Karen Read, America’s ‘happiest murder defendant’ finally snaps in court after Boston cop boyfriend John O’Keefe was found dead

Karen Read was seen losing her cool in court as she stands trial for allegedly hitting her cop boyfriend with her SUV and leaving him to die in the snow. 

Read was previously dubbed America’s ‘happiest murder defendant’ but video of the 12th day of her trial in Dedham Superior Court, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, showed her appearing to angrily snap at her legal team. 

Read, 44, is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of personal injury and death. 

Her boyfriend, police officer John O’Keefe, was found dead around 6am on January 29, 2022, close to a house where Read had dropped him off for an afterparty during a snowstorm at around 12.45am that day.

Read’s attorneys claim she has been framed as part of a vast conspiracy, saying O’Keefe had in fact died after being beaten up by people at the party and thrown outside. 

Read’s demeanor throughout her trial has previously been notably chill. 

Previously, she was seen smiling and waving at lawyers, cameras and supporters. 

At one stage, she grinned at a camera and flashed a large wink, sparking backlash online among some of her detractors.

‘Happiest murder defendant in history!’ said one on Twitter. ‘The chick thinks she is Miss America.’

But as the court broke for lunch on Wednesday, she seemed to lose her cool for a moment, rolling her eyes and then appearing to snap something quickly to her legal team. 

The court had just heard from Allison Mccabe, the daughter of Jennifer McCabe. 

Jennifer was with Read and another woman when they discovered O’Keefe’s body. Read’s team allege Jennifer played a key role in the ensuing alleged coverup. 

In court, Allison testified that she had picked up and driven home Colin Albert on the night of O’Keefe’s death. 

Albert is one of the men Read’s team claim was involved in a fight inside the home which they say resulted in O’Keefe’s death. 

After the break, the court was shown a screenshot of texts between Allison and Albert relating to her picking him up. 

Albert texted Allison at 11.54pm on January 28, 2022 saying ‘U can get me now. If easier.’

Allison replied a minute later, saying ‘ok I am driving ppl home now.’ To which Albert replied, ‘word’ and ‘get me after.’

Then, at 12.10am Allison texted ‘here’ and Albert replied ‘Ok.’ Albert said he came outside about 30 seconds later.

If Albert had left and gone home, it could suggest he was not involved in the alleged fight at the house. 

Allison later broke down as she described ‘harassment’ her family has faced during the trial. 

She described ‘constant phone calls, emails, awful messages’ as well as ‘people showing up at our house, people emailing my school.’

O’Keefe – a 46-year-old who was the sole-carer to his niece and nephew and who was a 16-year veteran Boston police officer – was found unconscious in a snowbank with skull fractures, swollen eyes and hypothermia. 

Temperatures in Boston had dipped as low as 23F and as much as 21 inches of snow fell in the area later that day. 

He was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton where he was pronounced dead several hours later.

Read’s defense is that O’Keefe was in a fight at the party, and possibly attacked by a dog as marks on his arm looked like bites.

Her defense is led by Alan Jackson, the high-powered lawyer who secured disgraced actor Kevin Spacey’s acquittal of sexual assault charges.

‘Certainly the Massachusetts State Police is involved. There are people that were in that house that are involved,’ her said during a pretrial hearing. 

‘Brian Albert is involved. Jennifer McCabe is involved. The rest of the folks that were in that house, there’s some level of involvement by every one of them. Every single one of them. 

‘We’re not going to rest until we get to the bottom of exactly who’s behind this coverup. 

‘Not only Karen Read deserves this. John O’Keefe deserves this, and has deserved this from moment one. And that’s why they’re not going to rest.’ 

Earlier in the trial, the court were shown video of the accused killer on the night of O’Keefe’s death. 

The footage shows her embracing O’Keefe at CF McCarthy’s in Boston before ordering drinks at the bar. She was seen hugging and kissing the man she is accused of killing just hours later. 

On the night of his death, O’Keefe had been out celebrating the acceptance of his niece, who was in his care, into private school.

He’s seen enjoying bottles of Bud Light with friends, and Read joins them at the bar a little later and sips a vodka tonic.    

The financial analyst and former Bentley University professor is accused of second-degree murder and manslaughter for allegedly backing over him with her SUV in a snowstorm after an argument later that night. 

Prosecutors have argued that Read and O’Keefe’s relationship had been on the rocks amid allegations he was cheating and tensions over the two children in O’Keefe’s care – his orphaned niece and nephew.  

But O’Keefe’s friends at the first bar testified in court saying the couple seemed content. The group said while they went home at around 10pm, the couple continued on to the Waterfall Bar & Grille.

At the second bar, the couple met up with friends Brian Albert, Brian Higgins and Jennifer McCabe, who would go on to attend the afterparty at the house where O’Keefe perished outside. 

A worker at the Waterfall Bar & Grille, Nicholas Kolokithas, said he didn’t notice any tensions between O’Keefe and Read, and that they seemed affectionate to the point that his wife asked why he wasn’t like that with her. 

Rebecca Trayers, the bartender at the last establishment they visited, testified that no one seemed overly drunk.

Katherine Camerano, a friend of the couple’s who was also present at the January 28 celebrations, revealed the chilling text message Read sent her the next morning. 

Camerano testified that at 6:34am, Read texted her saying: ‘He’s dead.’ 

She responded saying: ‘What? Karen are you serious?’ to which Read replied ‘he was in the snow.’  

Read’s defense says she went home after dropping O’Keefe off and woke up about 4.30am in a panic as he hadn’t come home.

She called Jennifer McCabe, a friend of O’Keefe whom they were drinking with at Waterfall Bar the previous night, and they went looking for him.

They returned top the house and found O’Keefe lying on the snow-covered lawn, bleeding from his nose and mouth with swollen eyes, and Read began CPR.

A key part of the prosecution’s case is that they say Read essentially yelled ‘I hit him!’ over and over when they found his body, along with ‘this is my fault. I did this.’

Prosecutors also alleged Read said ‘could I have hit him? Did I hit him?’ and ‘what if he’s dead? What if a plow hit him? I don’t remember anything from last night, we drank so much I don’t remember anything.’

But Read’s defense was able to get both cops to acknowledge they never heard Read say she hit O’Keefe. The defense also used the testimony from the police and firefighters to raise doubts more broadly about the investigation.

Prosecutors allege the fragments were found near O’Keefe’s body and are proof that Read backed her SUV into O’Keefe. She says it was broken as she left her home that morning in a panic to look for him. 

Defense attorneys were able to get Canton police officers Steven Saraf Stephen Mullaney to acknowledge they never saw pieces of broken taillight at the scene. 

When police and paramedics arrived, they found Read still trying to revive her boyfriend, her face covered in blood from giving him mouth-to-mouth.

All of the witnesses in their evidence described Read as distraught and screaming and that O’Keefe had no pulse and wasn’t breathing.

The defense has spent months arguing in court that the case was marred by conflicts of interest and accused prosecutors of presenting false and deceptive evidence to the grand jury.