Murder suspect Karen Read has broken her silence in a rare interview, insisting she is innocent and claiming there was a police conspiracy over her boyfriend’s death.
Read, 44, was charged with second-degree murder and motor vehicle manslaughter in connection with the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, 46. His body was found in a snow pile in the driveway of retired officer Brian Alpert’s home after a night of heavy drinking.
She was accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV in January 2022 and then leaving him to die in a snowstorm. An autopsy found the officer died of hypothermia and blunt force trauma to the head.
After an eight-week trial, the judge declared a mistrial in July after The jury of 12 could not reach a verdict. The Public Prosecution Service plans to retry her in January.
During the ABC-20/20 In the interview that premiered Friday, “Karen Read: The Perfect Storm,” Read maintained her innocence, claiming she was “framed” for a murder she didn’t commit and that she is the victim of a cover-up.
Karen Read, 41, was accused of hitting O’Keefe with her SUV in January 2022 and then leaving him to die in a snowstorm
Boston police officer John O’Keefe pictured with Read before his death
During an interview before her trial, Read was asked, among other questions, “Did you kill John O’Keefe?”
‘Could it be that you hit him with the back of your car and didn’t realize it?’
Read insisted it was “not possible” she ran over her boyfriend and dismissed all evidence, including the broken taillight she found in the trunk of her Lexus SUV, the key piece of evidence in the case.
At the scene of the accident, fragments of the broken taillight were found on O’Keefe’s body.
Read insisted that a ‘p‘Police conspiracy’ allegedly blaming her for the mysterious death of her boyfriend.
Read speaks with her attorney — and has a bewildered expression on her face — as the jury deliberates in her murder trial in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham, Massachusetts, in June.
Pictured: Read sits in Norfolk County Court during a preliminary hearing as photos are shown
John O’Keefe’s dream was to become a police officer, an old friend told ABC
She said she had a strange feeling when she discovered O’Keefe wasn’t home after she left him earlier that evening.
‘I called a couple of his mates to wife. I had a feeling of fear – a fear inside me that I had never expected before.
“I was afraid he had been hit by a plow.”
When she drove to Albert’s house to look for him, she made the horrific discovery.
“I jumped out of the passenger side and fell into the street. His eyes were closed and he had blood stains in different places 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 a strange feeling to know that “I’m okay. I’m not going to die, but he’s here with me, and he’s going to die, and I can’t warm him up.”‘
Karen Read reflects on her process in an interview with ABC News reporter Matt Gutman in the episode 20/20
Read’s attorney told 20/20: “John O’Keefe was murdered. There’s no doubt about it. He died at the hands of another person,” he said. “There are people who know exactly what happened to John O’Keefe, and they’re not talking.”
Read’s defense team argues that the injuries to O’Keefe’s body and the trauma to his head and hands are not consistent with being hit by a car.
A close friend of O’Keefe told ABC that his friend always dreamed of becoming a police officer and that he was following in his grandfather’s footsteps.
In 2014, O’Keefe became a surrogate father to his niece and nephew.
During the conversation, Read recounted how O’Keefe’s parents behaved toward her after she met them following their son’s death and realized they suspected her of the murder, Fox News reported.
“They pulled into the driveway ahead of me. I assumed they saw my cracked taillight and thought, ‘Did you hit my son?'” Read said.
“As we were driving home, I said to my dad, ‘I need to get a lawyer.’”
Read was arrested days after O’Keefe’s death on February 1, 2022, and charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter resulting in death and leaving the scene of a traffic accident resulting in death.
The broken taillight on Read’s SUV is the key piece of evidence in the case
She pleaded not guilty in Stoughton District Court, and was called “America’s luckiest killer” as she walked around the courtroom laughing and giggling.
In June of that year, she was indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury and the charge was upgraded to second-degree murder.
At the time, the Norfolk County Prosecutor’s Office presented the circumstances surrounding O’Keefe’s death as a drunken night out gone wrong.
The team discussed Read’s high blood alcohol content before she hit her boyfriend with her SUV in front of a private residence, leaving him for dead.
She shared, “This is no life. I’m not in jail, but this is no life. I’m stressed every day.
I’m waiting for the next accident.
‘It just feels like some kind of purgatory.
Read’s attorney told 20/20 that “this man was not hit by a car.”
“John O’Keefe was murdered. There’s no doubt about it. He died at the hands of another person,” he said.
“There are people who know exactly what happened to John O’Keefe, but they don’t talk about it.”