The Karen Read Case - Accident, Murder, or Police Cover-up? - We Saw the Devil: A True Crime Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
Sunny spaces, smiling faces, happyplaces. But every sunny space holds a
shadow. Behind every smile, oursharp teeth, and every happy place has
something sinister lurking just below the surface. Welcome to We Saw the Devil,
the podcast diving deep into the chillingrealms of true crime. Join your host

(00:26):
Robin as she unravels mysteries that haveleft investigators baffled and armchair sleuth's obsessed.
Be forewarned, Dear listener, WeSaw the Devil is not for the faint
of heart. Our unflinching exploration willtake you to the darkest corners of the
psyche, and through the unimaginable depthsof human darkness, to unearthed stark secrets,

(00:46):
to the harsh light of day.Nothing will be left untouched. Are
you ready? Are you sure?We Saw the Devil? Hello? Everyone,
you are listening to We Saw theDevil. This is Robyn and I
am here with ain't new episode.I've been really excited for this one.

(01:07):
It's a relatively newer case for me. I was going to put it out
last week. I announced it andthen we went into Verdict Watch. I
thought for sure on Friday that averdict would be read but oh no,
no, no, no, no, no verdict on Thursday, no verdict
on Friday. In fact, thejury is deadlocked. The judge told them

(01:30):
to take lunch and go figure itout. And we're going to be heading
into Monday, and I wonder ifwe're going to get a verdict on Monday.
Picture this, a woman, herlife entangled with a police officer,
stands accused of the unthinkable, usingher own black Lexus SUV as a murder
weapon against the man she loved andleaving him to die in a blizzard.

(01:53):
Was it a tragic accident shrouded inconfusion and covered up by police corruption,
or was at the calculated act ofviolence fueled by perceived betrayal. Apparently the
jury doesn't even know, because againthey are currently deadlocked. And I'm not
envious of their decision here whatsoever.The prosecutors say that the defendant backed her

(02:16):
SUV into her boyfriend while dropping himoff at another Boston police officer's home following
a night of drinking. Then shesupposedly just left him to die in a
snowstorm and arraging nor'easter. In fact, the defendant's attorneys say that she's being
framed in widespread cover up among lawenforcement and local influential families, and much

(02:38):
like the notorious case of Michelle Carter, which also took place in Massachusetts,
an incredible number of text messages areat the heart of the evidence, and
they are salacious. This episode isabout Karen Reid and her former boyfriend,
police officer John O'Keefe, and Ihave to say I haven't been this interested

(02:58):
in a trial in ye, noteven Lori Valo, Chad Dabell, any
of that. But this trial isfascinating in a way that the Michelle Carter
case also fascinated me as well.If you don't know much about it,
I hope that you will also godown the rabbit hole with me on this
one. I can't even think ofthe last time that I've seen the defendant
plead not guilty to all charges andclaim police corruption and cover up. I

(03:22):
mean not only that, but thetext evidence doesn't really paint any of the
law enforcement personnel in a good lighteither. And you guys also know how
jury's work. Considering that many ofthe officers were called as witnesses, that's
a giant green check mark in thecolumn for the defense. So does Karen

(03:43):
Reid have a chance at dating thesecharges or will she be convicted? She
was charged with second degree murder,punishable in mass by life in prison with
the possibility of parole. She alsofaces lesser charges of manslaughter while operating a
vehicle under the influence by five totwenty years, and leaving the scene of
an accident resulting in death, whichis punishable by up to ten years.

(04:08):
In short, the TLDR is thatshe is up against a lot of prison
time, and people feel so stronglyabout this case that there's even a free
Karen movement where supporters agree that she'sbeen framed. I mean, it's absolutely
wild. I haven't seen this inquite a while. And when I made
the post on Instagram announcing this episode, a couple of you commented and said,

(04:30):
yeah, none of you think thatshe should be or will be convicted,
And that does seem to be apretty general consensus from what I've seen
online as well. A lot ofpeople are thinking that she may just beat
these charges. But we are goingto get into all of that first.
As always, let's just get thequick housekeeping out of the way. You're
listening to We Saw the Devil Ifyou're not following on social media, please

(04:54):
do so. You can follow theshow at We Saw the Devil podcast on
Instagram, or if you like meand want to follow me, you can
follow me at Robin Underscore WSTD.Fair warning, I pretty much just post
pictures of food and dogs. Thenext episode is actually going to be an
episode on the trial portion of theKaren Reid case. This is more or
less a part one. We're goingto go through what transpired the events leading

(05:18):
up to the trial, and thenpart two is actually going to be what
happened during the trial and the evidencethat came out why the jury is struggling
with their decision. Following that episode, there will be the Chris chan episode,
and that entire series is finally drawingto a close. I know I've
said it once, but I'll sayit again and this time actually meet it
with conviction and say it with mywhole chest. I am back full time

(05:41):
with the podcast, so make sureyou're following on at least Instagram. That's
the primary. I am working alsofor it on a new website, so
that should be up in the upcomingweeks. There's just so much going on
in the world right now and Iwant to talk about all of it.
I mean, I don't know ifyou guys have recovered from the debate at
Shady Pines the other the presidential Iuse that term loosely debate Shady Pines the

(06:04):
other night. But oh my god, I don't know how many of you
are just kind of defeated at themoment. But let's just let's focus on
true crime and more interesting things here. And as always, if you enjoyed
this episode, please take twenty secondsout of your day to leave a five
star review on iTunes, Spotify,whatever platform in which you're using to listen

(06:27):
to this. It means a lotand impacts the administrative side of the show
and in terms of sponsors and thingslike that. But let's go ahead and
get into it. So. KarenReid and John O'Keefe both met in their
early twenties in two thousand and fourand briefly dated. The relationship did not
work out due to poor timing,and then they each went basically off in

(06:49):
their own directions to pursue different paths. Karen became a college professor and James
went on to become a police officer. They reconnected on fate book in twenty
twenty, and Karen Reid really admiredthe fact that John was taking care of
his sister and brother in law's childrenafter their parents tragically died. His sister

(07:10):
died of a brain tumor and thenher husband two months later died from a
heart attack, so John O'Keeffe endedup taking care of his niece and nephew.
After reconnecting, they soon began todate again. At that point,
Reid was an equity analyst and adjunctprofessor at Bentley University who lived in Mansfield,
but ended up spending most of hertime at John O'Keefe's home helping with

(07:32):
the kids, and their relationship wasnot without its own issues. Back in
twenty twenty one, the couple wenton a New Year's Eve trip to Aruba
with roughly like seventy seventy five friendsand family, mostly from John O'Keefe and
the police officer's law enforcement well.One night, John was drinking in the

(07:54):
pull bar and began to make hisway back to his hotel room. As
he made it into the lobby,I mean he was drunk, kind of
wobbling all over the place. Apparentlyhe saw the younger sister of one of
his friends as she was coming outof the elevator, and by her account,
John was more or less wasted.He leaned on her and then she
pointed at his hotel room, likethe general direction of his hotel room,

(08:16):
and gave him directions to it.He then kind of sauntered away. Now
at that exact moment, his girlfriend, Karen Reid was coming out of the
lobby and saw that exchange. Well, she ran over to John publicly and
screamed, who the fuck was that, and he explained, Hey, it's

(08:37):
just the sister of a friend.Karen then turned around cursed at the girl,
and then she and John returned totheir hotel room, where they argued
and screamed at one another for abouthalf an hour in front of John's minor
niece and nephew. They were miners. Well. Later that evening, John
disappeared entirely and refused to answer Karen'stexts. And that was new and he

(09:01):
ended up missing New Year's Eve andringing in the New Year with her.
She had returned to the room tocelebrate it with the kids by herself,
and he was off doing whatever.And the entire relationship is you'll come to
learn via witness statements and text messageswas rife with accusations and acts of infidelity
on both sides, and because ofthe sheer volume of cell phone data present

(09:24):
in this case, we have nearminute to minute knowledge of what transpired.
So let's begin two weeks before JohnO'Keefe's death. And here's the thing to
you, guys, And it's reallyinteresting. And I know it's about framing
too write about true crime cases.You know, it's kind of the joke
about she lit up the room everytime she walked in, everyone loved her.

(09:48):
You know, there's almost always thisdesignation the victim is almost always just
kind of like elevated and you know, put on a pedestal in a way.
And I understand why, you know, why it's framed that way in
the media. But in this case, there's really no one's really great,
Like, no one is actually anastoundingly amazing human being. And I don't
think anyone really lights up a roomhere, So it's just it's interesting.

(10:13):
But on January twelfth, twenty twentytwo, again, January twelfth, twenty
twenty two, Karen Reid obtains thecell phone number of ATF agent Brian Higgins,
and the two of them flirt viatext message, and then Karen goes
to his house three days later onthe fifteenth to watch a New England Patriots
football game as a former mayor gopats, but after the game, as she's

(10:39):
leaving, she kisses Brian Higgins.She then later returns to his home a
couple days later. They apparently discussedtheir feelings for one another whether they wanted
to pursue a relationship. Higgins wouldlater testify on the trial recently that they
did not kiss again and that theyhad no intimate contact whatsoever. Now,
this happened while Karen Reid was stillin an active relationship with John O'Keeffe,

(11:05):
so she obtained a cell phone numberof someone that she found attractive, kissed
him, and he was a friendof her boyfriend. By the way,
Brian Higgins knew John O'Keeffe. Acouple days later, on January twenty eighth,
Karen and John were consistently in textingquarrels. At one point, she
asks him to tell her if he'sinterested in someone else, and he replies,

(11:28):
quote, things haven't been great betweenus for a while. John invited
her over to his family's home,but Karen refused because she just didn't want
to deal with his family. Laterthat evening, a group of Boston police
officers returned from a trip to NewYork City, where they had attended the
funeral of an officer who had beenkilled in the line of duty. These
officers were Brian Albert, Kevin Albert, Brian Higgins, and Eddie Hernandez,

(11:56):
and they first went to a localpub before heading over to another bar call
called Waterfall. Also on the twentyeighth, at around seven pm that evening,
John O'Keefe texts Karen that his nephewis at a friend's house and that
he wanted to go out for adrink. Karen replies that she's having an
issue with her water heater and askeda plumber who lived in her neighborhood to

(12:16):
come take a look at it.John tells her not to worry about it
at that time and to come meethim instead, writing quote hope your plumber
buddy that you quote unquote texted ishot. He then offers to look at
it for her, but Karen saysshe'd rather wait for the plumber. Karen
and John end up going getting dinner, having a drink, and then the
group of police officers that I mentionedbefore they were at Waterfall, and so

(12:37):
they texted John and asked him tomeet them there. So around eleven pm
on the evening of the twenty eighth, Karen and John joined the group at
the bar and Higgins again our dearatf agent at Brian Higgins, also friends
with John O'Keefe, sent Karen Reida flirtatious text message as she was sitting

(12:58):
there with John, Brian's friend andher boyfriend. Now, to her credit,
Karen did not respond or reply tothat text message. Know a little
bit more about the people in attendance. So Chris Albert was a town selectman.
Brian Albert was a Boston Police officerwho leads the Fugitive Apprehension Team,

(13:22):
and he was also featured on theshow Boston's Finest. Also there was Brian's
sister in law, Jennifer McCabe.And this is more or less the core
group of people of interest and ofnote for this case. At the bar,
John drank beers and Karen drank multiplevodka sodas, five of them to
be exact. A little after midnight, both groups end up leaving the bar.

(13:46):
Many from the large group of officersend up going to Albert's home at
thirty four Fairview Road. I knowthis can be a bit confusing, but
bear with me. It'll get easieras we go. But thirty four Fairview
Road. Many from that original firstlarge group of officers ended up going over
there to continue to drink and party. They invited Karen Reid and John O'Keeffe.

(14:09):
Karen did not want to go,but apparently told John that she would
drop him off, and surveillance footagewould actually catch her black suv at multiple
locations across Canton, the town wherethis transpired. On the way to that
home around twelve eighteen, John calledand asked for directions to the home.
At twelve thirty am, other guestswere arriving. Now, snow is coming

(14:31):
down. If for any of myfellow New Englanders out there, you know
it. It was a day wherethere was a nor'easter coming through, so
lots and lots of wind. Thesnow is coming down. But people who
were arriving testified that they saw ablack suv pull up to the front of
the house. A woman was drivingand there was a man in the passenger

(14:52):
seat. Now, John O'Keefe's cellphone records record him taking thirty six steps
and traveling eighty five feet. Roughlyfive minutes later, as some of the
guests were departing, they see ablack SUV pull away with only a woman
inside and she's driving. They didnot see anyone else in the vehicle and

(15:13):
did not see any sort of bodyon the lawn. Now, what happens
next is a series of interesting movesand text messages between all parties involved,
and there's a lot of GPS evidenceas well. At twelve thirty six am,
Karen Reid's cell phone automatically connects tothe Wi Fi at John O'Keefe's house.

(15:35):
She calls him, the first ofmore than fifty phone calls she makes
to him between this time and sixoh eight am. Again, over the
course of about five and a halfhours, she calls him more than fifty
times, getting more and more andmore agitated and irate. One voicemail that
she ended up leaving said John,I fucking hate you. At twelve fifty

(15:58):
nine am, she left John ovoicemail saying, quote, John, I'm
here with your fucking kids. Nobodyknows where the fuck you are, you
fucking pervert. One eleven am,she leaves a voicemail for him that says,
quote, it's one in the morning. I'm with your fucking niece and
nephew, You fucking pervert. You'rea fucking pervert. Seven minutes later,
she leaves another voicemail telling him thatshe's going home and accuses him of being

(16:22):
with another woman again, for likethe eightieth time, she calls him a
quote fucking pervert. Between one thirtyam and two AM, the last of
the guests leave the gathering at thirtyfour Fairview Road. One guest saw a
black blob on the lawn and remarkedon it, but no one investigated further
or got out to see what itwas, and this is a note.

(16:45):
At two twenty two am, BrianHiggins receives a one second call from Brian
Albert. Again Brian Higgins. RememberBrian Higgins is the ATF agent that Karen
Reid kissed and was one of John'sfriends. Recall, so, Brian Higgins
receives a one second call from BrianAlbert and then seventeen seconds later he calls
Albert back. That call lasted twentytwo seconds. Higgins ended up denying making

(17:11):
those calls or even speaking to Albertat that time, and both of the
men said that those calls were buttdials, quote unquote butt dials. Now,
I waffled on including this in thisepisode or the next episode when we
talk about the trial, but Ithink it's worth noting here. At two
twenty seven am, according to thedefense and digital investigator Richard Green, in

(17:32):
the trial, Jim McCabe searches howlong to Die in Cold on her cell
phone. Again, Jen McCabe searchedquote how long to Die in Cold on
her cell phone at two twenty sevenam that morning. She denied making that
search at the time that being said, two digital forensics experts who testified for

(17:56):
the defense both determined that at twotwenty seven am, she opened a browser
on her phone to search for thelocal sports league that her children play in,
and that the time stamp of thatsearch was from when the tab was
opened, not when she actually madethe search. So that I know that
that has been brought up constantly online, you know, wy at two twenty

(18:18):
seven am, but way before thebody was found, way before anything happened.
Did this woman who was present atthe home search how long to die
in cold, So just wanted tomake that clear. At two thirty am,
a plow driver came down the street. He knew the family. The
Alberts were very very very very wellwell well known and well connected family.

(18:41):
And from what I've gathered based onpeople who live in the area and what
they've been saying, a lot ofthese people like Jim McCabe, the Albert
family in particular John O'Keeffe. Ihate to simplify it this much, but
there are people that are well connected, you know, the attractive, popular,
wealth connected, little bit more wealthypeople right in high school and whatnot.

(19:03):
Everyone knew them, they lived there. Canton is apparently a town where
like ninety eight percent of the peoplethey grew up there, they stay there,
they die there. So they werevery well connected and very very well
known. So at two thirty am, a plow driver came down the street
and I think he saw like anextra car or something, and he kind
of ignored it or something. Anyway, he did a favor for the Albert
family because again he knew them,and he did not see a body on

(19:27):
the lawn at that time. Fourthirty am, Karen Reid says that she
woke up alone in the same closefrom the night before on the couch at
John O'Keeffe's home, and John O'Keeffewas not there. So she goes to
John's niece and tells her that,hey, he didn't come home last night.
Can you try to get in touchwith him? So the niece,

(19:48):
again a minor, texted John andalso did not receive a response to a
text or a phone call. Karendidn't have Jim McCabe's number or any of
the other people's phone numbers, Iguess, except problem maybe for Brian Higgins.
So at four fifty three am,John's niece called Jim McCabe. Karen
didn't have her phone number, soshe had the niece call her. So
the niece called Jim McCabe and toldher, Hey, John didn't come home

(20:14):
last night. He didn't return home, So Jim McCabe spoke briefly to the
niece and then then did end uptalking to Karen Reid and Karen agreed to
come over to Jen's house five twentythree am. Karen leaves a voicemail for
John, saying John, where areyou? At five thirty am, we
go back to the plow driver,Brian Loughren, and he testified that at

(20:36):
this time he returned to the FairviewRoad Albert home and was unable to go
past Carriage Lane because the road wasblocked off by first responders. Now,
prosecutors said in the trial that becausethere were no first responders at the scene
that time, that his account ofthat is inaccurate. So at five thirty

(20:56):
five am, Karen Reid arrives atJim McCabe's home, and then Carrie Roberts
arrived soon after. Now, CarrieRoberts is a friend of John O'Keeffe.
Carrie Roberts actually previously dated John O'Keeffe'sbest friend who was also a police officer,
and he had ended up. Youknow, they dated and she got
pregnant with his baby and then hecommitted suicide. So Carrie Roberts remained friends

(21:22):
with John O'Keeffe and a lot ofthe other officers. She was very involved
with her friend group and they actuallyassisted and kind of helped her and you
know, like helped with the kidsand stuff like that, basically gave a
support system to her. So KarenReid, Jen McCabe and Carrie Roberts.
They end up going to John O'Keefe'shome to look for him there. Obviously,
he wasn't there. While they arethere, though, Karen Reid shows

(21:47):
Jen McCabe and Carrie Roberts her brokentail light on her SUV. Why I
don't know, Like, why wouldyou show them that? But I don't
know. I digress. But theyobviously do not find John O'Keefe present at
the home. At his house,he never came home, So they then
go back to thirty four Fairview RoadAt six oh three am. Karen Reid

(22:10):
says that she sees John outside onthe lawn of the Fairview Road home.
She jumps out of Carrie Robert's car. Carrie and Jen leave the car in
the middle of the street and theyrun up with Karen Reid to the lawn
and they find John O'Keeffe, stillalive, but completely unresponsive. Karen races

(22:30):
towards him. She drops to herknees down beside him. She's screaming.
She frantically moved the snow all Ithad been storming again a nor'easter, so
he's covered in snow. She clearsthe snow off of his body. She
lifts up their shirts. She getson top of him. She tries to
warm him up. Blood is comingout of his nose and mouth. His

(22:53):
right eye was black and swollen.And of note too, is that his
base and one of his sneakers werealso missing. Jim McCabe ran back to
the car. She grabbed blankets andthen she put blankets on top of him
and they dialed nine to one oneofficially. Just one minute later, at
six four am, six thirty am, atf agent Brian Higgins is woken up

(23:18):
by phone calls from the Canton PoliceChief Ken Burkowitz and Brian Albert. He
initially ignores the first phone call fromken Burkowitz, but does in fact answer
Brian Albert, who tells him whathappened that John O'Keeffe was found deceased.
Higgins gets dressed and drives to FairviewRoad. Jim McCabe then walks up to
the house, knocks on it,tells Brian and Nicole Albert, hey,

(23:42):
John was found dead on your lawn. That point police show up and they
begin to interview people, specifically Jen, Brian and Nicole in the home.
And while that's going down, JohnO'Keeffe is taken away in an ambulance to
Good Samaritan Hospital. Now also interestingis that Carrie Roberts offered to drive Karen

(24:02):
Reid to the hospital, but theygot a call from Karen Reid's mother and
Karen said that she should be involuntarilyhospitalized, So Carrie Roberts ends up turning
around and going back to the house. At six forty seven am, John
O'Keeffe arrives at the Good Samaritan Hospitalvia the ambulance. His body temperature at
that point is eighty point one degreesand he is in cardiac arrest. At

(24:27):
seven fifty am, John O'Keefe ispronounced dead. Just a minute later,
Karen Reid arrives at the hospital viaan ambulance as well. Eight thirty am
Julie Albert arrives at thirty four Fairof You Road to drop off Duncan donuts
for Brian Albert Junior, and that'swhen she learns that John O'Keefe is dead.

(24:48):
Now here's where it gets kind ofinteresting. Nine am that morning,
everyone is aware that John O'Keefe isdead. Karen Reid is in the hospital
at the Good Samaritan Hospital as well. Jennifer McCabe calls Officer Lank and asks
him to come back to thirty fourFairview Road. Via her testimony, she

(25:08):
tells them that she heard Karen Reidsay quote I hit him, I hit
him, I hit him. However, according to the defense team, she
heard her say I hope I didn'thit him. Which one is true,
we do not know. And nineoh three am a blood alcohol test is
ordered for Karen Reid to test foralcohol and recreational drugs, you know what

(25:32):
was in her system. Her blood'sdrawn at nine oh eight am and arrives
in the lab five minutes later,and at nine fifty three am, the
test comes back and shows that shewas at point zero nine to three point
zero nine three, and the Massachusettslegal limit is point zero eight, so
that much later in the morning,hours after she'd likely consumed alcohol, she

(25:55):
was still blown a point zero ninethree. She should never, ever,
ever, ever, ever, everhave been on the road or behind a
wheel And this is when we havethe state troopers enter the picture. At
ten am. We have Troopers Bucknickand Proctor and State Police Trooper Michael Proctor
is a name that you are goingto want to remember for the next episode.
Especially so Bucknick and Proctor arrive atthe Canton Police Department and they speak

(26:19):
to other officers there basically just toget some information about what's going on.
They're filled in. They go tothe hospital to interview the first responders who
are on the scene. They seeJohn's body, they collect his clothing is
evidence, and then they go toJennifer and Matt McCabe's home to interview them,
and during that interview, Brian Albertarrives and is also interviewed. At

(26:42):
one nineteen pm, Trooper Proctor calledKaren Reid from his personal cell phone.
That information was not shared with thejury during the trial. One twenty seven
pm, Karen Reid makes a Googlesearch on her phone for dy lawyers.
That information was also not shared withthe jury. So two fifteen pm,

(27:04):
Carrie Roberts was actually interviewed and talkedto a TV news station like she did
an interview about what was what hadhappened Matt McCabe, you know, and
this involves that first initial larger groupof officers and family and friends. Initially,
right the larger group that was atthe home, Matt McCabe sends a
group text message saying, quote,tell them the guy never went in the

(27:26):
house. Brian Albert responds back andsays exactly. Jennifer McCabe says, she's
telling them everything. At two thirtypm, Bucknick and Procter arrive at Karen
Reid's parents' home to interview Karen andseize her cell phone and car. They
leave two hours later with her SUVon a tow truck. At four fifty

(27:48):
six pm, Lieutenant Kevin O'Hara ofthe State Police Special Emergency Response Team arrives
at the home on Fairview Road andanother officer arrived as well to do an
evidence search. An hour later,there are seven police officers on the scene,
going through the home and the yardlooking for evidence. They conclude their
search about an hour later, alittle after six point fifteen, when they

(28:11):
finished their investigation of the property,the State Police troopers meet at the Canton
Police Department and they all collectively debriefon the case, and the Canton Police
Department actually recused itself from the investigationdue to you know, obviously John O'Keefe,
and then they began to go towork on the evidence. About ten
pm that evening, they laid JohnO'Keeffe's clothing out to dry because it was

(28:36):
soaking wet from the snow. Theylaid it out on butcher paper at the
Canton Police Department to let it dryout. And then also worth noting,
and this is what I'm going totalk about more in depth in the next
episode on this but at ten fiftythree PM, Trooper Proctor actually is discussing
the case with his personal friends ina group chat. He tells his friends

(29:00):
that Karen Reid hit John O'Keeffe withher car, and Brian Albert, you
know, the homeowner and friend whereJohn was found on his lawn, had
absolutely nothing to do with the deathwhatsoever. So Trooper Procter was telling his
personal non law enforcement friends about thecase and the evidence in what was going
on the next day, on Januarythirtieth, Brian Higgins, our atf agent

(29:23):
friend, asks a friend who worksin a local FBI forensics lab advice on
how to extract data from his owncell phone. He brings his phone into
an FBI chios to extract those textthreads that he had had with both Karen
Reid and John O'Keeffe in order togive them to the Massachusetts State Police's evidence
On January thirty, first, theautopsy was completed on John O'Keeffe's body.

(29:48):
Doctor Irene Scordi Bellow determined that O'Keefesuffered blunt forced trauma to the head before
becoming hypothermic and was not involved inany physical altercation before his death. The
manner of death, however, isundetermined. The next day, on February
first, Michael Proctor he was againdiscussing this case with his personal friends.

(30:11):
He was making fun of Karen Reid. He called her a cunt, he
called her a whack job. Hethen also texted his sister and told her
that Julie Albert wanted to give hima gift for his assistance with the case.
What was he assisting with? I'mnot usually one to insert myself into

(30:32):
the narrative, but what exactly washe assisting with? Also on that day,
in Massachusetts State Police crime Lab forensicscientist Maureen Hartnett, she goes to
the Canton Police Department and she doesa full analysis of Karen Read's SUV and
from the suv she ends up recoveringa hair and several pieces of glass from
the rear of the car and removesthe broken Tailwight. Investigators at this point

(30:56):
are also not finished with the homeat thirty four Fair of You Road,
and it's also shown during this timethat Matt McCabe drove by the home and
saw that investigators were out on thelawn, and he actually ended up texting
Brian and Nicole Albert, the homeowners, to let them know. Karen Reid
was officially arrested and arraigned on Februarysecond, the next day on the charges

(31:18):
of manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide bynegligent operation, and leaving the scene of
personal injury or death. Now Karen'sprimary attorney that she had hired at this
point his name is David Yanetti,and as David Yanetti was on his way
home from the arraignement, he apparentlyreceived a phone call from a tipster,
and this anonymous man had previously calledhis office and then requested a callback,

(31:44):
so he called him back. Initially, this man gave David a fake name,
but he ends up telling Yanetti KarenReid is innocent. John was beaten
up by Brian Albert and his nephew. They broke his nose and when John
o'kee didn't come too, Brian anda federal agent dumped his body on the

(32:04):
front lawn. Again. Initially thiscaller was anonymous, but David Yannette did
end up identifying the man. Theman did actually well, he was forced
to hire an attorney. That attorneyended up making a statement that Yanetti the
attorney, that his version of eventswith that completely incorrect, that the man
never told him that. It's curious, right, So Karen Read's attorney after

(32:29):
she was arranged, ends up returninga call if some random tipster who tells
him, Hey, she's innocent.I know what happened. John O'Keefe was
beaten up by the Albert family andthey ended up dumbing his body when he
didn't come too So given that information, that's when David Yanette and Karen Reid

(32:51):
began to kind of suspect apparently ifyou trust that version of their event,
their version of events, that shewas being framed. What's fascinating is that
they actually hire a private investigator togo door to door throughout Canton, and
a lot of the people were scaredto talk. They turned them away.

(33:13):
But there was one person, oneresident in the town. His name is
Tom Batty, and he was afriend of both John O'Keeffe and Karen Reid.
He ended up telling this private investigatorthat his daughter, who was friends
with Brian Albert's nephew, Colin Albert, said that Colin had been at thirty
four fair View Road the night thatJohn O'Keeffe died. Two things here,

(33:37):
a that tipster said that Brian Albertand his nephew beat up John O'Keeffe,
and then a federal agent helped dumphis body, so that kind of confirmed
in a way that the nephew wasthere potentially, But then also it supposedly
helped jog Karen Read's memory that duringspring of twenty twenty one, night she

(34:00):
and John O'Keeffe were in bed,his security alarm started going off in the
middle of the night, so hejumped out of bed to see what was
going on, and then Colin Albertand other teenagers were all out in his
front lawn saying go fuck yourself,and Karen Reid remember John screaming get the
fuck out of here. And apparentlythe next morning they woke up and there

(34:20):
were like a dozen beer cans allover their lawn in the bushes, and
they didn't call police, but apparentlyat that moment is when John O'Keefe and
Colin O'Keefe more or less had beef. They more or less hated each other,
and to Karen Reid's recollection, Colinwas the only person that she was
aware of that John ever had anyproblems with. A little time after that,

(34:44):
Karen Reid and her father actually wentto David Yannette's office to meet with
him, and that was when DavidYannette showed her. It was the first
time that she saw pictures of John'sbody. She said that she basically had
a breakdown after it because it lookedas though someone had quote beat the shit
out of him, and apparently hehad a black eye swelling, he had

(35:07):
an injury on his arm, andthe wound on his arm was particularly intriguing.
Karen was talking to her mother aboutit and she was describing the injuries.
Her mom asked, could that befrom an animal? So Karen Reid
ended up calling Tom Batty, rememberthat one guy who confirmed that Colin Albert
was in fact at Fairview Road.And She's like, hey, did the

(35:29):
Alberts have a dog? And hesaid, yes, a German shepherd.
A couple months later, Karen Reidwas having lunch with some friends. They
had actually been summoned to testify infront the grand jury. Originally they were
friends with both her and John andthey mentioned and they tell her that State
Trooper Michael Proctor, again our friendlytrooper, had actually been friends and known

(35:52):
the entire Albert family for years.So all of these series of events,
the anonymous tipster, Tom Batty,the random resident who knew that Colin Albert
had been present at the home,that he had previously had issues with John
O'Keefe, that Karen was there thenight that he apparently Colin showed up and

(36:13):
you know, trashed and screamed athim in the middle of the night.
All of these things. Basically atthat point they were starting to come together
and kind of form a narrative ofI might be being framed here and this
might be a cover up. There'salso a really great interview. Karen Reid
did a lot of interviews, likeshe came out of the gate, and
I think that the presentation and kindof the choice that the defense team made

(36:37):
has been really, really, reallyintriguing the way that she's carried herself.
I mean, let's be honest,y'all, she's not likable. I mean,
I lived in Maine for like sixteenyears or something. Heinous, and
let me tell you, she isjust straight out of you know, she
should have a T shirt, theblack T shirt with the white font.
This is straight straight out of mask. Like, she is definitely a Massachusetts

(36:59):
resident. Love it, love it, love the attitude. But she very
much, you know, has thatkind of like very strong abrasive tells it
like it is personality. So that'skind of been fascinating to watch. But
she did a really really great interview, like more like blog article where she
talks about her entire experience with this, and this was pretty much the time

(37:19):
when she I think she was ashower thought of where she was like,
holy crap, I'm being framed.And this was kind of the time that
that happened. The following day,on February third, Bucknick, and Proctor
go to the Fairview Road home andthey do another evidence search. Now this
time they find John O'Keefe's baseball hatand they find a cocktail straw in pieces
of broken glass and plastic. Now, when they left Waterfall that night,

(37:45):
John O'Keefe actually walked out of thebar holding a cocktail glass, like he
literally just walked out with it.We'll talk more about that in the next
episode when we talk about the trialand stuff that they discussed in the trial.
But they found the baseball hat thatwas missing, a cock tail straw,
and pieces of broken glass and plastic, which I can assume at this
point most likely was the tail lightbuck. Nick and Proctor also interviewed Brian

(38:08):
Higgins on that day, February third, and Higgins came prepared. He had
printouts and digital copies on CDs ofall of his text conversations with Karen Reid
and John O'Keeffe that he himself extractedfrom his cell phone. They also again
interviewed Nicole Albert and Brian Albert.Later that day, Canton Police Chief Kennon

(38:30):
Berkowitz drives by the home himself,just in happenstance to see if the snow
had melted. It had gotten alittle warmer as his New England weather,
so he drove by the home tosee, hey, some snow has melted,
maybe there's something more that we missed, And they actually found more glass
there and they found more pieces ofplastic. On February eighth, tenth eleventh

(38:52):
and eighteenth, so lots of plasticfound at the scene. Also on February
fourth, our friend Michael State troopertexts his sister quote, hopefully she kills
herself again. This state trooper textedhis sister hopefully Karen Reid kills herself.

(39:12):
On February twenty six, Colin Albertis photographed out and about with friends in
a Boston area bar, and inthat photo, his knuckles look like they
have actually been cut up, likethey were injured, they had some sort
of trauma. Albert would go onto testify in the trial that he'd hurt
his hand when he fell walking upan icy driveway. However, the defense

(39:34):
implied that that injury very well couldhave come from a fight. And here's
where it also kind of gets juicy. So in April, Karen Reid at
that point had pretty much accepted thefact that she was more or less about
to be fucked. She needed somefirepower on the defense team to really have
some sort of chance at this.So she starts to Google and she comes

(39:55):
across criminal defense lawyer Alan Jackson.No O Chattahoochie fame, but Alan Jackson
a defense lawyer who's defended Harvey Weinsteinand Kevin Spacey both. This is also
part of her blog article that shedid, which is fantastic. But she
was trying to come up with aheadline, a subject line of her email

(40:15):
that would get his attention. Sothe title of the email was murder of
a Boston cop that apparently worked.It got his office's attention, and then
shortly thereafter, Karen Reid, herdad, and David Yanette, her other
attorney, got on a conference call. David Yannette had already sent over the

(40:35):
autopsy and apparently, according to Yanetti, Alan Jackson said, quote, how
the fuck are they saying he gotthese injuries, because, again, John
O'Keefe, he had injuries. Hehad black eyes, a swollen, contoosed
face, he had gashes all overhis arms that appeared strange, and supposedly

(40:57):
Alan Jackson more or less agreed thatit looked like he been beaten up and
then attacked by an animal, andthat he didn't really appear to have just
been hit by a car. Soin any case, he officially joined the
defense team and then more or lessbegan kind of exploring this particular theory that
John O'Keefe went into the home wasattacked by the Albert family, attacked by

(41:21):
their dog, and then they wentoutside and dumped his body on the lawn.
And Ellen found a lot of weirdand shady happenings, and some of
this is based on text communications,the supposed butt dials between Albert and Brian
Higgins the night, you know,during the time that John O'Keeffe was apparently
supposedly on the lawn, the Germanshepherd that the Albert family had. I

(41:45):
mean, I'll go over all ofthis in part two, and I suggest
if you're interested in this, youlisten to that. You know, I'll
go over this evidence more in detail. A dog that was gotten rid of,
you know, a German shepherd thatwas rehomed very very very very soon
after this particular incident. The homewas almost immediately sold. People got rid
of their phones immediately or magically theirphones weren't working. Also, again that

(42:10):
search that Jen McCabe made, well, that search actually appeared again two more
times, and Jim McCabe said thatKaren Reid asked her to search for it.
I mean, so much weird shithappened and came out during this discovery
phase. Alan Jackson submitted a ninetytwo page affidavit to the court basically laying

(42:31):
out the entire theory created by thedefense team that Karen Reid was innocent,
that he was actually killed in afight, beaten attacked, and left outside
to die in a nor'easter. Laidit all out. So June ninth of
twenty twenty two, Karen Reid isofficially indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury

(42:52):
on charges of second degree murder,manslaughter while operating under the influence, and
leaving the scene of a personal injuryor On August sixteenth of twenty twenty two,
Michael Proctor is granted a search warrantfor Karen Reid's cell phone, and
he partially searches the phone before it'sbasically snatched away because of her attorney basically

(43:13):
got it revoked, but he doesagain texts that wonderful group of friends he
has and laughs and jokes about goingthrough her phone searching for her nude photos.
Proctor is a real stand up citizenand someone you really want to be.
A state trooper in charge of apotential homicide investigation. And here's what's
really really interesting. On September fifteenthof twenty twenty two, the defense filed

(43:37):
emotion for a court order instructing BrianAlbert, Julie Albert, Colin Albert,
and Brian Higgins to preserve their cellphones and all of the data on them.
A week later, Brian Albert wentinto a cell phone store said,
Oops, my cell phone broke acouple weeks ago. I need a new
one, and he ends up tradinghis cell phone in for a new one.

(44:00):
A week later, Brian Higgins changeshis cell phone carrier and also gets
a new phone and phone number.His excuse for this is that some random
person involved in a case he wasinvestigating found his personal cell phone number weeks
before and he just now decided tochange his cell phone. So we have
Brian Albert got a new cell phonelike a week after the defense filed for

(44:23):
emotion to preserve it. We hadBrian Higgins changing cell phones and getting a
new one as well. It's really, really, really bizarre. And then
in November of twenty twenty two,Brian and Nicole Albert list their home at
thirty four Fairview Road for sale.Now, as is the case with true
crime, in twenty twenty four,I mean cases blow up, literally in

(44:45):
a matter of hours. If they'recovered on YouTube or TikTok, some people
take an interest in them, theycan blow up in a matter of hours
with hundreds of thousands, if notover a million views. Well, there's
a blogger by the name of AidenKearney and he's known as turtle Boy,
and he had a blog and alsoa YouTube channel. So in April of

(45:05):
twenty twenty three, he basically createsa blog and starts posting about how Karen
Reid was framed, and he discussesthis as a basically a police cover up,
and he begins to communicate with KarenReid through a friend and ends up
communicating with her defense team. Now, if you follow the Chad day Bell

(45:28):
and Lorie Vallo case, you knowthat there's one in particular YouTuber who used
to go to the witnesses and thepeople involved, you know, on the
periphery of the case, and hewould harass them and he would ask them
questions and show up at their homeand you know things like that. Well,
Aiden is very much he likes toprovoke. He even calls himself an

(45:52):
entertainer. He's like, I wasborn to do this, and he just
doesn't give a shit, and heactually went to Jen and Matt McCabe.
He went to their child's lacrosse game, and he actually ended up confronting them
and posting that confrontation on YouTube,and that majorly went viral. He titled

(46:14):
that video Canton cover Up Part one. Corrupt state trooper helps Boston cop cover
up murder of fellow officer, frameinnocent girlfriend. Now the media itself,
proper media say like in this case, you know, Boston Globe, Boston
Harold, you know, legitimate newspublications. There's a level of integrity right

(46:37):
that journalists must utilize when they tellstories, but influencers and bloggers aren't held
to that standard. Really, andAiden Kearny basically the same complete clickbait headlines.
He began live streaming talking about it. He called it the Canton cover
Up. He would have at leastlike two videos every week on YouTube,

(47:00):
and he was starting to get tensof thousands of views per episode, like
this was starting to make national wavesinstead of being a more state or regional
type of interest. On July twentysecond of twenty twenty three, so last
year, Aiden organized a rolling roadrally where he tried to get protesters to
drive past the homes of witnesses inthe case like Brian and Nicole Albert,

(47:24):
Michael Procter and his wife jin andMatt McCabe in the Canton Police Department,
Thomas Kelleher, as well as theCanton Police Department as a whole. He
was basically a one man organizer gettingthis free Karen Reid movement up and off
the ground, right off the batand putting that narrative out into the world.

(47:45):
The trial hadn't even happened at thispoint, so naturally, with all
these blogs, tens of thousands ofpeople watching this on YouTube, starting to
talk about it on TikTok, thereare countless tiktoks on this as well.
I mean, this is real whereit kind of grew teeth and grew up
into something very public. And onthat same note, by October tenth,

(48:06):
twenty twenty three, Aiden Kearny isarrested and arraigned on witness intimidation charges because
he was going all in calling askingneighbors, having people walk by harass them
in public. So he's finally actuallyarrested and arraigned in that and spends a
little bit of time in jail Ibelieve he was in jail for about about
two months because he was finally arrestedas well on assaultant battery charges. Those

(48:30):
charges were dropped, but he didend up remaining in jail for two months
for the witness intimidation, which isjust wild. In January of this year,
January fifth of twenty twenty four,Karen Reid's defense team filed a motion
to dismiss the case, and thejudge came back two months later denying that
motion. And then I mean,then we head into the trial. So
in April, middle of April ofthis year, the jury selection began.

(48:52):
April twenty ninth, the trial officiallybegan, and June twenty first, the
prosecution rested. Three days later,on the twenty fourth, just last week,
the defense rested its case. Thedeliberations began the following day, on
the twenty fifth, after the Commonwealthin the defense gave their closing arguments.
I mean, and as it's thetwenty ninth, now a Saturday, we're

(49:15):
in the weekend. I mean maybeMonday, maybe we'll hear something Monday.
Don't know. Like I said inthe beginning, y'all, I do not
envy this jury whatsoever, And thereare so many questions here in this in
this case. Excited to talk aboutthe evidence found on both sides in the
next episode because it really it's reallyinteresting when you go into a trial and

(49:38):
you know that the entire purpose isto prove beyond a shadow of a doubt,
right that X, Y or Zhappened. And there's a lot of
doubt in this There's a lot ofdoubt. And it may seem as cut
and dry as Okay, he wasin the car, then he wasn't in
the car. Her tail light's broken, and there's hair and you know what

(50:00):
not on that in the broken tailtail light area. It's pretty cut and
dry. But the thing about itis that a good criminal defense attorney can
plant that seed. And not onlyhave they majorly planted that seed. They
went out, got the private investigator, They went out interviewed people, They

(50:21):
have gotten information and crafted this narrativeof he could have been beaten and dumped.
This could be a cover up.That's wildly interesting to me. So
I have no idea how this isgoing to turn out. I know that
based on what I've read, basedon what I've watched and read, and
the evidence presented to me. WhatI find so fascinating about this case,

(50:43):
in particular, is that the defenseteam, Karen Reid's defense team, has
done something that is so freaking rare. You do not see this every single
day. They have no obligation toprove or show that someone else committed this
crime, right, the defense teamhas no burden to do that. I'm
gonna be honest with you. Idon't think that Karen Reid is innocent.

(51:07):
I think she did it. Ithink that she was trashed, and I
think she ran him over. Idon't believe personally in this theory of police
corruption and cover up in this,that and the other. But here's the
thing. It doesn't matter. Itdoes not matter whatsoever, because that's not
the purpose of the defense team.The purpose of the defense team obviously,

(51:31):
it's nice of you can prove thatyour client is innocent, but it's to
prove that there's reasonable doubt of herguilt. And it just so happens that
their narrative behind the reasonable doubt isthey're claiming that the police did it.
You know, this other magical personwho came in and did it law enforcement.
In this case, they're claiming lawenforcement and that law enforcement committed the

(51:54):
crime and then covered it up andthen followed up by trying to frame her
for it. And we see thisand we see this all the time,
Right, someone gets arrested for drugpossession. I didn't have that. The
cops planted that on me. Thecops did it. I didn't do this.
The cops are dirty. OJ Simpsonpulled the same thing, right with

(52:15):
the gloves and all of that,But like, it's so hard to pull
that off, and the fact thatit's happening in this case is absolutely insane.
And her defense team has been justchef's kiss of going and doing the
grassroots legwork at getting and uncovering inconsistenciesand really strange circumstances and then also shitty

(52:44):
police work. They got the topwitnesses in the fields of you know what
they were looking at. So,say, for example, one particular witness
we'll discuss, analyze the health appon John O'Keeffe's cell phone to basically,
because it shows if you go,how how far you go, It shows
you walk, change in elevation,how many steps, so forth. The

(53:05):
defense team actually utilized that cell phonedata, looked at the numbers, got
a top expert in it, andthen utilized that evidence to say, look,
John O'Keeffe was in the basement ofthat home at Fairview Road. All
the while the prosecution is saying,no, John O'Keeffe never made it inside.
They had top experts analyzed the woundson John O'Keeffe's body, saying that

(53:29):
they were consistent with the dog bitefrom a dog the size of the ones
that the Alberts had in the home, the one that they had to rehome
because guess what, plot twist,the dog had a bite history. It
had bitten people previously. So JohnO'Keeffe ended up dead with strange wounds on
his arm. Shortly thereafter, theAlbert family rehomed their dog and said,

(53:52):
oh, well, it has ahistory of biting people. The thing about
it, I mean, there's somuch hateration holeration in this dancer ree that
who knows what's true? You knowwhat I mean? So I guess,
just for me, the highlight ofthis case has really just been seeing the
defense team at work. It's actuallyreally brilliant. I mean, and I'll
just say it right now. IfI were on the jury, I would

(54:14):
vote absolutely not guilty, just becausethere's no way that you can prove beyond
a reasonable doubt that she's solely responsiblefor it. And when you think of
the perspective of a jury and howthey feel about this, right State Trooper
Michael Proctor sending text messages regarding thecase he's working that he's investigating to his

(54:37):
group of friends and sister and family, calling Karen reeda cunnt, talking about
how he was when he was supposedto be looking for evidence. He was
looking for her nude photos in herphone. The butt dials at weird times,
right when a potential altercation could havetaken place, and let's be honest,

(54:57):
police officers even off like gonna havetwo grown men in the middle of
the night each butt dial each other, right, Like, that's not a
thing that's going to happen anymore intwenty twenty four. So I digress,
y'all really excited for this verdict.There are certain cases where I just my
heart sings because I feel like theright decision is going to be made and

(55:19):
this is going to be very,very very unpopular opinion. Please don't come
for me, I know, butin the Casey Anthony trial, I believe
they made the right decision. Doesit suck? And do I think that
she was responsible for her death?Yep, yep I do. But the
thing about it is that it's proofthat the justice system can sometimes work.
And as fucked up as our countryis right now and can be, has

(55:42):
been, probably always will be,there are little glimmers of hope in our
legal system at times when it's clearthat the beyond a reasonable doubt is actually
working. And so I think thatI'm hoping at least that that's the outcome
we're going to get with this,But I guess you'll just have to wait
and see. But that's it fortoday, guys, Thank you for listening.

(56:04):
I know this episode was more ofjust a generic timeline, but I
just wanted to go through the chainof the major chain of events before we
get into the trial coverage. Sothere's at least, you know, kind
of a foundational understanding there. Nextepisode is going to be the trial coverage
again. Then we'll get into theChris Chan We're going to finish that up
and then get back into straight throughcrime again. If you're not following the
show on social media, make sureto check out Instagram for up to date

(56:28):
news that We Saw the Devil podcastand if you're interested in My dogs,
Are My food or me, youcan follow at Robin Underscore WSTD until next Crime

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The Karen Read Case - Accident, Murder, or Police Cover-up?

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Karen Read Case - Accident, Murder, or Police Cover-up?