DEDHAM, Mass. — “I picture every day that they’re working on framing me,” Karen Read tells Boston 25 investigative reporter Ted Daniel. She explained her involvement in every aspect of her criminal case, from her defense team’s aggressive strategy to media interviews and raising money for her estimated $5 million in legal fees.
Read spent several hours over two days with Daniel, both with and without her attorneys present. She’s charged with second-degree murder for the January 29, 2022, death of her then-boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe.
“I have nothing to hide,” Read declared. “My life is in the balance, and it shouldn’t be. The more information the public has, the more they understand what we already know.” Read’s willingness to speak publicly about her case is unusual but has long been part of her strategy.
She revealed that she withdrew to New Hampshire with friends for two months in July after her first trial ended with a deadlocked jury and has been working nonstop on her case ever since.
Daniel first met Read at a hotel in Boston’s Seaport district, which has long served as her “command center,” where she has spent 150 nights since her legal battle began. “When we get new information, we just divide and conquer, and we can break it down really fast,” she explained, describing the team’s process.
Driving past her old office at Fidelity Investments on Summer Street in Boston, where she worked as an equity analyst for 15 years before her indictment, Read explained how much her life has changed.
“Little did I know I would reconnect with someone I had dated nearly 20 years earlier in 2004. I’d be working from home for two years, and then he would be tragically killed. Murdered, and I’ve been framed for it,” she said.
Her high-profile Los Angeles-based lawyer, Alan Jackson, joined her for part of the interview on the third anniversary of O’Keefe’s death.
“I think about him in terms of his final days,” Read said of O’Keefe. “We have his cell phone, which to anyone is like a diary, and it tracks everything.” She added, “The time that I spent with John, two years, it’s now three years since he’s gone. I have very mixed feelings. You know, when I look back on John because I see a lot of poor decisions that were all precursors to his death.”
When Daniel asked whose decisions she was referring to, Read replied, “By both of us. Just drinking, being around the wrong people is chief among them.”
While multiple first responders testified that Read initially admitted to hitting O’Keefe with her SUV outside 34 Fairview Road in Canton, she said she only questioned the possibility. Daniel asked her why she would even have considered it.
“He was near the road, and he was dying. And I didn’t think he was purposely put in that place. It did not cross my mind for several days that they did this to John, that John was treated like a piece of garbage,” she said. “They,” Read alleges, refers to people inside the Fairview Road home, then owned by Boston Police Officer Brian Albert. Albert has since retired.
When Daniel asked who attacked O’Keefe, Jackson interjected, “We don’t know. And it’s not for us to know. Somebody other than Karen…is responsible for that, for the killing of John.”
Daniel asked what evidence best supports the defense’s claim that Read did not hit O’Keefe that night. According to Read’s team, a key point of contention revolves around the condition of O’Keefe’s body. Read asserts, “John’s body. No bruises. 6,000 pounds. Full-size SUV. Not a bruise on his body. Not a fracture below his head.”
“The theory of the case is a car accident,” Read stated. “The federal materials included a report that said there wasn’t a car accident. That’s 95% of the case. It wasn’t just inconsistent. It was diametrically opposed to the Commonwealth’s theory of the case.”
The “federal materials” come from an investigation of state and local law enforcement conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston. Last week, newly appointed U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley declined to reveal if their investigation is open or closed.
“The feds devoted a lot of time and resources investigating what happened here,” Daniel noted. “We are now years removed from that and there’s been no action taken.” Attorney Alan Jackson responded cautiously, “Well, I don’t know that there’s been no action taken. We don’t know about any action taken.” Daniel pressed further, “But no indictments,” to which Jackson conceded, “No indictments.”
25 Investigates has learned that the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office has communicated with the U.S. Attorney’s Office about this case since Read’s mistrial in July. However, when 25 Investigates requested copies of any emails or letters, their public records request was denied, citing, in part, a “federal protective order.”
Jackson commented on the federal investigation, stating, “I don’t know what the full parameters of the investigation are, but I can say that I was very, very happy with what they did and what they disclosed, trying to get the truth out previously.”
When pressed about who might have framed her, Read spoke of “power” as a motive but admitted, “I don’t know the interconnections, the interpersonal relationships among these people. I have a strong personal opinion.”
While Read says she momentarily felt “gut-punched” by the prospect of a retrial, she now views it as an opportunity for further preparation. When asked if she would take the stand this time around, Read would not rule it out. “I’m not afraid of taking the stand. And I’m clearly not afraid of speaking,” Read said. Asked about facing Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Adam Lally, who led the prosecution during her first trial, or Hank Brennan, the defense attorney turned special prosecutor who took over, Read declared, “I don’t care who it is. I have the truth. I have the best attorneys.”
Read acknowledged the possibility of conviction and prison time, stating, “I think about it every day, about prison time. And it doesn’t frighten me the way it did three years ago.”
To fund her growing legal fees, Read sold her Mansfield home and now lives with her parents. Supporters have donated $750,000 to her defense fund, and she said strangers regularly pick up her meals. “I don’t know the last time I’ve done anything but tip a waiter,” Read admitted, expressing gratitude for the support while recognizing that not everyone is on her side.
O’Keefe’s family firmly believes in Read’s guilt and has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her. Read claims she is unaffected by their presence in court. “I honestly, I almost look through them…Paul’s sitting there doesn’t impact me. Doesn’t…it doesn’t bother me. That’s John’s brother. But I couldn’t tell you from one day to the next what color shirt he was wearing.” She added, “They’ve attempted to…send me messages, and as soon as I see the name comes up, I just delete it.” Online, she faces a barrage of both support and criticism, which she filters through trusted friends.
Read said she recognizes that this case has become a defining aspect of her life, a reality she seems to have accepted. When asked if she could put it behind her someday, Read said, “I don’t think I can, even if I wanted to… and I’m okay with that.”
Alan Jackson hinted at new revelations to come at Read’s retrial in April but declined to elaborate. Read confirmed that she has liquidated her retirement funds and is now relying solely on donations.
The Norfolk District Attorney’s office declined a request to interview Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan. Brennan sent a State Police Trooper to deliver a subpoena to Boston 25 on Friday before this report aired Sunday night demanding a copy of the complete interview and any notes.
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