Murder suspect Karen Read has broken her silence in a rare interview, insisting her ‘innocence’ and claiming a police ‘conspiracy’ about the death of her cop boyfriend.
Read, 44, was charged with second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter in the death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer, John O’Keefe, 46, whose body was found in a pile of snow in the driveway of his retired officer Brian Alpert’s home after a heavy night of drinking.
She was accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and then leaving him to die in a blizzard in January 2022. An autopsy revealed the officer died from hypothermia and blunt force injuries to the head.
After a trial that lasted eight weeks, the judge declared a mistrial in July after the jury of 12 were deadlocked. Prosecutors plan to retry her in January.
During the ABC 20/20 interview that premiered on Friday, ‘Karen Read: The Perfect Storm,’ Read maintained her innocence claiming that she has been ‘framed’ for a murder she did not commit and is the victim of a cover-up.
Karen Read, 41, was accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV and then leaving him to die in a blizzard in January 2022
Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe pictured with Read before his death
During the riveting interview that took place before her trial, Read was asked questions including: ‘Did you kill John O’Keefe?’
‘Is it possible you just hit him with the back of your car and just didn’t realize it?’
Read insisted that it is ‘not possible’ that she backed over her boyfriend, and dismissed any evidence, including the broken tail light found in the back of her Lexus SUV – that has become the central key piece of key evidence in the case.
Shards of the broken tail light were found on O’Keefe’s body at the scene.
Read insisted that a ‘police conspiracy’ was to blame her for the mysterious death of her boyfriend.
Read speaks with her lawyer – and has a stunned expression on her face- as the jury deliberates in her murder trail in June at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts
Pictured: Read sits at Norfolk County Superior Court during a pre-trial hearing as photos are shown
John O’Keefe’s dream was to become a police office, a longtime friend told ABC
She shared that she had a strange feeling when she discovered O’Keefe was not home after she left him earlier in the night.
‘I called a few of his buddies there wives. I had a sense of dread – a fright in me I never expected before.
‘I was worried he may had gotten hit by a plow.’
When she drove to Albert’s house to look for him that is when she made the horrifying discovery.
‘I jumped out the passenger side, and I fell into the street. His eyes were shut, and he had spots of blood in different areas on his face, and he was still — not stiff, but still,’ she recalled.
‘It was cold. I felt cold, but I didn’t feel dangerously cold and it was just an odd feeling to know that “I’m OK. I’m not dying, but he’s here with me, and he’s dying, and I can’t warm him up.”‘
Karen Read reflects on her trial in an interview with ABC News reporter Matt Gutman on the 20/20 episode
Read’s attorney told 20/20, ‘John O’Keefe was murdered. No question. He died at the hands of another person,’ he said. ‘There are people that know exactly what happened to John O’Keefe, and they are not talking’
Read’s defense team argues that the injuries on O’Keefe’s body and the trauma to his head and hands are not consistent with being hit by a car.
A longtime friend of O’Keefe told ABC that his friend always dreamed of becoming a police officer and he was following in his grandfather’s footsteps.
In 2014, O’Keefe become a surrogate father to his nieice and nephew.
During the sit-down, Read recalled how O’Keefe’s parents acted toward her after she met with them after their son’s death and when she realized they suspected her of the murder, Fox News reported.
‘They had pulled into the driveway before me. I was presuming she saw my cracked taillight and was thinking, “Did you hit my son?” Read said.
‘When we were driving home, I said to my father, “I gotta get an attorney.”
Read was arrested days after O’Keefe’s death on February 1, 2022, and charged with manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide, and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle collision causing death.
The broken tail light on Read’s SUV is the central peice of evidence in the case
She pleaded not guilty in Stoughton District Court. She was dubbed ‘America’s happiest murderer’ as she smiled and giggled her way through court.
In June of the year, a Norfolk County grand jury indicted her and her charges were upgraded to second-degree murder.
At the time, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office had presented the circumstances surrounding O’Keefe’s death as a drunken night out gone awry.
The team spoke of Read’s high blood alcohol content before she struck her boyfriend with her SUV in front of a private residence and left him to die.
She shared: ‘This is no life. I’m not in prison, but this is no life. I’m stressed every day.
‘I’m waiting for the next shoe to drop.
‘It just feels like a kind of purgatory.
Read’s attorney told 20/20 ‘this guy did not hit by a car.’
‘John O’Keefe was murdered. No question. He died at the hands of another person,’ he said.
‘There are people that know exactly what happened to John O’Keefe and they are not talking.’
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