New evidence emerges in case involving death of Boston Police officer

By Jay Turner

New questions are being raised and assumptions are being reconsidered concerning the January 2022 death of John O’Keefe, a Boston police officer and Canton resident who was found dead in the snow outside a home on Fairview Road.

O’Keefe’s girlfriend, Karen Read of Mansfield, was arrested days after his body was discovered and was subsequently charged with second-degree murder for allegedly running him over with her SUV and then fleeing the scene. The prosecution’s case against Read, who has maintained her innocence, hinges on witness statements as well as plastic pieces recovered at the scene that allegedly match pieces missing from Read’s taillight.

While attorneys for Read have insisted from the outset that O’Keefe was not struck by Read but rather was the victim of a violent assault, the defense team last week introduced new evidence in court that they say exonerates their client.

Notably, Read’s lawyers have introduced the cell phone records of a woman who was at the Fairview Road residence on the night O’Keefe went missing that reveal, according to their analysis, a deleted Google search for the phrase: “Ho[w] long to die in cold.” According to the defense team’s motion, records show that search was made at 2:27 a.m., more than three hours before O’Keefe’s body was discovered.

The defense further alleges in its motion that the cell phone’s owner took “calculated steps” to purge the initial search phrase before handing the phone over to law enforcement.

According to Read’s attorneys, based on their own testimony to investigators, neither the cell phone’s owner nor others inside the home on Fairview Road that evening would have had any reason to be concerned about O’Keefe’s well-being at that hour because they all maintain that O’Keefe never entered the home that night. Read, however, insists that she did drop him off at the residence to attend a party hosted by the owner, a fellow BPD officer. (The property in question has since been sold.)

Despite the party-goers’ testimony, Read’s defense team has further offered evidence from O’Keefe’s phone indicating that upon arrival at the Fairview Road home, O’Keefe took approximately “80 steps and climbed the equivalent of three floors.” Based on that data, they said, the only “reasonable interpretation” is that O’Keefe made it into the home that night.

Additional evidence presented by the defense highlights the wounds found on O’Keefe’s body, including blunt force injuries to both sides of his face and a “cluster of deep scratches and puncture wounds” on his right arm that they allege are consistent with a dog bite.

Read’s attorneys have also highlighted what they allege to be clear conflicts of interests involving the State Police investigator on the case and outlined alleged family connections with some of the people in attendance at the party. Additionally, they said prosecutors withheld the cell phone they had requested for over a year before turning the evidence over to the defense for a forensics analysis.

In a statement issued in response to the defense team’s allegations, the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office emphasized that it has “not yet been determined that defense has interpreted the raw data correctly.”

According to DA spokesman David Traub, “The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office has asked defense repeatedly during the pendency of this matter to provide any actually exculpatory evidence to support their claims.”

The accuracy of the cell phone data presented by Read’s attorneys, and specifically the timing of the alleged Google search attempts, will be of particular importance moving forward given the prior testimony of those who were at the home that evening.

According to Traub, prosecutors plan to present a “formal and detailed response” to the defense motion at the next court hearing “May 3 or after.”

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