SERIALously - 263: Karen Read Update: Everything You Need to Know Going into Her New Trial | Facts, Shady Secrets, & Cover Ups
Episode Date: April 21, 2025This week on Serialously with Annie Elise, tune into the notorious case of Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found lifeless in the snow outside a quiet suburban home. His girlfriend, Karen... Read, became the immediate suspect—accused of running him over with her SUV and leaving him to die in a blizzard. As the case unfolded, whispers of a cover-up, corrupt investigators, and missing evidence began to surface. Karen claimed she was being framed, while others insisted she was hiding the truth. A lead investigator was later fired, texts were uncovered, and the cracks in the prosecution’s case grew deeper. Now, as her highly anticipated retrial begins in 2025, the stakes are even higher and the mystery more twisted. Was Karen a killer in plain sight—or the fall girl for something she didn’t do? 🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks 🔎 Join The Club: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise 🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to EXTRA deep dive episodes every week on Apple! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164 Follow Annie on Socials 📸 🩷Instagram: @ _annieelise, https://www.instagram.com/_annieelise/?hl=en 💜TikTok: @_annieelise, https://www.tiktok.com/@_annieelise?lang=en 🗞️ Substack: @annieelise, https://substack.com/@annieelise 💙Facebook: @10tolife, https://www.facebook.com/10toLIFE ⭐️Sponsors ⭐️ O Positiv- Take proactive care of your health and head to http://OPositiv.com/AE or enter AE at checkout for 25% off your first purchase. CBDistillery- Visit http://CBDistillery.com and use code AE for 25% off. Audible- Visit http://Audible.com/SERIALOUSLY or text SERIALOUSLY to 500-500. SKIMS- Check out the Fits Everybody Collection at http://skims.com/annie. Shop Annie’s Closet & Must-Haves! 👗 Poshmark: https://posh.mk/Tdbki6Ae0Rb ShopMY: https://shopmy.us/annieelise Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/10tolife?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_aipsfshop_BKN1ZMCMEZHACVFQ2R75&language=en_US Disclaimer ‣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 🎙️ Follow the podcast for FREE on all podcast platforms! Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6HdheEH8WeMTHoe5da34qU All Other Platforms: https://audioboom.com/channels/5100770-serialously-with-annie-elise Get Involved or Recommend the Case 💬 About Annie: https://annieelise.com/ For Business Inquiries: 10toLife@WMEAgency.com Episode Sources 🔗 Boston 25 News Boston.com CBS News COURT TV MassLive NBC10 Boston The Boston Globe The Patriot Ledger Today.com WCVB Channel 5 Boston WHDH Wikipedia WJAR *Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. •••••••••••••••••• Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Hey, True Crime Besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly.
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly.
I'm your host, Annie Elise, and we have got a lot to talk about today.
Now you may be familiar with the name Karen Reed.
Whether you have followed the case, heard about the case, watched the docu-series Body
in the Snow, or just saw all of these clips
going viral on your TikTok.
You might be familiar with the name.
We first covered Karen's story about two years ago, I believe it was, now at this point.
And we've given some updates since then, but her second trial is now well underway.
And what's really interesting, okay, this case first and foremost has been just absolutely polarizing.
It has divided the whole country on whether they believe that Karen is guilty or whether they believe that she is innocent and being framed.
There are also so many allegations of conspiracy, cover-up, corruption, and so many players involved too that it's really difficult to make heads or tails of things, and to keep it all organized and keep it straight. So today we are going to discuss everything you
need to know about Karen Reed as we are now in this second trial. Not only the case itself,
and everything that went down with the case, the red flags, the shadiness, the inconsistencies,
but also what happened in the first trial because there were a lot of bombshells.
We also are going to talk about everything
that has happened since then,
up until this new trial beginning,
because there is a lot to go over.
So now that we are well into the second trial,
I wanted to jump on here and just break it down for you
and tell you everything you need to know about Karen Reed,
about the case, about the first trial,
about all of the shady crap that has been going on behind the scenes and what doesn't make
sense. And then once you have that information, whether you're following
the new trial or not, you can decide for yourselves, did Karen Reed kill John
O'Keefe? Or is she being framed? And I'll be honest, if you think you know this case
like the back of your hand and that you couldn't possibly learn any more information,
I promise you there's more. That is how complex this case is.
I also personally have been talking with one of Karen Reed's family members and we have sent a
correspondent who is there, boots on the ground in Boston, covering this trial.
So we are live streaming the trial every single day over on my YouTube channel, Tend to Life.
We are commenting on it. We are sharing our the trial every single day over on my YouTube channel, 10 to life. We are commenting on it.
We are sharing our theories, our information.
We have our correspondent there, as I mentioned as well, and she is going to be providing
us a recaps throughout the trial as it's expected to go on, I believe six weeks maybe.
And there is just a lot of information.
So we are like fully in the throws of all things Karen Reed right now.
And honestly, I just felt like it would be helpful
because I know that things are going viral online.
People are curious about the case.
There's like this new interest as well
since the virality of it on social media.
So I wanted to just break down here
as we're well into that trial now,
like everything you actually need to know.
And we're gonna touch on all the shady crap too,
because trust me, there is no shortage of it it and really quick before I get into all of the
details about this case I do want to just say it was a shoddy investigation
from the start and I think regardless what side of this case you sit on I
think everybody can agree with that and the reason I say that is because for
example they collected evidence with red solo cups.
They put evidence not in sealed evidence bags, but in stop and shop bags, which are like
little travel bags that you would bring from like a convenience store or a grocery store.
They also didn't secure the crime scene.
They didn't go inside the house immediately to look around and see if there was evidence
of a struggle or anything amiss.
They didn't talk to anybody inside. Just very poor and sloppy police work, in my opinion.
So with that, I'm just gonna say always do your own research.
This case is extremely complicated and complex.
So do your own research, form your own opinions,
and let me just jump into it.
So Karen Reed is a 44-year-old woman
from Mansfield, Massachusetts.
And let me just say, prior to all of this,
she had an incredible career.
She was an equity analyst at Fidelity Investments.
She was also a professor of finance at Bentley University,
and she just had a rock solid life.
She started dating 46-year-old Boston police officer,
John O'Keefe, back in 2020.
However, the two of them actually had a history
because they first started dating back in their early 20s, which I think was around 2004,
but then it was kind of like short-lived. It wasn't really even a relationship. It was something
casual to my recollection, and they ended up reconnecting years later during the pandemic.
Now let's talk about John for a second. John was a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department,
and by all accounts, he was just incredibly devoted not only to his job, but to his family.
In fact, he was even raising his niece and nephew as their guardian after his sister,
who he was incredibly close with, passed away. Just a very good, very upstanding person.
So once the two of them reconnected and started dating in 2020, although
Karen had her own home, once things started getting serious with John, she was mostly staying at his
house. So it was essentially almost like they lived together. So they were together for about
two years. They had some ups and downs like every relationship does, but they were working through
it. She got very close with his children, which were again, his niece and nephew, not his biological children,
and they seemed to be really in love.
But two years into this relationship,
things just turned completely upside down.
It was Friday, January 28th, 2022, just a typical night out.
Karen and John had plans to grab some drinks
and go meet up with some friends.
Most of them were also fellow Boston police officers,
just like John, and it really wasn't anything out of the ordinary. They had argued a little bit that morning
and were kind of blowing off some steam separate from each other, but then they reconnected that
night at the bar and they were just going to have a fun night out. So they started at one bar just
grabbing drinks with their friends, and then they moved over to the Waterfall Bar and Grill. There
they were hanging out with a familiar group that they often saw. It included Jen McCabe and her husband, as well as other officers and their
spouses, and everybody just seemed to be in good spirits. No drama, no tension. In fact, multiple
witnesses would later say that the vibe was just overall light. Karen and John appeared very happy.
So as the night started winding down, around midnight,
after they had had quite a few drinks with one another
at all the different bars,
Jen McCabe invited the group back to her sister's house.
The house was located at 34 Fairview Road,
and the home was nearby, about two and a half miles away,
so not very far, and people just figured
that they would keep the night going a little bit longer.
So as they're on their way over there, at 12,14 a.m., John texted Jen saying, where to?
To which she replied with the address.
A few minutes later, John then called her, trying to figure out exactly where the house
was.
Jen looked out the window and saw a black SUV, Karen's Lexus, pull up near the house.
Then at 1231 and again at 1240 a.m. Jen was texting John encouraging him like
hey park behind my car in the driveway like where are you hello what's going on. She later then told
investigators that she saw Karen's SUV move from where it was originally parked that she moved to
the other side of the property and this detail would become way more important later because
of the property, and this detail would become way more important later, because where she's saying her car moved to is the same general area where John's body was eventually found. So Jen texted
John again at 12.45 a.m. with just a simple hello, but there was no response. Then, apparently not
long after, the SUV pulled away. But then, over the course of the next few hours is when everything shifted.
Because in the early morning hours at 4.53am, Karen woke up and she called Jen just fully
frantic, in a full blown panic.
She told Jen she could not find John.
He wasn't answering his phone.
He wasn't responding to her text messages.
She couldn't find him anywhere and she was freaked out.
And I think when we went back and looked through all of the digital data, it was something
like once Karen had returned home shortly after 1 a.m., she had called John and texted
him some odd like 50 times or something like that, which remember, they had all been drinking.
Look, it's easy to cast judgment, but I'll just admit for myself, I'll kind of throw
myself on the sword here, I've definitely done that.
When I was younger or when I was even older and in a toxic relationship, if I was drunk,
I would rapid fire dial them until they would pick up the phone.
It's like there's no reasoning in your mind and you just call and call and call.
And that's what Karen was doing.
She had been calling him relentlessly, messaging him, leaving him voicemails, and he just was
not responding.
Ultimately, at some point, she ended up either passing out or purposefully falling asleep on
the couch of John's house waiting for him to come home so that she could like see when he walked in
the door, maybe call him out on his shit. I don't know. But then when she woke up around 4 50 and he
still wasn't home, she was freaked out. And that's when she called Jen. When she called her, she said she didn't remember much
from that night, only that they had been at the bar.
However, Jen then reminded her
that they had actually left the bar together
and that her car had been parked at 34 Fairview
for that after party.
And that seemed to jog something
because Karen's tone then started changing.
She said, maybe they had gotten into an argument,
but again, she was drunk,
she couldn't really remember. Now at this point she was extremely distressed, so much so that
she drove over to Jen's house arriving around 5 30 a.m. Within minutes, Carrie Roberts, another
friend, showed up to Jen's house too because she, like Jen, had received a very frantic phone call
from Karen where Karen was saying things like, what if a snowplow hit him?
Where is he?
I haven't heard from him.
What's going on?
Karen was obviously fully freaked out
and in no state to drive.
So Jennifer offered to drive her SUV back to John's house
with Carrie following in her car,
just kind of being like, hey, maybe you missed something.
Let's go back to John's house.
Let's look for him.
Maybe he did get home and you just overlooked him.
We'll all go and look together. Then while they were on the way back to John's house. Let's look for him. Maybe he did get home and you just overlooked him. We'll all go and look together.
Then while they were on the way back to John's house, Karen allegedly blurted out,
Could I have hit him? Did I hit him?
Then once they were at the house too, she was also pointing to the damage on the rear of her SUV.
The passenger side tail light was cracked and smashed.
So after checking John's house and not finding him there, they decided to continue their
search.
This time, Carrie took over driving, and Jennifer rode in the passenger seat while Karen was
in the back.
It was still very early morning hours though, so it was dark, the wind was blowing, the
snow was coming down extremely hard because it was the middle of a blizzard, and they
were just frantic, wondering where John was.
Is he okay?
And visibility was also just extremely low during this drive because like I said, the
winds were just extremely strong.
It was dumping snow.
So they keep driving and as they drove down Fairview Road, they approached house 34 and
Karen suddenly screamed, there he is.
And she threw open the door, sprinted toward this snow covered area near a group of trees. And she found John lying there in the snow, unresponsive, partially
covered by about six inches of snow.
She threw herself on top of him, trying to warm him up and then started performing
CPR. Then at 6 0 4 a.m., a 911 call was placed.
Two officers arrived on the scene
to find a very chaotic and heart-wrenching scene.
Three women were just right there in the road
waving them down.
Two of them, meanwhile, were bent over John
trying to resuscitate him, one of them being Karen.
She was sobbing, she was panicked,
and according to witnesses,
while they were all on the scene trying to make sense of what had happened, she repeated the statement,
I hit him, I hit him, I hit him. John was placed on a gurney by the EMS and ambulance team, and he
was transported to Good Samaritan Medical Center, but despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead
at 46 years old. Later that day on January 29th, troopers went to the hospital to examine John's body.
His clothes were wet, they had blood on them, he also only had one Nike sneaker on.
Clearly something had happened to John, but nobody was sure what yet.
A few days later, on January 31st, the autopsy report came back and it revealed extensive injuries. Two black eyes,
cuts on his face and nose, a large gash on the back of his head, and multiple skull fractures.
He also showed signs of hypothermia. So the ME believed that the blunt force trauma happened
before the hypothermia set in, which is key because this would mean that he might have still been alive
when he was just left outside to die in the snow, likely unable to move and incapacitated,
but still alive. Meanwhile, that same day, police also went to Karen's parents' house. Her Lexus was
parked right there in the driveway and, sure enough, the rear passenger taillight was visibly
shattered. Karen wasn't hiding anything though.
She agreed to speak with the troopers.
She told them that after the bar she dropped John off at 34 Fairview so they could continue
their little cop party inside and continue the drinking.
Then she made a three point turn and she left.
She said she hadn't even noticed any damage to her car until the following morning.
So her vehicle was towed to the Canton Police Department, where there it was processed for evidence.
And investigators later found broken glass, chipped paint,
scratches, and a shattered taillight.
They also though, tested the SUV's rear view camera
and the sensor system.
You know when you like reverse
and you're about to hit something
and it starts beeping at you really loud,
or now in some of the new cars,
your car will actually physically vibrate if you get too close.
So they tested this system and it was fully functional.
It sent out alerts when backing towards objects.
It made noise indicating that had Karen accidentally backed into John, she would have heard the
beeping.
She would have recalled that.
Now here's where things first start to get a little bit shady and questionable.
Despite not seeing any pieces of tail light the morning of the discovery of John's body,
which they by the way used a leaf blower to move the snow, they found pieces of cocktail glasses,
they found blood, but they didn't see any pieces of tail light. But now, hours after they seized
Karen's vehicle and put it in the Sallyport, processing
it for evidence, the cert team went back to the scene.
This was somewhere around after 5.30pm.
And sure enough, when they were searching again, this time they found not only the other
Nike sneaker that he was missing, but they found two pieces of plastic, one red and one
clear.
And they say this plastic was buried in the snow,
which these pieces matched the broken tail light
from Karen's Lexus.
And this becomes a key detail in this case and in the trial.
And don't worry, I'm gonna get to all of that
in a little bit here.
Meanwhile, at the hospital, Karen's blood was also tested.
And around the time, it was a 0.08.
So a little bit like right on the legal
limit or just a tiny bit above the legal limit. But this was also after the night
out, the night in question. So, rewinding time, toxicologists were able to estimate
that her blood alcohol around the time of 12 45 a.m. when she was dropping John
off at the Albert family home, that her BAC would have been between 0.13 and 0.29%.
That is obviously extremely high.
So in February of 2022, Karen was arrested
and she was initially charged with manslaughter,
vehicular homicide, and leaving the scene of a fatal crash.
But then after presenting additional evidence
to a grand jury, the charges
ended up being upgraded to second-degree murder. And that is when this case took a drastic turn,
because Karen's defense team came out swinging. They were arguing, no, no, no, not only is she
innocent, but she's actually being framed. They claimed John didn't die outside in the snow, he wasn't hit by a car.
In fact, he went inside that house at 34 Fairview Road and he was attacked, possibly even attacked
by a German shepherd that lived there, or possibly people, in that there was a fight
that broke out.
Then they say he was dumped outside, left to die, out there in the cold. And with this allegation, which obviously was a very serious allegation and indications
of some bigger conspiracy, the defense was pointing fingers at law enforcement and alleging
a cover-up that involved multiple people who were at that house party, at that house that,
by the way, was a cop.
Because remember, it was full of cops, it was full of heavy hitters in the community,
and there was an ATF agent there,
there was Chris Albert who was a cop.
I mean, there were definitely people
in very important positions inside that house.
The defense also highlighted what they believed
were inconsistencies in the investigation,
such as missing surveillance,
a remodel in the basement of that house, a
dog that used to live there, the German Shepherd, that then seemingly vanished after John was
killed, also the house in question being sold shortly after John's death.
I mean, a lot of things that just rubbed people the wrong way.
Then there's also the Google search.
The Google search heard around the world.
Because apparently Jen McCabe, the one who invited John and Karen over to that house
that night, the one who also helped Karen search the following morning for John, she
allegedly searched how long to die in the cold at 2.27am, hours before John's body
was ever found.
So that Google search, it raised a lot of eyebrows.
And again, we're gonna get into way more
of the nitty gritty details of this
in just a little bit here.
So the defense is alleging a coverup,
corruption, conspiracy, Karen being framed.
But the prosecution says, no, the case is clear.
Karen was drunk.
She admitted that she was quote,
hammered that she doesn't remember huge parts of the night.
Surveillance footage also shows her drinking at multiple bars.
Witnesses also said that she was acting erratically at the scene and, in her own words, reciting
I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.
Let's also not forget that she was the last known person with John.
So the case quickly became deeply polarizing, just dividing public opinion.
On one side, there were people who believed Karen Reed was the victim of this massive
cover-up, this cover-up involving law enforcement and other people who were at the house the
night that John died.
Yet, on the other side, there were those who were convinced that she was the one responsible
for the death of a Boston police officer.
And at the heart of all of it was one haunting question
that still remained.
What really happened to John O'Keefe that night?
And the truth was that no matter where people stood,
whether they believed in Karen's innocence or her guilt,
she was ultimately charged with second degree murder.
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Specific product availability depends on individual state regulations. Her first trial began on April 16, 2024, and it wrapped up on July 1.
And here is the major takeaway, though.
Her first trial didn't really seem to provide a lot of clarity.
If anything, people felt even more confused by what the truth was.
I mean, one day you had the defense bringing evidence
forward that made it seem very significant
and very clear cut that Karen is innocent,
that she was being framed.
Yet the next day the prosecution would come in,
whether it was with expert testimony,
a new witness or their own evidence,
and it would make you kind of question like,
is she guilty after all?
It was just a constant back and forth. But in the meantime, her number of supporters, you kind of question like, guilty after all, it was j
of supporters, it just co
innocent, factually innoc
of justice for Karen. There trial for starters, but I
for Karen. There shouldn't be a second trial for starters, but I hope that the second trial has a positive outcome and arrives at the truth. Free Karen Reed!
Now although her supporters were growing, so did her doubters. And at the end of the
day, both sides had presented really significant pieces of evidence to back
their arguments. Now if you follow true crime, you may have heard of cases where
it takes anywhere from a few hours to several hours for a jury to be out and deliberate, right? Well in this
case, it took days. Day after day, the jury came back together trying to come up with a unanimous
decision, but every day they failed to do so. Then, eventually, after the fifth day of deliberations,
an official announcement
was made. The jury was hung. The trial was ultimately declared as a mistrial. And the
note that the jury handed to the judge stated, quote, we find ourselves divided by fundamental
differences in our opinions. The divergence in our views is not rooted in a lack of understanding,
but deeply held convictions that each of us carry, ultimately leading
to a point where consensus is unattainable.
So there it was.
Not only was the country divided, but the jury was divided, so much so that a mist trial
was declared.
Now when it was first announced that the jury couldn't come back and that it was a hung
jury and a mist trial, everybody kind of felt like, okay, surely they're not going to try
to retry her,
especially given what came up during the trial, which I know I keep saying this, don't worry,
we will get to that. But for the most part, public opinion was like, there's no way that the state
is going to retry her. There's so much shadiness, so much sketchiness. The jury was even divided,
no way. But sure enough, the state announced that they planned to move
forward with a retrial. And it shocked everybody. And a lot of people felt like this decision
was ego-driven. Because remember, so many public officials were brought into this during the first
trial. There was allegations of the corruption, the conspiracy with these really big heavy hitters.
So when this was announced,
a lot of people were like, okay, is it because their ego is involved in this and they need to
prove that they were right about Karen? Why would they go to a retrial if so much of this evidence
has been put into question? If things look tainted? If there are suggestions of conspiracy and cover
up? It just felt very odd. And if you're not really heavily involved in the true crime or legal
world, then the decision of a mistrial might not really even seem like that huge of a deal to you.
You know, the jury couldn't make a decision, big deal. But the reality is, it was much bigger than
that. And after all of it was said and done, some of the jurors even started coming forward.
And just recently, we're talking like only a month or so ago,
one of the jurors did an official interview with Court TV.
And what this juror had to say,
it felt like a bomb being dropped.
All 12 of you inside that jury room agree
that Karen Reed was not guilty of murder.
Count one in that indictment.
Correct.
Okay, now let's roll up our sleeves a little bit.
How did, did you vote?
Was there, was there a raising of the hands?
Was there someone writing down what your vote was?
Was it a secret ballot?
How do you know and how was the process
that all 12 agreed that she was not guilty of murder, count one?
So we all raised our hands in terms of a vote
and we voted on that first count
that we all agreed not guilty.
Unfortunately, at that time,
we did not fill out any of the paperwork there, nor sign it.
So we were under the understanding that each charge could not be treated separately.
And so we continued to deliberate, despite the fact that we had agreed on two of the counts as not guilty.
And the second count was count three
and the same process where I guess the four person
is asking for a vote and everyone raised their hands?
And everybody agreed not guilty
for those two charges, that's correct.
Was there, now you mentioned
that you didn't fill out paperwork.
Was there any discussion about should we check the box on the verdict slip?
So we didn't check the box on the verdict slip because we were still deliberating on
the second charge of involuntary manslaughter, and that continued with deliberation. We did send out notes asking for clarification,
but unfortunately we did not ask the question at the time,
should we treat each charge individually and separately?
So explain to us why the presumption was
that you had to come to a conclusion on all three.
Was there any debate among the jurors about whether or not we have to agree on all three
counts or it can be just one count or it can be two counts?
Was there any discussion or debate amongst the 12 of you about what the rules were when it was
time to fill out the verdict slip and determine and let everyone know where you were in these
deliberations?
So one of the big things that happened was we all agreed and voted and we kind of not came back to any of those charges.
We never revisited them because we had already voted on them and then we kept
on debating on that second charge and because we kept on debating on that
second charge and deliberating, that kind of got us caught off guard at the end
in terms of how to respond to that and whether to ask.
There was a couple of us who did clearly indicate that maybe we
should ask about treating each charge independently,
but the majority overruled.
And essentially, we were left to believe that it needed to be all or nothing.
See, that's interesting. See, that's fascinating. That's something I would think
the folks in Massachusetts would be interested in, is that now you're talking about there's
debate about the rules within the jury.
See, that's, I look at that, that's the fault of the system,
not informing you ahead of time about these things.
Now, of course, this is all dependent on whether what this juror was saying was 100% factual or not,
however, other jurors have now come forward and have agreed with him.
So it seems very likely that all of this was true.
Which just based on these accounts, it seems like Karen very well could have walked out
of the courtroom last summer being acquitted of two different charges, the worst being
second degree murder.
Which that is an insane loss for the defense because she could have been acquitted, she
wasn't,
based on what they're calling a technicality with the jury, which unfortunately that's
just the way it is until a verdict is actually read and announced.
It's not a verdict, it's not, you know, official.
But this was a big blow to the defense, which let's talk about that technicality or that
error because it begs the question, who's at fault for this? It seems like for a murder case, especially one this big,
this polarizing and so public,
that there shouldn't be an ounce of room
for any type of mistake or error.
So forgetting to clarify with the jury
that each charge can be decided on separately
from one another feels kind of like a big mistake.
But of course, regardless, there's no going back.
The trial was declared a mistrial.
That's just that.
However, the good news was that Karen's defense team
now learning all of this information,
it was in a way like they were striking gold.
Because it's very rare that you're handed
this kind of information or these kinds of chances
in the legal world, especially at a second murder trial.
So now it's almost like they had the upper hand.
They knew that the jury was swaying in their favor on those other two charges.
So they were now going to try to use that to their advantage.
So since then, Karen's lawyers and legal team has just been putting in overtime, to
say the least.
But to be fair, they have to.
There really are no other options.
I picture every day that they're working on framing me.
And every day that they do that and I'm taking the day off,
they're getting one day ahead of me.
So I only feel relaxed as relaxed as I can be if I'm working on the case.
When her second trial was officially scheduled, her team did everything that
they could possibly do to get two of those three charges against her dropped. Remember, they should have technically
been acquitted anyway. Their argument was that in keeping the two charges that the jury had
supposedly reached a unanimous decision on, the first being not guilty of second degree murder
and the second being not guilty of leaving the scene of an incident in which there was a death,
that by keeping those charges in,
it goes directly against Karen's constitutional rights as an American.
Which of course people are like, well how? Why? How would that go against her constitutional rights?
Well, they argued that it would be considered double jeopardy.
And for those of you who may not be super familiar with that term, it essentially states that
in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution, you cannot be tried for the same crime twice after either a conviction or an acquittal.
We had a lengthy argument in front of the chief judge of the United States District
Court on issues of what we contend to be profound constitutional significance, which is whether
or not the Norfolk DA could reprosecute Ms. Reed when there's such strong and compelling evidence that the prior jury acquitted her.
And just to give a really simple example of that to everyone, let's use Casey Anthony as a test case here because, you know, I freaking hate her.
But she was obviously found not guilty of first degree murder. So technically, she could come out right now and say, I did
it, I killed Kaylee, or like O.J. did, you know, if I had done it, the book that he wrote
or whatever. And she couldn't be tried for Kaylee's murder again, which yes, of course,
there are always loopholes with that. You could probably still try her for some kind
of crime related to the case as a whole or some sort of workaround. But never again could
it be tried as first degree murder.
She was acquitted.
So I mean, imagine that, but in Karen's case,
those two charges that they had unanimously decided on
according to the jurors, so now that they're being brought
in again in the retrial, the defense is saying,
no, no, no, no, that is double jeopardy.
However, because that verdict was never read into court,
it's not official, it doesn't stand.
So I can see why
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court and even the lower federal
courts ultimately decided against
dismissing those two charges.
Judge Beverly Kanoni denied
the motion Friday morning.
The judge said jurors private
agreements are not the same as a verdict.
Because the defendant was not
acquitted of any charges,
she wrote and defense counsel consented to the court's declaration of a mistrial double
jeopardy is not implicated. There was no verdict. The verdict was we cannot
reach a unanimous decision which resulted in the mistrial in the judges
ruling. She pointed out that during deliberations, defense attorneys asked
for the court to mo
Our view is that it's ti
twice reads attorneys as
That's the last step befo
to a mistrial. He was fo
uh well founded convention
is if you are the defense
with as a hung jury, grab
then when lawyers asked t
charges later, they said t
a mistrial in her ruling.
a remarkable turnaround.
now argues that the result
for was sudden and unexpec turn around, defense coun the result they twice adv and unexpected. The defen
Um, you know, they knew t
this instruction was goin
saying if a mistrial happ
So now the second trial w
forward one way or another
are playing their cards v which very carefully, which like I said,
it's really rare that you are given a second chance
like this for first or second degree murder charges.
So it's almost like that first trial was like,
I don't know, some kind of insane trial run,
no pun intended, obviously,
but like now they've learned so much information
and they can really use that to their benefit,
use that to their strengths, use that to their
strengths.
They know what the prosecution is going to come out swinging with.
They know how to combat that and it feels like, in my opinion, could possibly have a
stronger defense this time.
Not to mention, there have been so many new details that have come out in all of the pre-trial
madness.
I mean, from legal actions both sides have taken, warnings from
the judge, new team members and strategies, you name it.
So I want to analyze all of it. Not only the stuff from the first trial and all of the
shady inconsistencies, but also what we can expect now in this second trial, because although
I'm sure we will see a lot of similarities, there's also some things that are being switched
up. For starters, there's a new
lead prosecutor on the case named Hank Brennan, and pretty much as soon as Hank was put on the case,
he got to work. Now more or less, the defense's entire argument during Karen's first trial was
that, of course, she did not kill John, that his death was this major cover-up, right? Well,
in preparation for the second trial, Hank, the new prosecutor, asked the court to block Karen's defense team from arguing that anybody else was responsible for John's
death.
And what's crazy is that motion was partially granted.
Basically, the judge ordered that Karen's defense team was not allowed to mention any
sort of third-party person who was potentially responsible for John's murder.
They are, however, allowed to bring it up
and provide evidence for their argument
during the trial itself, just not during opening statements.
So again, partially granted.
And although they can still bring it up in the trial,
it was a huge point that the defense had made
during opening statements in Karen's first trial.
Karen Reed was framed.
Her car never struck John O'Keefe. She did not cause
his death. And that means that somebody else did. You will learn that it was no accident
that John O'Keefe was found dead on the front lawn of 34 Fairview Road in Canton on January 29th of 2022.
You will learn that at that address lived a well-known
and well-connected law enforcement family in Canton,
the Alberts.
Because the Alberts were involved
and because they had close connections
to the investigators in this case. Karen Reed
murder. She did not commi
new partial grant and rul
of seemed like it was a h
and their strategy this t
sure, yes, opening statem
what make or break a case
important.
It sets the tone for the trial.
It is the first touch point of the jury hearing
what may or may not have happened.
It's the first impression of the case as a whole.
Now, could this ruling affect the defense's arguments?
I don't know, but I want you to keep the idea
of a third party's involvement in mind
because we are gonna come back to it later.
Now, this was not the only thing that this new lead prosecutor was initiating,
and at the time of this recording, a lot of things that are being talked about are just
pre-trial motions, and they haven't been accepted or denied. So by the time this goes live, there
might have been a definitive decision made for some of these, but for the sake of this episode,
I do want to go over some of the legal lead up just so that you can have a full understanding.
Now for one thing, the prosecution wanted data from a cell phone belonging to the vlogger
Turtle Boy to be included in the evidence.
And I talked about this before, but more specifically, they want to see text messages that were exchanged
between Karen and Turtle Boy.
They want these on display due to what they believe
shows Karen's quote, consciousness of guilt.
And if you're more familiar with this case,
or even if you watch the docuseries,
you're probably a little bit familiar with Turtle Boy,
but you'll know that he has been somebody
who has shouted corruption from the rooftops
pretty much from day one.
He also is somebody who is directly responsible
for a lot of the inconsistencies
and the shadiness to be public knowledge at this point. He brought it to light. And I gotta just say,
like him, don't like him, wherever you sit on that, whether you think it's a drama or not,
99.9 of what he has presented has turned out to pan out. So, I mean, he's the reason I believe,
too, that this case got such notoriety and why so many people got involved and in investigating with the cover-up piece of it.
Now, in these text messages that the prosecution wants entered into evidence, Karen apparently goes over things with him like the defense's theories, certain materials, and even other types of evidence. Which maybe doesn't seem like it's a big deal on the surface. Like, okay, maybe he's a witness listed in this now and they want to go through the data,
they want to go through the cell phone records.
But the reason that this is such a big deal is because there are actually criminal charges
against Turtle Boy for witness intimidation.
So it seems like the prosecution is potentially trying to tie those two things together, almost
like Turtle Boy and Karen are kind of working in cahoots with one another.
And sure enough, one day before jury selection began,
the motion was granted, although the judge specified
that any communication between Karen's attorneys
and Turtle Boy was completely off limits.
So the prosecution was only allowed access
to the text messages between him and Karen directly.
However, there were a lot of them.
Karen even said on the docuseries herself
that she was going through a third party
as she was communicating with him in the beginning,
but then she just started going to him directly
and sending him things directly.
So I don't know, we'll see.
This obviously wasn't brought up in a huge way
in the first trial.
So we will see how the prosecution positions this
in the second trial.
Another motion that the prosecution made is one that has to do with two key experts during
Karen's first trial.
Their names are Andrew Rentschler and Daniel Wolf, and both of these men are crash reconstruction
experts who testified for the defense during the first trial.
And their testimony in Karen's first trial, it was honestly really huge details.
It was massive. Because they both testified that based on their knowledge, John's injuries
were not consistent with being hit by a car. And that, I would think, could make or break
a case, right? If you're trying to prove that somebody is innocent, what better way
than to bring in experts whose testimony goes directly against what the prosecution is arguing?
If they're like, there's no way that these injuries on his arm are consistent with a vehicle hitting him,
regardless how fast it was going, that right there should be clear cut, right?
Well, as it turns out, in one of the prosecution's pre-trial motions,
they are requesting that both of these experts not be allowed to testify during the second trial.
And the reason that they are citing, the reason they are arguing that they shouldn't be allowed
is because the prosecution is saying that the relationship between Karen's defense
attorneys and these experts is, quote, cozier than once portrayed.
And there were a few things noted in this filing to back this up.
The first was a footnote stating that the new
prosecutor, Hank, has pictures of Andrew at a private luncheon where he and Karen's dad were
speaking together. Apparently, Hank also provided documents and a $24,000 invoice, which allegedly
shows Karen's lawyers contacted the witnesses, despite the defense claiming that they had never
met. So they're alleging, look, they're buddy buddy, they're chummy, of course they're
going to testify and say whatever they need to say to be on Karen and the defense's
side, not only because they're paid experts, but also because they're quote, cozier than
once betrayed saying they've paid them, they've had private lunches with them, like clearly
this is a conflict of interest, which I gotta say, I understand the prosecution wanting
them removed
because their testimony was so detrimental the first time around, so they're of course
going to try to stop them from testifying in the second trial, right?
Now Karen's team, on the other hand, wants any mention of that payment, that $24,000
payment to the consulting agency, to either be partially or fully excluded from the trial.
They don't want it brought up,
which again, I understand because it doesn't look great, right? But what I will say, just in case
you again don't follow a lot of these trials regularly, experts that the defense or the
prosecution bring in typically are paid. So the fact that they were paid at all isn't really,
in my opinion, that surprising or shocking. But I think what they're trying to say is that the amount was so high that
maybe there was some colluding, something like that.
Just, again, power of suggestion, right?
Now Hank hasn't just been active with his own court strategies, but has also been vocal
in regards to the defense's motions and strategies as well.
In late February of this year, the defense had filed a motion to dismiss,
and this accused the prosecution in Karen's first trial of quote, extraordinary government
misconduct. And one of the main things that's discussed in this motion had to do with the
evidence that was presented by the prosecution. More specifically, the surveillance camera
video of Karen's SUV once it was taken into police custody. Remember I told you they
seized her vehicle, took it for evidence, that's where they saw the shattered taillight,
and then hours later, coincidentally, the CERT team, who responded again back to 34 Fairview
to continue their investigation, found pieces of the taillight, even though they had not been found
that entire morning, even when using a leaf blower to move the snow. So her defense team has been arguing that the damage to her tail light could have been
damaged or made worse after it was taken in.
And the fact that the video evidence provided was inverted was a huge red flag.
Because what I mean by inverted is it was almost like mirrored.
So when they were looking at her car in this surveillance footage, they thought that what they were seeing was the right passenger taillight and nobody was going near the taillight.
Nobody was walking by it.
So they were like, there's nobody who would have messed with it.
Nobody who would have shattered it or taken pieces from it.
There's no way that there's some bigger conspiracy here. upon closer look, the footage had been inverted, meaning that what they were actually looking at
where nobody was walking by was the driver's side taillight,
not the passenger side.
And when you looked on the opposite side
that was a little bit difficult to see
because it was on the opposite side of the camera,
so it was kind of like hidden behind the car,
you could see somebody standing there.
So again, it's just one more question
that is raised here about what's
the truth. There's so many questions and I'm somebody where it's like where there's smoke,
there's fire. And there are so many inconsistencies in this case to be explained away by pure
coincidence. That's my opinion. Whether or not Karen, and I'll get to this in a minute,
but whether or not Karen did it, obviously people are still divided, but it's my opinion that like,
there are enough inconsistencies
to certainly raise reasonable doubt, 1000%.
I digress, let me continue and then I will get on,
I will go back to that and like touch more about, you know,
the guilt and the innocence of it all.
But going back to the car and the surveillance footage,
like I said, Hank was now speaking up about it.
And to put it bluntly, he claimed that this video being inverted was just due to the camera's settings. That's
all. It was just, it wasn't intentional. It was just the settings. It was, you know,
not even a glitch, which I don't know if that's possible. I don't know if it's bullshit.
I don't know if it's solid proof, because again, what people are alleging is no, they
purposefully inverted the footage so that it looked as though to a normal person's naked eye that they were looking at the passenger taillight.
And unless somebody looked really closely and noticed that it was inverted, they never would have caught on to it.
But he's just saying, no, no, no, that was just the camera settings.
Nobody tried to mess with this or like lead somebody astray.
So all of that stuff I just went over was coming from
the prosecutions side of things. Now I want to dive in a little deeper into what Karen and her
defense team have been up to the last several months. Have you ever just kind of hit that like
meh phase in your day where you're like dying for a little thrill, you feel like you need to pick me up,
maybe something to pull you out of the routine and drop you right into a story that grabs you?
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Whether I'm out on a walk, I'm at home doing the dishes, or stuck in traffic trying to get here to the studio,
Audible is my go-to for all things grippyppy, creepy, romantic, or even just like flat out
kooky and weird.
They have everything from heart racing thrillers and fantasy romance adventures to true crime
and horror, which will jolt you if my stuff doesn't jolt you enough, enough to keep the
lights on when you're sleeping.
But I recently have been hooked on this one audiobook called Mad Love.
It's a twisty suspenseful audible original that honestly
felt like I was kind of watching a Netflix series but in my head if that makes sense.
I was like doing it with my inner voices if that makes sense but like it wasn't because it was
actually an audiobook. Whatever I'm trying to explain it but it's like it felt like a Netflix
series and if that's not your vibe that's totally fine. There's Onyx Storm for all my fantasy lovers
out there. Never Flinch by Stephen King if you want nightmares in like the creepy way that we all apparently do.
Or even The Tenant by Frieda McFadden if you're in like a psychological thriller mood. And
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That's audible.com slash serialously
or text serialously to 500-500.
["Skateboarders"] Karen's defense team has, of course, grown since the first trial, and interestingly
enough, a new addition on her team was technically involved in her first trial, though under
a different job.
A woman named Victoria George served as an alternate juror in Karen's first case.
But now she's going into this second trial as part of Karen's legal team.
Apparently, during Karen's first trial, she was just so moved by what was going on
and what she was witnessing and seeing that she felt like she had to get more involved.
She even gave an official statement about her involvement which reads, I was a fair-minded juror who left this trial questioning the integrity of the system long
before the defense filed a motion to dismiss with allegations of jury tampering.
It is the Reed case itself and the fact that it is still being brought that has left many
in Massachusetts wary, distrustful, and scared of our system.
As a lawyer, this reality saddens me even more
because I remember how much faith I had in our system
as an optimistic law student.
Which I haven't heard that this move
will have any sort of implications
and I haven't heard a ton of people talking about it,
but I do think that that is very interesting, right?
An alternate juror who is a lawyer
watched this whole first trial unfold
and was so moved by it and felt like there was such
an injustice that she is now going to be a part
of Karen's legal team for the second trial.
That kind of speaks really loudly, right?
Now, as far as new strategies go,
it seems like some new witnesses have been added
to the list for both the prosecution and the defense.
And one of the main witnesses that people are commenting on is Karen's dad, because
he is listed as a witness on the prosecutions list.
And all we really know about this in particular is that the lead prosecutor previously had
said that Karen's dad's testimony is important due to, quote, various admissions made by
the defendant to him.
So only time will tell what exactly these alleged admissions were,
but I for one am extremely curious to see what is said.
I mean, is it gonna be something
that literally has my jaw on the floor
like an outright confession,
or is it just circumstantial evidence?
Only time will tell.
Now, one name that stood out to me
on the defenses witness list is Michael Morrissey,
because Michael is the district attorney of Norfolk County.
And he previously made his thoughts and feelings
on this case pretty well known.
This will be the first statement of its kind
in my dozen years as Norfolk district attorney.
The harassment of witnesses
in the murder prosecution of Karen Reed is absolutely baseless.
It should be an outrage to any decent person, and it needs to stop.
Innuendo is not evidence.
False narratives are not evidence.
However, what evidence does show is that John O'Keefe never entered the home at 34 Fifth View Road in Campton the night he died.
Location data from his phone recovered from the lawn beneath his body when he
was transported to the hospital shows that this phone did not enter that home.
Eleven people have given statements that they did not see John O'Keefe enter the
home at 34 Fifth View that night. Zero people have said that they
saw him enter the home. Zero. No one. Some have, without any evidence, pointed to 18-year-old
Colin Albert, a nephew of the homeowner, and accused him of attacking John O'Keefe as he
entered the home. But fond evidence shows O'Keefe never entered the home at all.
Testimony from witnesses tell us that 18-year-old Colin Albin
had left his uncle's home before John O'Keefe
and Karen Reed had arrived outside the residence.
There was no fight inside that home.
John O'Keefe did not enter the home.
Colin Albin, the young man being vilified, was not present when Reed's vehicle and John O'Keefe did not enter the home. Colin Elbit, the young man being vilified, was not present when Reed's vehicle and John O'Keefe arrived on the street.
This is a false narrative.
I mean, that was pretty obvious how he felt about the case and about Karen's innocence, right?
So needless to say, I'm extremely curious how and why he ended up on the defense's witness list
and what, if anything, this testimony might
offer as far as new information goes. Now as for new strategies on the defense's side of things,
let's get into that third party culprit strategy that I briefly mentioned earlier.
Now the idea of a third party defense isn't exactly new per se. Her team has been arguing
since day one that she is innocent and that somebody else killed John O'Keefe.
Said it feels we're the only ones fighting for the truth of what happened to John O'Keefe and
Me and my family and my attorneys and my team have marshalled every resource to get to the truth
It just feels like no one else wants it. Just be clear you didn't do it
We know who did it Steve we know and we know who spearheaded this cover-up. You all know.
Yes, we do.
And no, she didn't do it. No, she didn't do it. This is an innocent woman. She didn't do it.
I tried to save his life. I tried to save his life at six in the morning. I was covered in his blood.
I was the only one trying to save his life.
So nothing really new. However, the focus of who her team will be pointing the blame towards now is a little bit new.
So her defense team previously stated that going into this second trial, they really wanted to focus more on three specific people.
Colin Albert, Brian Albert, and Brian Higgins.
However, Judge Canone ruled that Colin could not be named due to insufficient evidence.
So pretty much they're going to be focusing on both of the Bryans,
Brian Higgins and Brian Albert. And here's what we know about these two guys.
First, there's always been some speculation about whether or not there
was some kind of fight inside the Albert home that evening.
Whether or not that's actually something that is just hearsay and rumors,
it's still up in the air. But I want to start with Brian Albert.
Now of course the most obvious thing is that John was found deceased on his lawn, you know, right in front of his house.
But it's more than that, because Karen's team argues that Brian was known for being a bully,
particularly among his other colleagues, his other law enforcement colleagues.
Apparently, there was even a time or two when he was known to punch other co-workers after a night
of heavy drinking. Like, he just couldn't handle his alcohol when he was known to punch other co-workers after a night of heavy drinking.
Like he just couldn't handle his alcohol and he had a short fuse and would just react.
So the idea of him getting into a fight with John?
It doesn't really seem all that out there.
But then, there are some more circumstantial things which the defense believes shows that
Brian's consciousness of guilt.
The biggest thing is that Brian failed to ever come out of the house and speak with
all of the first responders that morning, the people who were swarming his front yard
trying to save John O'Keefe's life.
And many people on both sides are saying like, that's really weird.
He himself is a trained first responder.
He's a big name cop in the town and there's a dead body on his lawn and he doesn't even
come out of his house? I mean,
weird yes, but does it prove his guilt? Not necessarily. It is though pretty strange.
Another thing is that the investigators never went into the house to take photos,
to look at a potential crime scene, to ask questions, to just look around, and that's
concerning because it's suggested that John could have been murdered inside that house,
yet nobody even went inside to take a look around.
And something I'm still stuck on that does kind of coincide with Brian Albert's possible guilt
is the topic of that Google search by Jen McCabe.
Remember, Jen is Brian's sister-in-law, and the defense claims that at 2.27 a.m.,
Jen searched how long to die in the cold.
The search was then later deleted,
though she claimed on the stand during the first trial that she's not the one who deleted it,
that she doesn't even know how to delete a search, and that it's all, once again, a big coincidence.
But I genuinely can't think of any reason why she would have been Googling that at 2.27 in the
morning, especially that night in particular.
It's just something I cannot wrap my head around.
However, I will say that both Jen and the prosecution argue that the search was actually
made much later, that it was made at around 6.23 a.m., that you know how you have in Google
like different tabs that open, that she went to a tab that she had been using at 2 in the
morning and searched how long to die in the cold
at the direction of Karen while they were on the scene and that it just triggered that previous
timestamp. It was a fresh new search, it wasn't an old one. Which, even though it's only a couple
hours apart, it does make a world of difference, right? Because on one hand, if it happened at
2.27, that was hours before John's body was even discovered.
On the other hand, if it happened after 6 a.m., once his body was discovered, that would make
more sense.
And let's just say it was a glitch or the way, you know, that Apple has the different
pop-up windows when you're searching on Google.
Let's say she did search it at 6.23 a.m.
Why would you delete that search?
Why would you need to delete it?
Why would you ever delete a search like that?
It just makes no sense. I mean, if you found your friend and you're curious, like, oh my god, he's here.
How long does it take to die in the cold? I get that. But why would you delete it after the fact?
That feels a little shady. Another thing that stuck out during the first trial, too, was remember how it was alleged that while they were on the scene, Karen repeated the phrase, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.
Well during the first trial, they brought in several witnesses who said they heard her
say this.
First responders, friends, people who were there on site saying, we heard it, we heard
it, we heard it.
However, every single person who testified that was picked apart because that statement
was never written down in any single report. During all of
this, nobody ever wrote, she said, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him. However, what
they did write down in the report was the question that she had asked of, could I
have hit him? So now you have multiple people saying, she said, I hit him, I hit
him, I hit him, yet it's nowhere in the report from first responders on the scene,
any even interviews immediately in the aftermath, none of that. All that there is in the report is
the question of could I have hit him? Did I hit him? So their testimony was quickly picked apart
and again just goes to the credibility of like did you guys really hear that? Why wasn't it in
the report then if that was such a significant thing that you heard?
As a trained professional reporting to the scene of a crime,
why wouldn't you have included that in your statement, right?
Let's also talk about the lead investigator
of this case, Proctor, because boy, oh boy,
I could go on and on about Proctor for its own episode,
but in the first trial, a lot of his text messages
and things that he said about Karen were put
on full display, where he was talking about nudes, how he hasn't seen her nude yet, he
called her a see you next Tuesday, just very vulgar, unprofessional, horrific messages.
And we're going to talk more about Proctor in a minute, but these are just some of the
things that had been coming up in the first trial, which in my opinion, rightly so, created a lot of reasonable doubt for the jury, which obviously we know it did, right?
Another piece of all that that didn't quite add up was the pieces of tail light, because remember,
they seized her car in the afternoon. It's taken to the Sallieport. Some of the footage is like,
there's a lot of discrepancies going on with the footage. Then they send the SERT team out to 34 Fairview
that evening in the dark at, I think it was 5 46 p.m. and while they're searching they find these
pieces of tail light right there in the snow. Some of them even on top of the snow, which earlier
when they were first responding at the crime scene and doing the initial search, as I said,
they used a leaf blower to move the snow. They found pieces of clear cocktail glass in the snow. That's how much visibility there was.
So you're telling me that they could find clear pieces of cocktail glass but didn't see red
taillight plastic until after Karen's car was seized, taken to the Sallieport, and somebody was
near the back corner. Then the cert team came, and within moments,
they found these pieces of tail light.
Kind of feels suspicious, like, that's suspicious,
that's weird, and pieces of the tail light
kept showing up days later.
Every time they would go out there to do a search,
more pieces were found.
And what's so interesting about this too,
is because yeah, while on
paper it makes sense, okay, she may have backed into him, shattered her tail light,
hit him with such force, took off, the pieces of tail light are left behind, they
don't see them. It doesn't appear that that's accurate or that it can be proven
without doubt because when they went back and looked on ring camera footage of
Karen at John's house when she's pulling out of John's house at five in the morning to go over to Jen McCabe, you can
see her reverse into John's car.
And if you zoom in on the wheel of John's car when she hits it and reverses into it,
it moves.
And it's that back corner that bumps into his car, the passenger taillight that bumps
into it.
So that easily could have been when her taillight was first shattered.
It doesn't mean that it was shattered the night that she was dropping him off at the
house party.
Again, not concrete evidence either way for whatever side you stand with, but enough to
feel bizarre and make you question things and have a little bit of uncertainty, right?
Then we also have the Brian Higgins of it all because Brian Higgins in the weeks leading up to
John's death was sending very flirtatious messages back and forth with
Karen. And it's worth mentioning that during Karen's first trial her lawyers
claimed to have caught Brian in a lie while he was on the stand.
Brian of course denied that he was lying though. Now where this idea comes from
though, let me give a little bit of backstory,
is the night after the house party
when he was leaving the Albert house,
and remember he's an ATF agent,
he's buddy buddy chummy with all of them.
So he's now leaving the Albert house.
And Brian Higgins testified that he went
to the police station so that he could help move patrol cars
so that the lot could be snow plowed,
because remember it was a blizzard,
a lot of snow was coming in
and there was just this massive snowstorm.
Then he said he headed home afterwards,
he ate a little, drank a little,
and then he fell right to sleep.
But one thing that he made a really huge point to mention
was that he was woken up the following morning
by all of the frantic phone calls
from his friends and from his colleagues,
making it seem like that was the first he ever heard about any news,
the first he heard about anything related to John,
that he hadn't even talked to anyone on the phone
until he woke up and received all those phone calls.
Here's the thing though,
his call logs tell a very different story
because at 2 22 a.m., right before that Google search
that people have in question of how long to die in the snow,
but at 2 22 a.m. there was a one second phone call from Brian Albert to Brian Higgins.
Higgins then called him back 17 seconds later.
And when he did, the call connected for about 22 seconds.
However, Brian Albert claimed on the stand that this was all just a butt dial, a huge coincidence.
He didn't purposefully call Higgins.
He was being intimate with his wife at the time
and something hit his pocket
and it caused him to butt dial him,
which, okay, fair, makes sense.
But what about 17 seconds later when Higgins called you back
because Higgins also said,
oh no, no, no, that was a butt dial on my end.
I butt dialed Chris Albert.
I didn't even see that I had a missed call.
I was drinking or I was asleep or whatever his story was.
Like that was, it must've been a butt dial, not on purpose,
which my question for you out there is,
what is the likelihood of two people
who are somehow involved in this investigation
and this case where somebody ends up being found dead
on Brian Albert's lawn, what is the likelihood
that Brian Albert and Brian Higgins
just coincidentally butt dialed each other
at the same time in the middle of the night?
Right around the time,
there's also a questionable Google search
about how long to die in the night. Right around the time, there's also a questionable Google search about how long to die in the cold. Now, as if that is not shady enough, it gets even worse because
Brian Higgins destroyed his phone and also destroyed his SIM card, getting rid of any
possible way to digitally trace what really happened here. He put both of them in a trash
bag. He drove to a military base and he tossed them in a dumpster He put both of them in a trash bag, he drove to a military base,
and he tossed them in a dumpster
after destroying both of them.
And get this, this disposal was the day before,
one day before he was given formal notice,
don't destroy your phone.
Literally, the day before they formally said,
don't destroy your phone,
we're gonna be looking at it as evidence.
He goes off, cracks the SIM, cracks the phone,
puts it in a trash bag, drives to a military base
and puts it in a dumpster.
That's weird, that's suspicious.
Like, I don't know many cops who are doing that
unless you have something to hide, right?
And although he wasn't given the formal notice
not to destroy his phone yet,
because remember he disposed of it one day prior before he was given that
notice, who's to say there wasn't someone internally who tipped him off that that
formal notice was coming down the pike? There's just so many questions and
shady shit that is going on in this case. And look, I don't get super conspiracy
often, but something is weird here. Something is not right. Now,
Jen McCabe also had more bizarre phone activity aside from just that Google search because she
also called John rapid fire multiple times in a 10 minute period. Now, this was around 12 45 a.m.
Right when Karen said she dropped John off at the house or shortly after.
And Jen?
What did she claim these phone calls were for?
These rapid fire calls to John in a 10 minute period?
What do you think?
Butt dial.
How many people in this situation in this house are butt dialing people?
Make it make sense, right?
The defense is of course arguing saying no, it's because something happened inside that
house.
There was an altercation, whether it was Brian Higgins who had been flirting with Karen and
there was an altercation between him and John O'Keefe, whether it was something else going
on.
There was an altercation in that house.
Then as they're cleaning up or moving things around or frantically trying to like whatever
with the scene that they were looking for his John's phone and they couldn't find it.
So they had Jen call him multiple times to try to find the phone.
I mean, how many times have you misplaced your phone and you're like, hey, can you call
my phone so I can find it?
Call it again, call it again.
I'm going to go from this room to this room to this room and look for it.
So the defense is saying that's why she rapid fire called him because they were looking
for his phone.
Now was that the truth or was this just an on the spot lie?
I don't really know, but if I was a betting person, I would bet money that all of these
call logs are once again going to be brought up during the second trial.
And even though Colin Albert was excluded from the defense being able to focus on him,
it is worth mentioning why the defense questioned him in the first place, because they were
stuck on two key
things. The first being that his knuckles had clear evidence of being red and like super messed up,
almost as if he had been in some kind of fistfight, which he claimed wasn't the case.
I think his reasoning for it was actually that he fell on some ice or something like that, though
his knuckles were all banged up in red and so they're like it looks like you were in a fight.
He's like no I fell on the ice. I mean what the truth is who
knows. But what sticks out to me is that his name was left out of all of the
police reports and that seems like it could have been a very deliberate thing
to have been done or maybe just a completely innocent coincidence mistake.
You be the judge. But like I said the judge ruled that there wasn't enough
sufficient evidence to place any kind of blame on Colin as a third party person.
And I do before I get into the balance of this, I do want to just quickly say since
we're on the topic of Colin, there is a rumor and a theory out there.
And let me be crystal clear, there is no proof of this.
It is all talk.
You can probably find more information on some other channels about this, but I was told this information by somebody who has been glued to
this case from day one. And it is rumored and suggested that Colin possibly is a dealer in the
area and specifically, I believe cocaine and that John was kind of on his scent, like on his trail, knowing what he was up
to. So that night when he got to the house, to this house party, Colin saw John come in and didn't
like that and that the fight did break out between Colin and John and that because Colin is related
to Brian Albert, the owner of the home, and he's in with all of these cops and stuff, the suggestion is that they tried to cover for him.
I've also heard allegations that perhaps the dealing
is not just on a public level,
but also there are people in the department
who partake in this drug, if you catch my drift.
And so that's why this was all like a bigger scheme
of a coverup.
Again, that is all alleged rumor and theory,
but I thought it's worth mentioning
because the defense did wanna bring Colin in.
They did say it looked like he had been in a fight,
and that is some of the information
that word on the street is saying of what went down
or could have gone down.
Now, this next thing that I wanna go over
doesn't necessarily have to do with any pretrial hearings,
motions to dismiss or anything like that, but it is still very important to go over.
Because literally, just hours after Karen's first trial, Michael Proctor, that dirtbag
who sent all those text messages, called her a see you next Tuesday, was doing some shady
stuff throughout the investigation.
He was relieved from duty.
And then weeks later, he was suspended without pay.
Now this came after he was questioned
during Karen Reed's first trial
about all of those unprofessional messages
that he had sent his friends,
calling her a whack job, a cunt,
among all of these other things.
So he was suspended without pay.
But just recently, in March of 2025,
he was officially fired.
The superintendent released a statement
following his termination, stating, Our mission to deliver the highest level of police services depends on the public's trust in our professionalism and integrity.
It is incumbent upon me, as well as every member of this department, to hold one another accountable when any member compromises our mission by failing to uphold our values.
As superintendent, my role demands that I do what is in the best interest of the department.
My decision to terminate Mr. Proctor follows a thorough, fair, and impartial process.
I have weighed the nature of the offenses, their impact on our investigative integrity,
and the importance of safeguarding the reputations of our dedicated women and men in the state police.
This decision reflects our unwavering commitment to upholding our values,
enhancing public trust, and ensuring the highest standards of service and accountability.
Finally, recognizing the ways in which this process has affected the family of Boston
police officer John O'Keefe, I would also like to renew our condolences to them."
So take that statement how you will,
but with Michael being fired,
this technically did close the internal investigation
that was ongoing into him and into his conduct.
But I have no doubt that this will once again
be a huge topic of discussion during this next trial,
especially when it comes to his credibility.
Now, one of the other things I wanna go over is some of the more questionable things that have transpired during this case trial, especially when it comes to his credibility. Now, one of the other things I want to go over is some of the more questionable things that have
transpired during this case as a whole. Not just Karen's first trial or all the pre-trial stuff
that's going on right now, but we're talking literally since the very moment that John was
found dead. I mean, it's hard to talk about this case without talking about all of the major screw
ups and possible corruption involved, right? I mean, the case is very, very intriguing and very compelling in part for those very reasons.
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I keep talking about the defense getting this second chance and how it's a positive thing. Now, how they have so much more information, how they're armed with maybe a better strategy.
But for Karen's friends, family, and supporters, it also feels at times like a slap in the
face, like she keeps getting screwed over again and again and again, and that this second
trial should not even be happening.
We're here to shed light on the corruption that exists in this state.
And I feel humbled by it in some ways.
It's a nightmare, and I wish it never happened,
but I also feel that I can handle this and I don't feel weaker.
As it goes, I feel stronger.
The public support is a big,
the restoration of my reputation,
which was a big loss,
has re-energized me,
has energized me, rejuvenated me.
But this is what I'm here for.
I get messages constantly, mainly from people I've never met and from people that
are suffering.
And it's a lot of women that have either had like a physical loss of a spouse or a child
or an illness similar to mine or with a colostomy bag or have been the victim of, you know, police harassment or some type of unfairness with the criminal justice system.
And there's a lot of suffering in this world.
Mine is just very visible, but I do feel honored isn't the right word, but I'm humbled by it
and I feel like this is your purpose.
And a lot of people have purposes thrust on them that they didn't really want.
And let's talk about the judge in this case, Judge Beverly Canone.
People are not fans of her to say the least. Just in the more recent months, as far as Karen's
second trial is concerned, people have been really picking apart her actions and really questioning them.
For example, in March, Karen's defense team filed to add a fifth lawyer to their team,
New York attorney Mark Bedereau, and this request was denied by the judge, who claimed that due to
Mark also representing Turtle Boy in his own case, that it would be a conflict of interest in Karen's
case. Karen's supporters, though, feel like it was a direct violation against her right to counsel, that she could
pick whoever she wanted her counsel to be. Even more recently, Judge Kononi placed a buffer zone
outside of the courthouse in preparation for this trial. The buffer states that within 200 feet of
the courthouse, nobody is allowed to wear pink, nobody is allowed to hold signs, and nobody is allowed to protest.
And as we know, hundreds of people have been outside of the courthouse wearing pink in
support of Karen, holding the signs that say, Free Karen Reed, and it has been just kind
of, I mean, honestly, yes, a circus.
But allegedly this decision for this buffer zone was due to some of the jurors in Karen's
first trial claiming that they could hear all of these protesters outside while they were in deliberations.
However, as you can imagine, people feel like this is far from being fair and that it also
violates their right to free speech and their First Amendment rights.
A number of Karen's supporters even came together to file a federal lawsuit against this decision.
What makes the judge superior over everybody else
to constitutional rights, since Beverly Canone
don't know what they are.
So those are just a few of the things
that people aren't happy with when it comes to Judge Canone.
But trust me, there are plenty of more reasons
on who she's allowing as witnesses,
who she's allowing in the trial,
what she's doing during jury selection,
and who she was vetoing as a juror, but then allowing in. I mean, the list goes on and on.
And there are plenty of more people who are upset about many things,
especially when it comes to the pre-trial motions. For example, Judge Canone allowed one of the
prosecution's motions to exclude testimony from a retired FBI agent named Michael Easter.
The defense was planning to call Easter as an expert witness
so that he could discuss the quality
of the police investigation, whether it was competent,
whether it was compromised, that sort of thing.
But Judge Canone allowed this motion from the prosecution
to exclude his testimony.
And her reasoning for excluding the testimony
was because, quote,
"'Easter's proposed testimony concerns basic aspects
of a police investigation,
which are within the common knowledge of a layperson, which I don't know, make your own
decision on that I guess. Now on the topic of corruption and feeling like this case has been
just a major slap in the face to Karen, I also have to bring up one last thing. Karen's case
hasn't been the first to question the integrity of Norfolk's County
law enforcement and the investigators. It is not the first case to suggest corruption,
cover-up, and conspiracy. Not at all. You may have heard our episode about Sandra Birchmore.
Sandra Birchmore's case is one that immediately comes to mind, and while these cases aren't
necessarily linked, they do have many similarities.
The main similarity being in poor police work
and investigating with then, you know,
a little salted added treat
of potential corruption involved.
But Sandra, for those of you who aren't familiar
with the case, and if you want to take the deep dive,
you can search it after this episode.
But Sandra was a young woman in her early twenties,
and she was found dead in Canton in 2021.
Her death was originally ruled as a suicide, but the truth that came out was so much worse.
She was part of this explorers program from a very young age where it's basically all these young,
I don't know if you'd call them cadets, maybe you could, but all these young people who aspire
to either learn from law enforcement, be in law enforcement one day, and their mentors are many men, primarily in powerful law enforcement positions.
And Sandra was groomed by one of these men from, I believe, starting at just 13 years old.
And she then ended up, he was married, had kids, and she ended up getting pregnant by this guy.
She wanted to keep the baby.
She was excited to keep the baby.
And then she was found deceased in her apartment,
I believe hanging from a doorknob,
and it looked as though she had taken her own life.
However, when we first talked about this,
we talked about all of the reasons that that didn't add up.
There was a lot of inconsistencies,
a lot of things that just did not make sense.
And sure enough, her police officer boyfriend, her creepo police officer who had been grooming
her for years, ended up being arrested and charged with her murder.
He hasn't been convicted yet, so it's all alleged of course at this point, but it's
disgusting.
It is truly disgusting.
And then of course, he is being accused of staging the scene.
And he killed her because he didn't want her to ruin his life with his family and then he staged it because he's a cop and it was ruled as a suicide initially but then they took a closer look after a lot of public demanded it and sure enough he's now been arrested and charged with her murder.
So again it's the Sandra Birchmore case and you can go search it on my channel or my podcast after this
if you want the deep dive.
It's gross though, just a warning.
Now the reason I bring it up is because interestingly enough, Karen's case and Sandra's case potentially
have and I use potentially very carefully, but they have potentially crossed paths because
one of the lead detectives, Lieutenant John Fanning, was heavily involved in
Sandra's death being ruled a suicide. And last year during Karen's first trial, his involvement
with the jury ended up being brought into question because Karen's team alleges that he was involved
in reporting an incident during the trial which ultimately led to a juror being dismissed. However,
the judge claims that he had no contact with the jury whatsoever.
So, does this necessarily mean that something sketchy is afoot?
No, not necessarily.
But it does seem to be something that weighs heavily on the minds of people who believe that Karen is truly innocent.
They already don't trust this judge, so I mean, her word doesn't really mean much, right?
And I think that the thought process is that this guy
could have also been involved in a cover-up
of Sandra's death, which shows he could have been doing
shady business in Karen's trial as well,
that they're all connected, they all work together,
and that there is a lot of history with conspiracy
and cover-up with this county.
Again, just to be clear, it's all speculation,
all accusations, but it is
something that I have seen a lot of, so I wanted to throw it out there for you.
Now as far as the details of the theories of what really happened at 34
Fairview Road, I want to discuss a few of the main ones. So one theory suggests
that John O'Keefe went inside this house and that he might have been attacked by
a dog, not hit by a car.
And according to this theory, John was already inside the house on Fairview Road, and he was
potentially injured during some sort of altercation, possibly involving a dog bite. Supporters of this
theory point to his injuries on his arm, and they speculate that a German shepherd who was owned by
some people in this house could have played a role. This German Shepherd was also between 70 and 90 pounds, and admittedly,
according to the owners, the Alberts, he was not good with strangers.
And people have long suggested that the injuries on John's arm are not consistent with being hit with a tail light,
that they look more like narrow gashes, superficial wounds, bites, claw marks, things like that.
And in fact, a defense expert forensic pathologist weighed in on this back in the first trial
and said his wounds are consistent with bite wounds and scratch wounds.
Specifically, that there are several patterns of superficial wounds that are consistent
with teeth marks.
She also said that she has seen hundreds of car accident victim photos, hundreds of them
over the course of her career, and that when she saw these photos of John O'Keefe's
arm, she quickly ruled out the wounds as being attributed to a car accident.
Something else that I thought was interesting from the first trial, going back to this theory,
is that there was no dog DNA found on
his arm or on his person. However, there was pig DNA. And that's really weird because it's explained
that pig DNA could show up on somebody from food or from bacon or bacon grease, but also that it
could be pig DNA from dog treats or from a pig ear that say a German shepherd was chewing.
So this was one of the theories, right? That a dog was involved in the altercation
and that's what those marks are from. Not that the dog is necessarily the cause of death,
but that he was involved in this and that he could forensically be linked to John O'Keefe.
And sure enough, notably this dog was a re-homed shortly after John's death in May of 2022, about four months later.
So some people find that incredibly suspicious
and potentially indicative of a coverup.
Like why are you rehoming your dog
who is now a topic of conversation
as being a link in this murder investigation
when you've had this dog for so long?
Like make it make sense, right?
So once again, it's like it's a theory that really fuels the idea that Karen Reed is being
framed and that the true events of that night are all being concealed.
I mean, think back to the SIM card being destroyed, the phone being destroyed, the butt dials
back and forth, the rapid fire phone calls, the tail light not being found until after
her car was seized and way later by a team, even though the team had already done a huge
search.
Like there are so many things here that do not add up.
And another big theory in this case centers around the basement of the home where John
O'Keefe was last seen.
Supporters of Karen's suggest that John may have been injured or killed inside that house, specifically in the basement, whether by Higgins, by Colin, by whomever it was.
But they suggest he was killed inside that house and not by her SUV.
And the theory started gaining a lot more traction when it was revealed that the basement
floors at this home were reportedly redone. And not just, you know, your run of the mill,
oh, we're gonna renovate the basement,
we're gonna refinish the floors,
but these floors had already been redone three years prior.
So why would they then need to redo them
right after John's death,
unless they were trying to hide something?
So once again, some argue that this could indicate
an attempt to either clean up, conceal evidence,
or cover it up.
Once again, further fueling suspicions of a cover-up and reinforcing claims that Karen is
wrongfully accused. Now, regardless of how this trial plays out, it is already one that has made
history, and I have no doubt that this case is going to be a case that people remember for years
to come. I personally am extremely eager to see how this all plays out.
I really don't know what direction it's going to go.
I have a feeling of what direction I would like it to go, but I really don't have a strong
feeling of where it's actually going to land.
Now I know I've said this a million times, but everybody is divided.
But I want to just remind you about all of the inconsistencies because while you it may seem clear-cut to some that either
Karen was being framed that she's innocent that she's guilty wherever it is you sit with this
There was a lot of things that were mishandled and a lot of things that are
Questionable and let me just run through a short list
Okay
The solo cups that were used to collect evidence the stop-and-shop bags that were used to collect evidence. The stop and shop bags that were used to transport evidence.
Not securing the crime scene.
Not going inside the house and looking around or talking to anybody.
A snow plow driver who never saw John's body that morning when they drove by and plowed
the snow.
Multiple party goers who left after Karen left and also did not see John.
The missing carpet or like the floor that was redone in the basement.
The missing dog that's been rehomed that it looks like there were dog bites on his
arm.
This home itself in question being sold soon after.
The Google searches from Jen McCabe at 2.27 in the morning, how long to die in the cold?
The claims of all of the tail light damage which
It looked like it was from backing into John's car rather than maybe happening on the scene
I mean a lot of different weird stuff with the tail light them finding pieces too
After they already blew the snow and looked for pieces and found clear cocktail glass
But didn't see red tail light Proctor the lead investigator the state investigator
being removed and fired
and like all of his messages that came out and just horrific behavior himself, the Sally
Port footage that was inverted and kind of was insinuated that it was done sneakily.
So I mean, there is so, so much in this case.
I mean, that I just rattled off probably 12 different things and so
When you have that much reasonable doubt or that many coincidences or poor investigation
How do you not step back and ask yourself like can we really convict this person without a reasonable doubt?
I don't know as I said, we are live streaming every single day of this trial
over on my YouTube channel 10 to life. We have a live chat feed going during the whole trial as
well. So if you want to watch this trial in real time and chat with us about everything that's
going on, all the testimonies, all the witnesses, hop on over to YouTube. We'll be there. We also
have our correspondent Boots on the Ground in Boston who is going to be reporting on this every single week with us telling us what it's like in the courtroom what's going on and
We're gonna see is Karen going to be found guilty of murder or will she be found innocent?
And where do you sit with this case? What do you believe do you and I guess there's three buckets, right?
And where do you sit with this case? What do you believe?
And I guess there's three buckets, right?
Probably more if you really break it out, but there's bucket one where you believe that
Karen was wasted.
She hit him.
It was intentional or accidental.
Who knows?
But she hit him, doesn't remember it, and she should be held accountable.
There's bucket two of she's being framed.
This is a conspiracy.
He was murdered inside that house
She had nothing to do with it and they're pinning it on her and there's bucket three that says, you know what?
I think she's guilty. I think that all the evidence points to her accidentally being wasted and hitting him with her car
However, there is enough
Inconsistency and enough cover-up to make me question if I can say that with 100%
certainty.
There's reasonable doubt.
And for that, I'm out.
Where do you sit?
Which bucket do you fall in?
Let me know in the comment section, on the Spotify comment section, on the review section
on Apple, and we will watch this all unfold together.
As mentioned, I have covered this case for years now, so if you want to revert back to any of those episodes, you can definitely
search them. I will also link them in the show notes, but let's see what happens
with Karen Reed. Thank you guys for tuning into another episode with me.
This is going to be a trial we are all glued to, and let's see what happens.
Alright guys, until the next one, be nice. Don't kill people Don't Google search it to in the morning. Don't butt-dial people back and forth
Don't be a disgusting human and text people foul offensive things and just be a good person. Okay. All right guys. Take care. Bye you you