Elisa Donovan

In 2022, Karen Reed was charged with manslaughter and second-degree murder, accused of killing her boyfriend, a Boston police officer, after a night of heavy drinking during a brutal snowstorm.

Prosecutors claimed she hit him with her car and left him outside in the snow.

The story absolutely dominated local news and became a national obsession.

After a 2024 mistrial, the case was retried a year later and Karen Reed was acquitted of murder charges.

But between accusations of a police cover-up, massive public protests, and true crime fandom, the verdict only fueled the fire.

So today, we are talking with Katie Cassidy, who plays Karen Reed in Lifetime's new film, Accused, The Karen Reed Story.

OK, today we are talking about Karen Reed and I am here with my producers to lay it out for you.

Well, first of all, to be clear, and this speaks to how so many people know about this case, I remember first being aware of it by someone standing on an overpass on the freeway in LA with a big sign that said, free Karen Reed.

And I was like, who's Karen Reed?

And who is that?

So that made me look it up.

And I went, oh,

Oh my God, this woman.

So she, what happened is this woman lived in Boston with her boyfriend.

It was a blustery winter snowy night.

They all went out drinking.

And then she was accused of hitting this man with her car and leaving him to die and freeze to death in the yard of a friend.

Now, there is so much evidence to the contrary.

And in fact, it's about like police cover up.

All of these people believe that the Massachusetts Police Department is a conspiracy against her.