Commonwealth vs Karen Read - 2024 Trial (Part 1)
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In today's episode, I'm taking you back to the Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, to April 2024, when Karen Reed went on trial for second-degree murder. Prosecutor Adam Lally gave opening statements for the Commonwealth, and the following is what he told the jury. He said on the night of January 28th, 2022, there was a significant snowstorm in the Canton, Massachusetts area.

Also that day, John O'Keefe, who was a Boston police officer, received some news about his niece, whom he was the guardian of. She and her best friend had been accepted into a private high school they had applied to. John was with some of his friends that night at a bar called C.F. McCarthy's, celebrating, when his girlfriend, Karen Reed, then joined him just before 9 p.m.

According to Prosecutor Lally, John and Karen had met sometime in 2004, dated briefly, and then reconnected in March 2020 during the pandemic shutdown.

In the months leading up to John's death, Prosecutor Lally said their relationship soured. He told the jury they would see text messages to that effect. On January 29, 2022, he said just after 6 a.m., the Canton Police Department responded to a 911 call. John O'Keefe had been found dead in the snow outside a residence at 34 Fairview Road.

There was a blizzard outside, with heavy snow and temperatures in the teens. First responders and officers responded to the scene. When they arrived, they saw three women off to the left side of the property, Karen Reed, Jennifer McCabe, and Carrie Roberts. Prosecutor Lally described some of the injuries to John O'Keefe's body, swollen eyes and abrasions, scratches, redness from the cold.

You'll hear the testimony from these firefighters, Anthony Fermati, Matthew Kelly, Francis Walsh, Katie McLaughlin, and Greg Woodward. At least from three of those firefighters, you'll hear testimony anticipates detailing statements that the defendant made to them. They had asked about the origination of some of those injuries. The defendant stated repeatedly, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.

He said there were six inches of snow on top of John's body and there was grass underneath him. His cell phone was also located underneath his body. When John arrived at the hospital, he was pronounced dead after failed resuscitation efforts.

Prosecutor Lally said Karen Reed made statements of self-harm. As a result of that, she was transported to the hospital as well. She indicated to responders that the last time she saw John was the night before, after she had joined him and his friends. They had gotten into an argument, and then he got out of her car on Fairview Road.

Prosecutor Lally told the jury they would hear from people who were at C.F. McCarthy's with John and Karen that night, as well as people who were at a bar called The Waterfall, which was essentially across the street.

He said at approximately 11 p.m., John and Karen went over to the waterfall. Now, you'll hear testimony from a Christopher and Julie Albert, who were people who were at one point neighbors of Mr. O'Keefe. They knew him well from being neighbors of him. Christopher Albert owns a pizza shop also located within that Cannon Center area.

Mr. O'Keefe, earlier in the day of the 28th, had been into that pizza shop along with his nephew to get his nephew a slice. Christopher Albert and Mr. O'Keefe had some conversation regarding what they were doing that night. And it's Christopher Albert who actually texts Mr. O'Keefe and indicates that they're over at the waterfall and that he should come over shortly before Mr. O'Keefe and the defendant make their way from C.F. McCarthy's home. He said as part of the group who was at the waterfall that night was a woman named Nicole Albert.

She and her husband, Brian Albert, who was also a Boston police officer, lived at 34 Fairview Road with their son. While Nicole was at the waterfall, Brian had gone out with a friend of his named Brian Higgins. They eventually met up with Nicole and the group at the waterfall too.

Shortly after midnight, everyone met at the Elberts' house at 34 Fairview Road. The Elberts' son, Brian Elbert Jr., was at the home with a number of friends, celebrating his birthday. When the group got back to 34 Fairview Road, one of the women there, Jen McCabe, texted John O'Keefe to see if he was coming and letting him know the address. John had never been there before. Prosecutor Lally said John was with Karen in her vehicle.

When they arrived, several witnesses observed Karen's car parked there, where John was later found. These witnesses included multiple passengers in a pickup truck. What you'll hear also, I anticipate, from all three of those individuals in the pickup and Julie Nagel, who comes out to the pickup to talk to the brother, is that no one ever exits that seat.

There are no footprints around that vehicle. There's no damage that they observed to that vehicle at that time. Again, it's just started to snow. Things aren't sticking really too much at this point. Prosecutor Lally told the jury that no one in that house that evening ever saw John come inside. From all of those people within that house that evening, none of them at any point in time observed John O'Keefe come into the house.

See the vehicle out front. They see the vehicle pull away and they just assume that they left and that no one was coming. He said at approximately 4.53 a.m., Jen McCabe received a phone call from John's niece, who then handed the phone over to Karen. At about 4.30, Karen had gone into the niece's room and said John hadn't come home the night before and she was frantic.

Prosecutor Lally said initially Karen told Jen on this call that the last time she saw John was at the waterfall. But Jen reminded her that she had seen them leave the waterfall together and again saw the vehicle outside 34 Fairview Road. He said eventually Karen started driving around and calling a bunch of different people, including John.

Prosecutor Lally told the jury that Carrie Roberts got a call from Karen around 5 a.m. saying John didn't come home, that he must have been hit by a plow and must be dead. He said Karen then went to Jen McCabe's house. He said she had indicated prior to her that she had a cracked taillight. Jen got into the driver's seat due to Karen's frantic state. He said Carrie Roberts was there too at that point and followed them in her car.

They went to John's house on Meadows Avenue and checked on his niece. Karen then showed both of them the damage to her right rear taillight. Prosecutor Lally said it was missing a number of different pieces. They then drove around looking for John. He said Karen insisted that they go to the house on Fairview Road. They drove down there in the dark in the blizzard.

He said Carrie Roberts was driving at this point, Jen McCabe was in the front, and Karen was in the rear passenger seat.

He told the jury that Karen was the only one who saw John and that she screamed at Carrie to stop the car. Roberts and Ms. McCabe, I anticipate, will testify that they did not see Mr. O'Keefe, not only as they were driving past him, but even after they got out of the vehicle until the defendant gets out of the backseat and makes a beeline essentially right over to where Mr. O'Keefe's car was. This is McCabe. Then dial is 9-1-1.

And shortly after that is when the officers and firefighters arrive on scene.

He said while they were waiting there at approximately 6.23 and 6.24 a.m., Karen asked Jen to look up on her phone how long to die in the cold. And you'll hear some dispute as to when that search was made. And you'll hear testimony from three different forensic extraction experts, Michael Oskarino, Ms. Jessica High, and Mr. Dean Whiffen, who you'll hear about a lot of these things called extraction reports from cell phones.

And the extraction reports are done with a program called Cellular. Mr. Whiffen is someone who writes that software for Cellular. I anticipate you'll hear from each of their testimonies that that Google search that was done on Ms. McCabe's phone was done at the same time, Graham, that she indicates a defendant requested her to do it, and that at 623 and 624. He said first responders would testify that Karen asked repeatedly, is he dead? Is he dead?

He told the jury that there was an incident earlier in January where John, Karen, and his niece and nephew went to Aruba for New Year's Eve. On day two of the trip, another person who was there on the trip with them witnessed a big argument and screaming match between Karen and John. He said the morning John was found, prior to driving around with Jen and Carrie, prosecutors would show that Karen was driving in the direction of Fairview Road.

He told the jury they would also be hearing testimony from trooper Joseph Paul. His examination of the vehicle, his examination of the scene, his examination of specifically some Toyota textiles, because Lexus is essentially owned by Toyota or vice versa.

So there is some data that he's able to recover from that and back the vehicle up based on its known locations and travel. He cycles, essentially opines, anticipate he'll opine at around 1245 in the morning when the vehicle was in front of the residents on Fairview. For some perceptible period of time, that vehicle travels over 60 feet in reverse at over 20, approximately 24.2 miles per hour.

He said pieces of taillight were found within the mounds of snow in front of the house. A sneaker was found there too. And eventually, additional pieces of taillight were discovered. He then summarized other evidence they planned on presenting.

Now, from these different pieces, Ms. Hardin also locates a cocktail glass that's located on the bumper or the rear area of that scene. And she locates a human hair on the back of that defendant's vehicle as well. Now, the cocktail glass on the bumper, you'll also see a surveillance video from the waterfall. And Mr. O'Keefe is observed on that surveillance video essentially walking out of the waterfall with a cocktail glass in his right hand.

Same right hand that has minor injuries to it and the same right hand that's attached to the right arm that has the abrasions and lacerations that are observed by the paramedics, that are observed by the doctors at Good Samaritan, and are observed by the medical examiner as well. We'll hear testimony from another analyst, Christina Hanley, about the forensic consistency between a drinking glass that was in the defendant's bumper and the drinking glass pieces that were found on scene at 34 Fairway.

You'll hear her testimony in regard to pieces of red and clear plastic that were microscopic in size that were found within Mr. O'Keefe's clothing. Consistence, in her opinion, I anticipate she'll testify with the same pieces of plastic contained within the defendant's tail. You'll hear from Ashley Ballard, who works for the lab as well, and how she fit the various pieces of broken taillight from the scene together and over that taillight housing, finding them to be consistent with each other as well.

You'll hear testimony from Andre Porto, who's essentially a DNA analyst for the lab. And samples that were, DNA samples that were taken from the taillight from the clothes of Mr. O'Keefe and the broken drinking glass that were consistent with Mr. O'Keefe. Both items were also sent, the taillight pieces, the taillight DNA was also sent to an independent lab, Bowdoin Technologies, located in Washington, Virginia.

You'll hear from an analyst there, Mr. Nicholas Bradford, indicating that the DNA on the defendant's taillight, in his opinion, is consistent with that of Mr. O'Keefe and inconsistent with Trooper Proctor and Sergeant Buchanek, who were the two preliminary investigators and primary investigators when it came to this case.

You'll also hear from Ms. Tett's chart from that voting laboratories in regard to some mitochondrial DNA that she examined in regard to that hair that Ms. Hartnett found on the bumper of the car, and her opinion that it was consistent with that of Mr. O'Keefe as well. He told the jury that Karen was guilty of murder in the second degree, that she hit John O'Keefe with her car and then left him there to die.

The defense, however, had a very different version of what happened. Karen Reed was framed. Her car never struck John O'Keefe. She did not cause his death. And that means that somebody else. In today's episode, we are just beginning to cover the case of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus Karen Reed. If you haven't yet heard of this case, you are in for quite a ride.

The prosecution claims that Karen hit her boyfriend, John O'Keefe, with her car and then left him out in the snow to die. But the defense says that Karen was framed and that something else happened to John O'Keefe that night.

This case is very complex and full of twists and turns. And there's so much that happened before, during, and after this trial. But I want to stress that these next few Court Junkie episodes will be covering the testimony that was presented at trial. So you'll just hear what the jury heard. And with that, let's get right into it, because there's a lot to cover. ♪

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fastgrowingtrees.com code courtjunkie. Now is the perfect time to plant. Use courtjunkie to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. You will learn that it was no accident that John O'Keefe was found dead on the front lawn of 34th 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 Kent, the Alberts. Because the Alberts were involved and because they had close connections to the investigators in this case, Karen Reed was framed for a murder she did not commit.

Karen Reed's attorney, David Iannetti, told the jury that they would question the Commonwealth's theory of the case, the quality of their evidence, the veracity of their witnesses, and their shoddy and biased investigation that led to Karen sitting there today.

He said the police did no real investigation and that the jury will question why they had such tunnel vision and why they focused solely on Karen and not the Alberts, who had ties to the Canton PD. Karen Reed had no ties, he said. Boston police officer John O'Keefe was found mortally injured on Brian Albert's front lawn.

His body was in full view and almost right below Brian Albert's bedroom window on his front lawn. He was found wearing only one sneaker. You'll learn that Brian Albert was a Boston police officer as well and that he was a trained first responder. Brian Albert was notified that another police officer was injured and unresponsive on his front lawn and Brian Albert was

Did nothing. He said Brian Albert's sister-in-law, Jen McCabe, and others were on his property that morning after John's body was found. Police, EMTs, firefighters and ambulance, fire trucks with lights flashing. And first responder Brian Albert never came out of his house. Equally important to you will be the fact that the lead homicide investigators never went inside the Albert home network.

You will learn that Brian Albert's brother, Kevin Albert, is a Canton police officer. It was obvious very early on that the Canton police should not be investigating the death of a man found on the property of the brother of a Canton police officer. So it was decided just about from the start that the Massachusetts State Police should take complete control of this investigation because the Canton police are

He said despite the fact that they obviously had a conflict of interest, evidence will show that Canton police still had their hands in the investigation. He said the jury would find it astounding that Canton police officer Kevin Elbert was continually updated about the status of the investigation while it was going on.

He also told the jury that equally troubling, the lead Massachusetts state police detective who was assigned to the case was a man named Michael Proctor. He said Proctor is one of many people in Canton with deep ties to the Elberts, that Proctor's own mother refers to the Elberts as a second family, that Proctor was in a wedding party for one of the Elberts, and he sat at the head table with members of the Elbert family.

That's the man who was chosen to lead the investigation into the suspicious death on the property of Brian Albert. That's the man who gave updates to Canton Police Officer Kevin Albert while the state police were supposed to be investigating what had occurred at his brother Brian Albert's house.

He said right from the jump, Michael Proctor predetermined the outcome of this case. He never stepped foot inside the Albert home on January 29th, never checked to see if there were any signs of a struggle in the home, never called the crime scene techs to go in and look for blood or other trace evidence inside the home, never asked Brian Albert for permission to go in the home and take a look around, and never applied for a search warrant to go in the home.

He said instead, Proctor focused immediately and exclusively on Karen, the outsider, who was not from Canton. So how did Michael Proctor treat her, he asked? How did he treat someone he was investigating at a point in time when he should have been keeping an open mind and obtaining all possible evidence so he didn't miss anything?

He said on the very day John was found dead, Proctor was texting with his high school buddies about this supposedly secret investigation using his personal cell phone. He was revealing information about this investigation to his friends, assuming that no one would ever find out what he was doing and what he was saying.

Yannetti said he was revealing his true thoughts about Karen to his friends, not like in his sanitized police reports. To his friends whom he trusted and in text messages that he never thought would come into the hands of the defense in this case. Lead investigator, Trooper Michael Proctor, right from the start, called Karen Reid names you would reserve only for your worst enemies.

He told his friends that he hoped that she would kill herself. He told his friends that he had seized her cell phone. And you will learn that he knew he shouldn't have been accessing any content on her cell phone because he knew there would likely be attorney-client communications on it between Karen and me at that time. He knew that he was supposed to wait for a search warrant or other permission from a judge in order to go through that phone.

But you'll learn that he went through the phone anyway, without permission. And you'll know that he did because he told his high school buddies that he was searching her phone for nude photos of Karen Reid. And he was disappointed he hadn't found any yet. That is the professional and unbiased investigator who was chosen to lead the investigation into the death of John O'Keefe.

He said one of Proctor's friends commented to him that with a dead body on the front lawn, the homeowner in this case is surely going to catch a lot of grief. Proctor's response? One word. Nope. He said Proctor assured his buddies that the homeowner would not catch any flack. Why? Because, quote, the homeowner is a Boston cop too.

That one sentence, ladies and gentlemen, in Michael Proctor's own words, will explain a lot to you about how this investigation was conducted. You will be able to evaluate whether Trooper Michael Proctor treated Brian Albert and his family differently because of who they are and their relationships between his family and theirs. You will evaluate whether this investigation was on the up and up. You will decide as a result.

how valuable or worthless the prosecution's DNA evidence is or is not in light of who controlled that evidence. He said Michael Proctor's fingerprints are figuratively all over this case, all over the Commonwealth's evidence. He told the jury that Michael Proctor showed up at Karen Reed's parents' house in Dayton eight hours after John's body was found on Brian Albert's lawn.

He had her Lexus SUV towed from her parents' home. But, he said, in Proctor's police report, he falsified the time he took that SUV. He swore under oath that the vehicle wasn't towed until 5.30 p.m. But Giannetti said the defense obtained surveillance footage that Proctor didn't know they would get and that surveillance footage exposed that Proctor's words in that sworn affidavit were a lie.

He said Proctor had that vehicle for about 90 minutes before he claimed to have taken it. And folks, you will learn that the timing is important, very important.

Because when John O'Keefe was first found on Brian Albert's front lawn, the police thoroughly searched that yard for potential evidence. And it wasn't just one officer or two or three. There were at least four officers that searched that front lawn. And that morning was the beginning of a snowstorm, but there wasn't yet much snow on the ground when they were searching that lawn. It was light out by the time they did the search and it was getting lighter.

And during that thorough search of Brian Albert's front lawn, the number of pieces of till that were found by a minimum of four officers looking for evidence was zero. It was only later in the day when the snow was really starting to accumulate that the police miraculously started to find pieces of taillight on the property. The police only started to find pieces of taillight after Michael Proctor had seized Cameron Reed's car.

They went started to find pieces of taillight after Michael Proctor had possession of her taillight. He said Proctor kept going back to the Elbert residence after that day and claimed he kept finding pieces of taillight on multiple occasions on multiple dates.

He said a week after John's death, the police chief, who he said was on the brink of retirement with probably not the best eyesight, supposedly was driving past Brian Albert's house. He allegedly spotted yet another piece of taillight from the vehicle.

This was yet another piece of taillight that was somehow missed by the trained specialist who had previously and thoroughly searched the property. Another piece of taillight that Proctor supposedly missed in the many times he went back to the property. And Michael Proctor claims that he kept finding pieces of taillight

Right up until February 18th of 2022, which was nearly three weeks after John O'Keefe was found dead on Brian Albert's house. He said when Karen left John at Brian Albert's house, she drove back to John's house on Meadows Avenue across town. At John's home, where he lived with his two adopted children, who were his niece and nephew, Karen was drifting in and out of sleep.

When she woke up around 4 a.m., she was in a panic because John hadn't come home and that wasn't like him at all. He said John had never done that before and that Karen had a sinking feeling that something was wrong. Something was seriously wrong.

So she got back into her Lexus, backed out of the garage so she could leave the driveway. And when she did, the right rear taillight of her Lexus struck John's parked vehicle in the driveway and her taillight cracked. He said that was the same taillight that the prosecution now claims was broken outside the Albert residence at 1230 a.m.

But we have video evidence that taillight was actually broken at 5 a.m., Yannetti said, many hours after the prosecution needs that taillight to be broken. He told the jury that they will know Karen struck John's car at 5 a.m. because they will watch the surveillance video and will see that the wheels and hubcaps on John's car were jostled and moved by Karen's SUV.

As for Karen saying, I hit him, I hit him at the scene. And you will learn that she was racking her brain for what possibly could have happened. And like many of us, was worried about the worst. Did I hit him? Could I have hit him? That was what she was saying, both to herself and to other people later that morning when she went back to 34th Ferry. She couldn't think of anything else that made sense.

He certainly didn't consider in a million years that someone from within the Albert home could have beaten up John and left him to die on the front lawn. He said that was over two years ago and that Karen didn't know then what the jury is going to learn during the trial. Karen didn't know that Brian Albert's sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe, left the after-hours party at Brian Albert's house sometime after Karen pulled away.

She didn't know that after Jennifer McCabe dropped off some people elsewhere, she returned to her own home. Karen didn't know that Jennifer McCabe climbed some stairs in her home and eventually made it into her bedroom with her cell phone. Karen didn't know that Jennifer McCabe settled in at 2.27 in the morning on January 29, 2022, and typed a Google search that she would later delete forever.

2.27 in the morning was over three hours before John O'Keefe's body was found on Brian Albert's lawn. 2.27 was over three hours before anyone knew or suspected that John O'Keefe was missing or hurt or in trouble. And at 2.27 in the morning, you will learn that with no one watching her, thinking she was alone with her thoughts, not worrying that anyone would know what she was doing. Jennifer McCabe typed in the following Google search.

How long to die in the cold? He said she misspelled the first word, so it was actually Haas long to die in the cold. He said the medical examiner will say that John O'Keefe died in part because he was left to die in the cold. Gannetti told the jury that the prosecution will claim the searches were made later, at 6.23 and 6.24 a.m., after the body was found.

But one problem for the Commonwealth, he said, is that the defense has retained Richard Green, one of the leading computer forensic experts in the country, who will confirm that she did indeed make that search at 2.27 a.m. He said before she went to bed, if she went to bed that night, Jen wanted to know just how long it would take for someone to die in the cold.

He said a big question in this trial will be when was John left to die in the cold? He said the Commonwealth will try to persuade them that he was left there sometime around 1230 a.m. But he said there are big problems with the Commonwealth's case.

Six people who were at the home at 34 Fairview that night left after the Commonwealth says Karen hit him with her car. But none of them saw his body lying on the front lawn. Each of those people left 34 Fairview in Canton where Brian Albert lived. Each of them walked out facing the front lawn where the Commonwealth will tell you.

that a six-foot-two, nearly 220-pound big man in dark clothing was sprawled on the front lawn when there was only a dusting of white snow on the ground. He was supposedly sprawled on that lawn, just feet from where these people were walking when they left the residence. And you will learn that not one of these people saw John O'Keefe laying. Not one.

And you know who else saw no one laying outside in the early morning hours of January 29? The snowplow driver in charge of plowing the street for the city of Kent. And this is another big problem for the Commonwealth. You will learn that Michael Proctor, here's that name again, wrote a report where he claimed that the DPW supervisor had told him that Fairview Road had not been plowed that night.

Proctor's total investigation on this issue consisted of one phone call and no follow-up. He just submitted his report that simply said the road hadn't been plowed that night, perhaps thinking that no one else would follow up either. But you'll learn that when it came to finding out the truth, it's not that Proctor couldn't find the truth. It's that he wouldn't. But fortunately, you'll learn that we would, and we did.

He said within weeks of John's death, they sent an investigator to the DPW and they found that the street had been plowed that night and the snowplow driver had never been contacted by police. And what the driver had to say was shocking. He said he didn't see any body on the lawn when he plowed that night at 2.30 a.m.

About an hour later, he said he saw a Ford Edge parked on the side of the road right near where John's body was found. He said members of the Elbert family drove Ford Edges, but that police claimed not to know who it belonged to. He said there were other curious things going on in the early morning hours of January 29th that police utterly failed to investigate.

For example, he said after people left the after-hours party at Brian Albert's house, Brian Albert claimed that he had no contact with anyone but his wife until he was woken up in the morning. But you will learn that he was also ultimately confronted by the fact that his phone records revealed that he had actually placed a phone call to his friend and ATF agent, Brian Higgins, Yannetti said, the same friend who had been at his house earlier that night.

This was at 2.22 a.m. You'll learn that Brian Higgins called him back 17 seconds later and they connected for 22 seconds on their cell phones.

You'll be asked to consider just how long 22 seconds is and what could be said and discussed during that long of a phone call. You will consider that phone call in the context of the other curious things that were going on during the early morning hours of January 29th. You will learn about the following in chronological order. 2.12 a.m., Jennifer McCabe arrives at her home.

2.22 a.m., Brian Albert calls Brian Higgins. 2.22 a.m., 17 seconds later, Higgins calls him back. And Brian Albert and Brian Higgins are on the phone together for 22 seconds. 2.23 a.m., Jennifer McCabe climbs the stairs to her bedroom. 2.27 a.m., Jennifer McCabe searches on Google how long to die in the cold.

2.30 a.m., plow driver Brian Loughran confirms there was no body on Brian Albert's front lawn. 3.30 a.m., Brian Loughran confirms that a Ford Edge was parked right where John O'Keefe's body was later found. The Commonwealth will not be able to successfully dispute any of those facts, yet I expect that they will persist.

and asking you to convict Carrie Reid anyway. He said there are other major problems with the Commonwealth's theory of the case, that when John O'Keefe's body was found, he did not look like he had been hit by a car. He looked to have been attacked and beaten up, he said.

You'll learn that John O'Keefe was a large six foot two man who, if positioned behind a Lexus SUV, would have had his torso completely exposed to the rear of that vehicle, including to the tail light. You'll learn that no part of his torso was injured. There was no bruising, no redness, no scratches, no punctures. You'll learn that his chest and hips and legs were pristine.

despite the Commonwealth's contention that he was hit by a 6,000-pound vehicle. The evidence will show that what was not pristine was his right arm. You will take one look at that arm, and you will conclude that a car did not cause those injuries. The injuries to John O'Keefe's arm appear to be consistent with scratch marks and claw marks, marks that make it look as though an animal had attacked his arm.

But you won't have to rely just on your common sense when you look at those photos. You'll hear from an expert forensic pathologist who is world renowned, who has personally conducted thousands of autopsies. And he will testify that those marks are consistent with scratch and claw marks and bite marks from an animal, including a German Shuckling.

You'll learn that on January 29th of 2022, Brian Albert's family dog, Chloe, was a German Shepherd. You'll learn that Brian Albert has admitted that this dog is not good around strangers. You'll learn that on January 29th of 2022, John O'Keefe would have been a stranger to that dog. And you'll learn that Chloe had been the beloved family dog for the Alberts for seven years. The Albert family loved Chloe. Strangely,

As we discuss this dog today, the Albert family doesn't have its beloved Chloe anymore. You'll learn that Brian Albert was called to testify before the grand jury regarding this matter in April of 2022. And that he did testify about his German shepherd, Chloe, during that grand jury testimony. And you'll learn that not long after that testimony, Brian Albert and his family rehomed their beloved family dog.

They gave away their family dog. And Chloe, the German shepherd, is therefore now gone. He said the Commonwealth would try to take the jury's attention away from all of these troubling facts and try to get them to ignore their shocking lack of investigation of anyone else. Not to consider John O'Keefe's injuries. Not to consider the fact that multiple people left the residence and saw no body.

Not to consider the fact that the snowplow driver was specifically looking at 2.30 a.m. and there was nobody there. Not to consider the fact that two people in the house were communicating at 2.22 a.m. but denied speaking to each other for 22 seconds.

and not to consider the fact that one of their witnesses, who was also present at home, was unusually curious at 2:27 a.m. about how long it would take for someone to die in the cold.

Commonwealth will instead try to persuade you that Karen Reid supposedly had a motive to kill John O'Keefe because they were not getting along. You'll hear about their trip to Aruba over New Year's Eve and that Karen was upset that John had been flirting with another woman. And you will hear that Karen considered exploring her options after that trip, which led her to a get-together at one point with APF federal agent Brian Higgins, although that never went anywhere.

But you'll also hear that in January of 2022, after the Aruba trip, and not long before January 28th and 29th, John O'Keefe was making long-term plans with Karen, including a family trip with her and the kids, and also another trip with Karen and another couple for months into the future. And you'll see video of how John and Karen were interacting on the night in question.

You'll see for yourself how they look with each other from the video at the waterfall that night. Nobody who saw them that night saw anything wrong. There was nothing wrong. He said occasionally, like any couple, they would argue or disagree, but that there is zero evidence that there was any sort of domestic violence in their relationship.

You will conclude the notion that Karen Reid chose the start of a snowstorm to suddenly become violent out of the blue for the first time and intentionally kill her boyfriend by hitting him with her car and leaving him there with a house full of people inside is patently ridiculous. You will also learn that what's not ridiculous is that someone, not Karen Reid, ambushed John O'Brien. Somebody probably didn't mean to kill him, but somebody went too far.

You'll learn that Trooper Proctor failed to investigate motives that other people had to harm John O'Keefe. You'll learn that Proctor failed to investigate anything or anyone who was in the Albert residence that night. You'll learn that he failed to investigate the antagonistic relationship between members of the Albert family and John O'Keefe. You'll learn that apparently nobody investigates the Albert family of Canton.

He asked the jury to pay attention to all the evidence and told them that their cross-examinations of the state's witnesses would be the key that unlocks the truth.

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Give it a try after this episode by going to Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. John O'Keefe's brother Paul was one of the first witnesses for the Commonwealth.

He told the jury how after their sister had passed away from an illness, her husband then passed away just a few months later. And John ended up becoming the guardian of their two kids, which are their niece and nephew. Paul was asked about conversations he had with John about John's relationship with Karen. He didn't like, you know, if she would spend a lot of money on the kids for gifts or, you know, anything.

I know there were some arguments over, you know, what she fed them, whether it's, you know, Dunkin' Donuts or whatnot, but those things along those lines. He said he witnessed an intense fight, a verbal argument, between the two in the summer of 2021. It's hard to recall. I mean, you know, I guess like typical...

Couples fighting. There was alcohol that had been involved. I recall her complaining that he wasn't nice to her or something to that effect. And I was kind of the referee in that entire situation. He described going to the hospital and seeing John for the last time. As you were making your way down to the room where they had your brother, what if anything occurred along the way?

So I noticed Karen Reed was there. She was being restrained by hospital employees, and she was screaming out to us, asking if he was alive. Is that something that she screamed out once, more than once or something? Several times. Now, at some point you went into the room where your brother was, correct? Correct.

And can you describe to the jury sort of what you saw as far as your brother was concerned? I mean, he was pretty banged up. He had... His eyes had swelled up. He had a breathing tube in, well, a mask anyway. Blood come down his nose, blood come down his mouth. But what really stood out to me was, you know, the eyes, the eyes.

It was almost as if like there were ping pong balls under his eyelids. They were that swollen. Now, in addition to what you observed as far as his eyes, what if any other sort of injuries did you observe on any other part of your brother's body? I noticed some markings on his arm. Didn't look at his lower torso area at all because he was covered by a sheet. So most of the injuries that we observed was to the head area and face area.

And when you say his arm, do you recall whether that was one arm, both arms, or which arm in particular? He had markings on his right arm. I didn't notice anything on the other side. He said he saw Karen again after they left the room. Again, we saw Karen Reed being restrained by hospital employees, screaming the same things, is he alive, is he alive, is he alive?

at any point either before or after respond to any of that screaming that you heard from the defendant? I actually blew her a kiss. Now, as far as your relationship with the defendant, Ms. Reed, prior to January 29th, 2022, how would you characterize it? I thought we had a good relationship. I held her in very high regard. I thought she was a good influence on my niece and nephew.

I appreciated all the help that she was providing to my brother with the kids. We'd go out together as couples a couple times. She became very friendly with my wife, but I'd say overall we had a

We had a good relationship. Officer Stephen Serif with the Canton PD testified that he saw three women who flagged him down when he was responding to the call at 34 Fairview Road. He then described seeing John O'Keefe's body lying to the left of the property. He said there was about six inches of snow on the ground and a light dusting on top of John. He said it was near blizzard conditions outside.

He testified that as he pulled up, it looked like Karen was giving John CPR. She had blood on her face. He said she was visibly upset. She kept saying, this is all my fault. This is my fault. I did this. And she was very hysterical. And she kept asking, he's dead. Is he dead? Is he dead? And with that specific phraseology, that's something that she kept saying? Yes.

On cross-examination, Karen's attorney, Alan Jackson, asked him some questions about a dispatch log, which he said is an official document that says what time calls come in with a short synopsis of what happened. He agreed that it's supposed to be accurate. Jackson displayed the dispatch log on a screen and pointed out that Officer Serif had incorrectly written the times each officer had responded. He had listed that they had responded within seconds of each other.

In reality, Officer Serif had arrived at 6.10 a.m., Officer Mullaney arrived at 6.11, and Sergeant Good arrived at 6.15. So right off the bat, the official Canton Police Department dispatch log, one of the first documents generated in any investigative event,

That's completely wrong, right? The times are, yes. Well, the times and the orders, right? I mean, not only did Officer Mulaney not arrive first, you arrived first. That's correct. And then he arrived. Sure. So that's two things that are wrong about just that, correct? Sure. And then it has Officer, I'm sorry, Sergeant Good arriving four seconds after you, which is also incorrect. Yep. He didn't arrive until six or seven minutes after you, right? Sure. All right.

Did you ever have you reviewed this document in the past? No. You've never seen the dispatch log? No. Did you ever seek to make sure that the dispatch log that's so important, so vital in an investigation was actually accurate before it was turned over to the defense? No, I didn't. But without that dispatch log, sorry, without your dash cam, we would be relying on your dispatch log to be true and accurate. Is that right? Other than other than what I'm saying, that would happen. Correct.

Let's take away the order and the time that the officers responded. Ignore that. Is the dispatch log otherwise accurate? Yes. Jackson pointed to the address that Officer Serif had written on the dispatch log. Officer Serif read out loud, 32 Fairview Road. Did you arrive to 32 Fairview Road? No.

You arrived at 34 Fairview, correct? That's correct, yep. So even the location on the dispatch log is faulted, is that right? Sure, yep. Jackson asked him if he testified in front of a grand jury in April 2022. He said yes. Officer Sheriff, I've done you the favor of highlighting a page on page nine. Where did you indicate to the grand jurors that you actually arrived? It says 35 Fairview.

I know what it says. I'm asking if it refreshes your recollection that you actually testified under oath that you responded to 35 Fairview Road. Yes. And that is incorrect as well, isn't it? Yes. Jackson asked if he reviewed Sergeant Good's report, and he said no. Jackson asked if he's aware that Sergeant Good also wrote 32 Fairview Road. He said no.

So none of the initial police reports, not the dispatch log, not your police report, apparently not Sergeant Goods, list 34 Fairview Road as the actual location where you responded that morning, correct? As far as I know, yes. Yes, sir.

Was there an effort on your part or anybody else's, to your knowledge, to mask the actual address of Brian Albert's house as 34 Fairview Road? No, no. All those are just mistakes. Yes. Over and over and over. Yes. Officer Serif agreed that at the scene, the only one of the three women he saw engaging in life-saving efforts was Karen. Isn't it true that Jennifer McCabe

hold you aside while my client and Kerry Roberts stayed with John O'Keefe and began engaging you in a conversation. Yes. And she was providing some sort of a narrative to you, correct? Correct. While the other two women are trying to save John O'Keefe's life, she's talking to you. For brief seconds, I would say. For brief seconds? Yes. You saw that the dash cam video was several minutes on the dash cam video where she's standing and

Having a conversation with you? Are those the brief seconds? I don't know what time frame you're talking about. Right after you got there. Right after I got there. Correct. Did you ever see Jennifer McCabe do anything physically to help John O'Keefe? No, I didn't see anything. Did Jennifer McCabe offer to you during that brief second that you described, this narrative that she was having, this conversation she was having with you,

Did she ever offer the fact that she was standing in front of her sister's house? No. Did she ever offer the fact that her brother-in-law lives in the house as a first responder? Objection. Sustained. Were you apprised at any time while you were out there that the homeowner was a first responder? Objection. Sustained. Jackson pulled out Officer Serif's incident report and showed it to him. Officer Serif said he wrote it after he left the scene on January 29th.

He agreed that when he wrote it, he was trying to be as accurate and thorough as possible. You wrote in that report, quote, Karen Reed kept screaming, is he dead? Is he dead? She was severely distraught and not able to tell me what happened. Correct? That's correct. Jackson asked him if he was interviewed by Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead detective with the Massachusetts State Police, the following day, and he said yes.

Again, he told Trooper Proctor that Karen had just asked, is he dead? Is he dead? In the two times that you were asked to reflect back on exactly what happened that morning,

On January 29th and January 30th, both times you attributed only three words to my client having been repeated continually in her distraught state. Is he dead? Right? Yes. And she wasn't saying that calmly, I'm assuming. No. As a matter of fact, you used the word she was severely distraught. Is that right? That's correct. When you say severely distraught, we saw part of that on your dash cam. She was emotional. Yes. Upset. Yes.

Jackson again handed him his grand jury testimony from April 2022. No. No.

You believe you testified completely consistently at that grand jury as you had in your report? I testified for what I remember what happened, sir. I see. Was your memory better in April than it was minutes or hours after the event? Was it better? Was it better or worse? I don't know. I don't know. Do you think your memory gets better as time goes on? Not usually, no. No? Usually it's the opposite, isn't it? Yes. In fact...

On April 14th, 2022, months after this event, for the first time, you said, quote, and this is these are your words. Tell me if I get them right. See, sorry, she you know, this is my fault. I don't know. I don't know. She said, you know, I can't believe this happened. I mean, she kept asking if he was going to die, if he's dead. And, you know, I just basically said, you know, we're doing the best that we could.

That's correct. So in April of 2022, for the first time, you attributed the phrase, this is my fault. I can't believe this happened to my client, correct? That's correct. Nowhere in your official report did you say that? That's correct. And nowhere in your interview with Tupper Proctor the next day did you say that? That's correct. You think that was a pretty important omission on your part? It was an oversight.

An oversight. Yes, sir. That a woman who you made contact with standing over the body of a fallen police officer said to you, this is my fault. Just missed that one. Yes. Yes. Yes. I didn't write the film. Jackson then played the recording from Officer Serif's dash cam that day and asked if he could hear what Karen was saying to him. Officer Serif said no.

Jackson asked if it appeared to him that she was saying, my boyfriend, I left him and he never came home. Officer Serif said he couldn't understand what she was saying. Jackson played it again. Did you hear? I left him and he never came home. I couldn't understand what they were saying. You couldn't understand that? No. Do you want to hear it one more time? No. I don't think it... No. Turn the lights on, please. Now...

If my client had said, my boyfriend, I left him and he never came home, would that be something that you would find important to put in your report? Objection. Sustained. Officer Serif agreed that while he was at the scene, he was looking around for evidence. You never saw or otherwise observed, located a single piece of taillight material, did you? No. You certainly didn't see 45 pieces.

Pieces of broken plastic or tail light material? No. You never located or otherwise observed John O'Keefe's missing shoe? No. Or any other clothing of his? I didn't, no. Officer Schrapp, did you ever...

To look inside the house? No. That missing shoe? No. That never crossed your mind? No. You think that might have been a smart thing to do at the time? Rephrase the question. Sure. Do you think that would have been appropriate protocol when dealing with a body laying on a lawn that is partially unclothed to look inside the house of the law? No. You didn't think that would have been an appropriate protocol? No. For you or anybody else? No. Okay.

Multiple first responders testified about Karen Reed's behavior at the scene on the morning John's body was found.

Stephen Mullaney was a patrol officer with the Canton Police Department. He testified that Karen was screaming when he arrived. She was screaming, is that my boyfriend? Is he dead? When you say screaming in a fairly loud voice, correct? Very, very loud, yes. And as far as that sort of phraseology, as far as is he dead, how many times was that something she said? Once, more than once or something? Repeated many times.

On cross, he agreed that Karen was hysterical and distraught. He was asked about Jennifer McCabe, and he said she wasn't those things. During the time that you were on scene and you heard Karen Reed screaming and yelling in this distraught and hysterical manner, you never once heard her say, I did it, correct? I did not. You never once heard her say, it's my fault, correct? I did not.

You never once heard her say, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him, correct? I did not. If you had heard any of those statements, you would have recognized that those would have been important to note, correct? Yes, sir.

And you would have noted those in your police report, obviously, correct? Yes. Timothy Nuttall is a Canton firefighter paramedic who performed CPR on John. He testified that he could hear screaming from the three women at the scene right away. He said when he asked the woman with the blood on her face if she knew the man on the ground, she said, I hit him, I hit him several times.

He detailed the injuries he saw on John, including head injuries, an egg on the right side of the front of his head, a laceration near his right eye, which he said was also black, and scratches on his arm. On cross, he was asked more about the injuries. You've already noted what the injuries to the face were that you saw Mr. O'Keefe having suffered. Yes. Were those consistent or inconsistent with the physical alterations?

I couldn't say. Were they consistent or inconsistent with being in a fight? I couldn't say. Was that egg over his right eye consistent or inconsistent with him having been punched or hit? I couldn't say. I thought you said that one of the common causes of an egg like that, a hematoma, as you put it, over someone's eye, is being hit or punched. There's quite a few reasons.

reasons that somebody could get an egg such as that over their head. I mean, you can get hit with a golf ball, for instance. I'm not asking you to the exclusion of everything else. I'm asking, is it consistent? It's consistent. It could be. Okay. And the other injuries as well? Correct. Okay. Did you see bruising to the back of one or both of his hands? His hands were, as stated, they were very cold and very white. They were not well perfused. And

When you don't have adequate perfusion, swelling and smaller injuries don't typically present themselves, if you will. So you may not have seen that. Correct. The bruising may have been there. It might have been there. It just wasn't observable just due to the condition of his hands. Jackson asked him about how he said Karen said, I hit him, I hit him on direct.

Jackson pointed out that in a February interview with trooper Michael Proctor, days after the incident, Nuttall said that while he was rendering aid, he heard Karen say, I hit him to another female. Then that female told her to be quiet. That's not what you testified to today, though. Matter of fact, that story has changed to you posed a question and she answered your question. Correct. So which is it?

So when ventilating a patient, typically that is also used to gather information from bystanders because as I'm ventilating, I can real quick look around. Do you know this individual? Do you know anything about this individual? That's fairly typical for any scenario in this. It's just a very quick information gathering strategy.

But you will agree that your testimony today has changed from what it was from your statement to Trooper Proctor on February 8th? I don't know if it would so much say change, sir. To be honest, I don't fully recall that meeting with Mr. Proctor. I remember meeting with him. However, I don't fully remember what was discussed. So it's fair to say that your memory is a little bit faulty as it pertains to that time frame? Absolutely. Okay.

Jackson asked him if he ever told anyone at the hospital that he heard Karen say she had hit him. He said no. As a first responder and a medical professional yourself, obviously you know that the cause and manner of a victim's injuries are incredibly important as it pertains to assessing how to treat that patient. Correct.

Once you got back to the station to take a breath, did you write any report? I did not. No, I did not write the patient care report. So you didn't write a report just to finish my question. You didn't write a report that said, by the way, while I was out on the scene, I heard a female say, I hit him, and that's the cause and manner of the injuries. Not to my knowledge.

Well, you would know if you wrote a report that said that. Correct. And you did not. I did not write the patient care report. Okay. At any time that day or any day subsequent thereto, did you contact the Canton Police Department, the first responders? I did not. Let me finish my question. And say, by the way, just so you know, I heard this woman say, I hit him. I did not.

Did you ever on that day or any day subsequent there to contact the Massachusetts State Police and say, I heard this person say I hit him? I did not. So the first time you ever repeated that statement was February 8th with Trooper Proctor? Correct. Nuttall agreed that the case had gained an enormous amount of notoriety. How many times would you say that you've discussed this case and this incident with your fellow firefighters?

It's brought up around the station semi-frequently. However, being involved in it, we try to stay clear of it just because we are involved in it. So the answer is there have been many discussions. Yes. Probably daily. Frequently.

Anthony Flamati is a lead paramedic with the Canton Fire Department. He testified that when he pulled up to the scene that morning, he could see the shape of a body. The body was supine on its back. He also saw Karen Reed attempting to do CPR.

He spoke with Karen, who he said seemed most personally affected and distressed. And as far as your conversation with Ms. Reed, what have been questions asked in regard to the demographics or anything? So do you have any information of who this is? How are they here? Tried to get any type of information we could from her at that time, but with no luck.

When you say with no luck, what if anything, what if any response did you receive from this read in regards to your question? So the only response that I was personally given was just, I hit him, I hit him. Oh my God, I hit him. He said John had swelling around both of his eyes with a contusion over his right eye. His abdomen was swollen. On cross, he agreed that he had no problem seeing the figure in the snow from the ambulance.

And you indicated that the figure in the snow was on top of the snow, if you will, with some snow accumulating up the body of the individual. Yes. But he was not covered in snow. No. It wasn't like a mound of snow over this figure. There were mounds of snow in the area, but not over the patient. Due to the wind, there were snow drifts in the air. And his clothes were dark as compared to the white snow. Yes.

Jackson asked him why he didn't tell the doctors and nurses at the hospital what Karen had said. He said he does remember relaying that information to them. You do? Yes. Have you ever testified about that? Never. Never been asked about that? Oh, nobody ever asked you, so you didn't tell anybody? In the court setting, no. Testified in front of a grand jury, didn't you? Yes. Shalali asked you a bunch of questions during the course of that conversation that was on the road.

Did you ever disclose that you told the doctors and nurses that you heard a woman say I hit him? I recall telling the doctors and nurses that there is a question that the patient was hit by a vehicle or we don't know. That's what I directly said to the doctors and nurses. You directly told the doctors and nurses that there was a question about whether or not he was hit by a vehicle, right? Yes.

Have you ever said that in any context, either to the police or in a grand jury before today? I don't recall. He agreed he also didn't include that in his report. Multiple other first responders testified, many of them telling the jury what they heard Karen say. Canton firefighter Matthew Kelly said he heard he's dead.

Lieutenant Francis Walsh testified that he heard, is he alive? Firefighter paramedic Katie McLaughlin testified that she asked Karen multiple questions while at the scene.

She answered who the patient was, his birthday. I think she answered maybe some of those initial medical questions that I asked. But as I said, she was very distraught. She was kind of moving around the scene a little bit. So I was just kind of following her. And then we came to a stop at one point, and I continued to ask one more question.

What was that one more question? So at that point, I asked her if there had been any significant trauma that happened before this. What kind of trauma did she say? So she said, I hit him. She repeated it. There was a woman standing across from her who I believe at that point said, you're hysterical. You need to calm down. You're hysterical. She repeated, I hit him.

And there was a police officer who was in that vicinity kind of with us who replied, you what? She repeated it one more time. And that officer then signaled to somebody, get Goody down here, which I'm assuming would be the sergeant.

On Cross, attorney Alan Jackson asked McLaughlin about her friendship with Caitlin Albert, Brian Albert's daughter. Remember, Brian Albert is the owner of the house at 34 Fairview Road and also a Boston police officer. In regards to her relationship with Caitlin, McLaughlin said the two went to the same high school, but that they weren't close friends. She said they did have mutual friends and have gone on day trips together in the past, but that's it.

After Katie McLaughlin's testimony and after a weekend break, Karen's attorney, David Yannetti, told the judge, Judge Beverly Canone, outside the presence of the jury that new information had come to light that showed that Katie McLaughlin had perjured herself on the stand. He said he had received new photos showing the two women together, including at a baby shower about eight months prior to John O'Keefe's death.

Gennetti requested to be able to show Caitlin Elbert the photos when she got on the stand to testify in the case and question her about them. Judge Canone didn't agree that Katie McLaughlin had perjured herself, but said she would allow the defense to question Caitlin about it when she later took the stand. Paul Gallagher is a lieutenant with the Canton PD. He testified that when he arrived at the scene shortly after 7 a.m., John O'Keefe had already been transported to the hospital.

He told the court that it was snowing heavily and that there was at least four inches of snow on the ground. He said there were some light pink spots in the snow, which might have been blood. He then explained to the court how they decided to process that in a situation that was unique due to the weather.

We decided we were going to process the scene with a leaf blower. I figured we could direct the snow off the area in a controlled fashion. At that time, Sergeant Good volunteered to go get a snowblower. He said he had never processed a scene in the snow before.

After blowing the snow away with a leaf blower, he could see a part of a cocktail glass and pinkish-reddish spots. He said they were able to get almost all the way to the ground, where John's body had been. Gallagher testified that they then collected the blood samples in plastic cups. Well, the blood samples, because they were frozen, we debated on how to collect it. We didn't think swabbing was going to be...

Easy to do with was frozen. So we decided on finding some type of temporary plastic evidence container. We were able to find large cups and we took six samples. We bagged the six samples and Sergeant Lang transported them back to Canton Police Headquarters.

Photos of the scene and evidence were shown to the jury. In one, an evidence bag with the plastic cups could be seen in the Sally Port, where Karen Reed's SUV had later been taken and where it was being processed. On cross-examination, attorney Alan Jackson asked Gallagher if he ever wrote a report in the case detailing all the things he did. He said no.

Did you take notes when you were at the scene? No. Did you go back to the station and memorialize your findings and your conduct at the scene by taking notes back at the station? No, I did not. So you have no notes and no report about anything that happened at Fairview on the 29th? Not myself, no. He agreed with Jackson that details matter and accuracy is vital in a case like this.

Jackson asked him if he ever made any sort of diagram showing where the piece of cocktail glass or blood were found. Gallagher said he did not. So the glass, where the glass was found,

It's sort of an estimate. Sure. Yes. Okay. And where the blood was found, that's kind of an estimate also. Yeah. We would guess that would be where his body was. Yes. Okay. You just used the word guess. Yes. But if you had actually documented it using cross coordinates, you wouldn't have to guess. You'd know exactly where the tip of his head was with the tip of his toes were correct. No. Why not? Because he wasn't there when we got there with, uh,

Fair enough. When I say you, I meant other officers. If someone had employed that before he was moved, they could have figured out exactly how he was situated, where he was in that yard, correct? It would never happen. Life-saving measures come first. The officers are not going to start measuring while first responders are conducting life-saving measures. It doesn't happen. That's exactly right. But once the body was moved, for instance, Officer Seraf, who's literally standing there,

Could have said, okay, I just saw the tip of his head right here. He's now on the gurney. He could have measured that, right? He could have, yes. And then he could have said the tip of his toes were right here, and he could have measured that. Yes. And certainly, when there's no life-saving measures at play,

You could have done the same thing with the drinking glass and the blood spots. That's correct. And in terms of recovering those blood spots, I'll get back to that in a second. But in terms of recovering those blood spots, you indicated that you used temporary evidence containers, correct? Plastic cups, I say yes.

He testified that the plastic cups they used to collect the blood were red Solo cups, given to them by a neighbor who was also a member of the Canton Police Department. Those were red Solo cups, right? That's correct. The same kind of red Solo cup you'd drink beer out of at a barbecue? Yeah, sure, you could. There's nothing special about the red Solo cup? Other than they're plastic, nothing special. Yeah.

And where did you get those red Solo cups? We got them from Lieutenant Kelleher. So, in other words, you got, to use your words, the evidence containers from a neighbor. Correct. He had some Solo cups in his house. We asked him if he had any plastic containers, any type of plastic container that we could utilize. How far were you from Kenton P.D.?

From 34 Fairview to Kenton PD, give me an idea. Mile, mile and a half. So even in really bad weather, four minutes, five minutes, is that right, to drive? Sure. You didn't go back to Kenton PD to get actual evidence containers, correct? We wouldn't have temporary plastic containers, what we were looking for. We were looking to take samples of snow. I know for a fact we did not have those. We needed bags, bags.

needle containers, things of that nature, we're all set. But as far as plastic containers that we wanted to utilize, we didn't have them. Do you have any glass containers? No. So KBG does not have or utilize evidence collection containers that are plastic?

We have needle containers that are plastic. We have blood swabs that are in plastic containers. But for what we wanted to take a sample, we did not have. So we improvised. My next question is certainly can PD employees and phones sterile swabs? Correct.

Sterile swab is in a container that's long, and usually the swab is connected to the lid, pop it out, and then it's sealed. That's correct. And forensically stable, correct? Yes. And the reason that it's sealed and forensically stable is so nothing can contaminate the sample, correct? Sure, yes. Just as importantly, the blood sample can't contaminate anything else. Correct.

He agreed the cups weren't sterile or forensically stable. He said nothing about the scene was standard. He said Sergeant Lank was tasked with talking to the people who had gone out with John O'Keefe the night before. At the time that you tasked Sergeant Lank with this responsibility, did you...

personally that you were standing on the property of Brian Albert? I did. Did you also know that Sergeant Lank had an ongoing and a long time relationship with the Albert family? Jackson. Did you know that? I know he knew them, uh,

I think you're mischaracterizing the relationship. Did you see a problem with having somebody who knew the parties taking the initial statements from those parties? Not at all, Sergeant Lank. No issue at all. Not in your mind? Not in my mind. Were you aware that before you got to the location that Sergeant Lank had taken it upon himself to already make contact with the individuals in the house? Objection.

I'm going to see you at sidebar, please. Gallagher was asked if he found a man's shoe, a black baseball hat, or any pieces of bright red, clear, or black broken taillight anywhere at the scene. He said he did not. He was asked about the piece of cocktail glass that he had found. Did you ever go inside the house to search for the other part of the glass? Absolutely not.

Because you made up your mind initially where that glass came from. Objection. You can answer that, sir. No. Did you search the house for any other matching glasses? No, we will. No. Matter of fact, you didn't search the house for any physical items, did you? Of course not.

Is that because that house belonged to a Boston police officer? No, it's because it requires probable cause, as you know, which we did not have. Or at least you didn't think you had at that time. We knew we didn't have it. Did you seek it from a judge? I'm familiar with what probable cause is. Did you seek a probable cause warrant from a judge? No, I did not. Right.

Did you ask for consent to search the house? We wouldn't do consent, and that's in a death investigation. That wasn't my question. No, I did not. Okay. Is that because you were at the house of a Boston police officer? No, it's because we wouldn't do it. Because if consent is denied, we still don't have probable cause, and we still couldn't search the house. But you never asked, did you? Never asked.

Jackson displayed photos of Karen's SUV in the Sallyport. He focused in on a dirty rag that was on the floor, alongside a stop-and-shop grocery bag next to the rear panel of the SUV. This was the bag with the red Solo cups inside. It does not look like an evidence bag, does it, sir? No. Matter of fact, it looks like a grocery bag. Correct. All right? Yes. So, not a forensically stable item, correct? Correct.

Correct. Certainly not sterile. Correct. Correct. You know where that bag came from? I do not. Was that a bag that you supplied to Sergeant Lang? I do not know. Do not recall. Lang got the stop and shot bag. I do not know. Next photograph, please. Taking a look at what's been marked as evidence item 39.

You recognize what's in the middle of the photograph? Yes. What is that? Those are the plastic cups with the coagulated blood. Do you see on the top of the photograph the same rag? I do. With the same markings? Yes. It appeared that those unsealed cups with liquid blood in them are situated right near the right rear quarter panel of the SUV in this photograph? To the rear of the vehicle, yes.

And next item, please. And this appears to be evidence item 41. I'm sorry, 40. You see the same white rag. Yes. And you see the same evidence bag. I'm sorry, stop and shop bag. Correct? Correct. And it's filled with six solo cups. Correct. With what appears to be liquid blood. Correct. Correct.

Jackson asked him if having the bag with the plastic cups of blood in them that close to the SUV was a recipe for cross-contamination. If you want me to speak to if I could speak to this incident alone. That's a yes or no question. Do you think it's not yes or no? But for your purposes, I would say yes. In fact, could even be worse. For instance, not just inadvertent cross-contamination. Somebody wanted it.

to touch something on that bag, on those cups, and then touch the vehicle, they could easily do that with that juxtaposition of the open blood next to the back of the rear of the car. Objection. Sustained. Lieutenant, if somebody was so inclined, that situation could provide an opportunity for evidence tampering, couldn't it? Objection. Sustained.

Sergeant Sean Good with the Canton Police Department testified that while at the scene, Karen Reed's dad called them and said he had just talked to Karen and that she was making suicidal statements, stating that she wanted to end her life. Karen's dad said he wanted her to be put in protective custody. Sergeant Good said he called Carrie Roberts and told her to bring Karen back. They returned to the scene quickly. They then took Karen to the hospital for mental evaluation.

He said at some point they told Jennifer McCabe to go inside and wake up the homeowners that they needed to speak with them. And why did you say that specifically to Mr. McCabe?

We have no idea why John O'Keefe is laying on the front lawn of a house. We have no idea. The statements from the three people, we need to figure out what happened last night, that night. And so I guess my question is more why Ms. McCabe versus somebody else? Ms. McCabe is the sister-in-law of the homeowner. So she would be a friendly face to knock on the door at 6 o'clock in the morning in a blizzard.

He said he and Sergeant Lank ended up going inside the house. He had never been there before, but he did know Brian Elbert. He said, "'He's the brother of a coworker I had been working with for 18 years.'" As a reminder, Brian's brother, Kevin Elbert, was also a Canton police detective. Sergeant Good said they spoke to Brian and his wife, Nicole, in the front room. When asked about their demeanor, he said they looked like they had just gotten woken up at six o'clock in the morning.

He said that conversation lasted for about 20 or so minutes, and then the officers went back outside. On cross, Karen's attorney, David Yannetti, asked him if he grew up in Canton. He said yes. Is it true that in your graduating class was somebody named Courtney Proctor? Yes. You knew Courtney Proctor? Yes. You knew her to be Michael Proctor's sister, correct? Yes.

Also in your graduating class was somebody named Joe Daniels, correct? Yes. You knew her or now know her to be Christopher Albert's sister-in-law, correct? Yes.

Yes. Christopher Albert is married to Jill Daniel's sister, correct? Yes. And you know Christopher Albert as Brian Albert's brother, correct? Yes. So it is fair to say that you graduated high school with Michael Proctor's sister and Christopher Albert's sister-in-law, correct? Yes.

Yes. And, you know, growing up in Canton and, you know, working for 18 years as a Canton police officer, you're well familiar with the Albert family of Canton, correct? I work with one of them. You know that the Albert family is a well-known family in Canton, correct? Sure. The Albert family is well connected to the town of Canton, correct? Correct.

I don't know what you mean by connected. They live in Canton. Yes. All right. Well, Christopher Albert is a Canton town selectman, is he not? Yes. And you've already established that Kevin Albert is a Canton police officer, correct? Yes. And...

You already testified that you knew Brian Albert as well, and you knew that he was a Boston police officer who lived in Kent, correct? Yes. In fact, he and his family lived at 34 Fairview in Kent, correct? Yes. You also knew that his family had been there for years before Brian Albert owned the house, his parents owned it, correct? Yes.

Sergeant Good testified that after he had finished his paperwork, he was told that Canton PD would be recusing themselves from the investigation and that the Massachusetts State Police would be taking over. During Good's cross-examination, Yannetti also asked him about Brian Higgins, who was an ATF agent, which stands for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Brian Higgins was a friend of Brian Elbert's, who had been out with John O'Keefe and the group the night before.

Good testified that Higgins had an arrangement with the Canton PD, where he worked out of their department. On the night John O'Keefe was killed, Good testified that he saw Brian Higgins come into the police station at around 1.30 a.m. When you first saw him there at 1.30, did you have any idea why he was showing up? No. And when you first saw him...

Do you remember what entrance he used to come into the Canton Police Station? I don't. It was from the backpack lot. I don't know if he was on the left back rear or right back rear. And you would agree with me that 1.30 in the morning was hours before John O'Keefe was found unresponsive on Brian Albert's front lawn, correct? Yes.

You had no information at 1.30 in the morning that John O'Keefe was out on Brian Albert's front lawn at that time, correct? Correct. And when Brian Higgins entered the department, that was the first time you had seen him on either the 28th or the 29th, correct? Correct. And this is, again, at 1.30 in the morning. Yes. Say yes or no. Yes. Thank you.

No. Absolutely not. No. Correct. Yes. Yes. No.

And you don't recall how close you got to him? No. Are you able to tell this jury anything about his demeanor? No. He just walked in. It's not unusual. We wouldn't have made pleasantries or say hello to each other. It's not uncommon. And you don't recall whether or not you got close enough to him to smell his breath or to smell what he smelled like, correct? No. At any point, did he tell you why he was there?

No. How long did he remain at the station for? No idea. I only saw him come in. Never saw him leave or anything like that. Gennetti then asked Sergeant Good about his initial response when getting the call. He agreed it wasn't his duty to respond and that he got someone else to cover his dispatch duty he was on that night so that he could go.

He said he also called two other colleagues who weren't on duty to respond. He testified that he knew at that time that it was Brian Elbert's house. He was asked if he and Kevin Elbert, his colleague, had discussed the case in the weeks after John's death, and he said yes, but he couldn't recall the details of their discussions.

Sergeant Good testified that he conducted a thorough search of the area, looking for anything out of place. The scene was cleared at almost 8 a.m. During that...

100 and I'm sorry, that one hour, I should say in 40 minutes, you did not find 40, 45 pieces of red and black and clear taillight pieces at 34th. Correct? No. How many pieces of taillight did you find on or around that property? That morning? None. Did you find a men's hat, black and colored? No. Okay.

Did you find a size 12 men's shoe, black in color? No. Yannetti also asked about Good's police report. On the face sheet, which is the very beginning, the home address was listed as 32 Fairview Road. Good agreed that was inaccurate. Yannetti pointed out that among all the people listed in the report of who was present the night prior, Brian Elbert's name was the only one who wasn't spelled out.

Did you omit Brian Albert's first name to mask the fact that he was involved? No. No. Do you know who Colin Albert is? I know that he is Chris Albert's son. And so therefore he'd be Brian Albert's nephew? Yes. Anywhere in your report do you mention that Colin Albert was present at 34 Fairview the night of January 28th going into January 29th? No.

Yannetti also asked him why the address for Brian Higgins was listed as that of the Canton Police Department. Now, Brian Higgins was not an involved person because he was an investigator on the case, correct? Correct. He was not involved in this case in an official capacity, correct? Correct.

And that's where I'm going to stop today.

This trial, as you can see, is very complex, and so it will take multiple parts to cover as accurately and as relevantly as I can. Part two will be out in the next regularly scheduled release date, and if a part three is needed, which I am almost positive it will be, I'm going to try and get it out the following week after that, so you won't need to wait that additional week for part three, since I typically release episodes every other week.

Trust me, this case is complicated, but I found it incredibly fascinating, for lack of a better word. You won't want to miss the testimony of the friends who were out with John and Karen the night before and who were present that night at the 34 Fairview House. The lead detective also takes the stand and makes some stunning admissions. And then the defense puts on their case with some really interesting witnesses as well.

There is a lot to cover, so thank you for your patience with this one. It's been a highly requested case, and I wanted to get it out before another major development takes place later this month. I don't want to give away any spoilers. If you know, you know. Thanks again for listening. Until next time. Pluto TV has all the shows and movies you love streaming for free.

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