murder investigation was launched. The police began interviewing the close ones and acquaintances of the victim in an attempt to get a clearer picture and get a lead or two. Soon, they found out that on the night of January 28, 2022, John was accompanied by his girlfriend, Karen Read, as they went out to party with a group of friends. After visiting two Canton bars, C.F. McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar & Grille, Brian Albert invited them and other friends to his residence on Fairview Road for an after-party. While Karen claimed that she dropped him off at his fellow police officer’s house, she returned home as she was feeling under the weather after getting into an argument with him.
However, as they talked to other people in the couple’s life, the detectives learned that the argument might be related to the tensions in their relationship that had aggravated over the last few months, especially during their New Year’s trip to Aruba. As the police gathered incriminating evidence against her that hinted that she crashed him with the car she dropped him off in, they took her into custody three days after the murder and charged her with the second-degree murder of John O’Keefe, motor vehicle manslaughter while driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of a deadly crash. For the same charges, she was officially indicted by a grand jury four months later, on June 9, 2022.
After the indictment, the defendant pleaded not guilty while the defense attorney claimed that the Massachusetts State Police framed her by manufacturing evidence during the investigation. Held on $100,000 bail, she managed to make the bail and get out of prison until her trial began. On April 16, 2024, Karen Read’s trial for the murder of John O’Keefe commenced. During the trial, the prosecutors claimed that while being under the influence, Karen purposely hit her boyfriend with the SUV. To counter that, the defense argued that the couple were getting along fine on the fateful night.
Her defense attorney claimed that John had gone inside the house for the after-party and was murdered during a fight before his body was dumped out and left in the snow. The trial lasted around nine weeks, after which the jury deliberated for five days. On July 1, 2024, the judge declared a mistrial because the jurors could not reach a unanimous consensus and were deadlocked even after various days of deliberations. Following the mistrial, the prosecutors got to work again and started building a stronger case against Karen Read while she maintained her innocence.
Read More: Karen Read: Where is John O’Keefe’s Girlfriend Now?
