In light of Karen Read’s retrial, Lauren and Chandler revisit her first trial from 2024. They walk through the full timeline, key evidence, legal strategies, and the emerging controversies surrounding law enforcement’s role in the investigation.00:00 – 03:00 Intro, Format & Re-Release Context03:01 – 05:00 Who Were John O’Keefe and Karen Read?05:01 – 07:00 The Night in Question07:01 – 10:00 Early Morning Discovery & Initial Reactions10:01 – 13:00 Phone Records, Taillights & 911 Call13:01 – 16:00 Charges, Legal Teams, & Investigation Overview16:01 – 20:00 Evidence at the Scene20:01 – 24:00 Conflicting Theories & Relationship Dynamics24:01 – 28:00 Defense Strategy & Possible Coverup Claims28:01 – 33:00 Missing Footage, Evidence Chain & Key Players33:01 – 37:00 Surveillance Gaps & Timeline Breakdown37:01 – 42:00 Technology Data, Text Patterns & Phones42:01 – 47:00 Witness Testimony Challenges & Investigative Concerns47:01 – 52:00 Prosecutorial Position & Rebuttals52:01 – 57:00 Federal Oversight & External Reports57:01 – 01:03:00 Final Review of Conflicting Evidence01:03:01 – End What Comes Next & Closing ThoughtsCheck out our amazing sponsors:Clean Simple Eats: Shop Clean Simple Eats protein powder and use code POPAPOLOGISTS for 10% off!Earlybird: Click here to try EarlyBird CBD/THC gummies and use code POP20 for 20% off. Please note this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.For more Pop Apologists, follow along at:@popapologists on InstagramPop Apologists on YouTubeTo support the show, consider subscribing on Patreon or anywhere you listen to podcasts, where you can get bonus episodes of Pop Apologists every Monday and Friday!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the context and format of this re-released episode?
Hi everyone. Okay. I just wanted to explain how this week's episodes are going to go. So this week we do have a brand new full episode for you all that is being released as our deep dive into the Karen Reed trial part two. So it's the episode that comes after this.
This episode is a re-release of our original deep dive into the death of John O'Keefe and the trial of Karen Reed that we originally published on June 20th, 2024. 10 days later on July 1st, 2024, Karen Reed's trial was declared a mistrial. So we are re-releasing our full deep dive on the case.
And then our episode that is up right now, our part two, it covers everything from her case being declared a mistrial, what's gone down in the year since, and then this first week of her back in court. Okay. So if you want to listen to just the updates and and just the new fresh content on Karen Reid, I urge you to go to part two.
But we wanted to re-release part one for anyone who doesn't know the brass tacks of this case and wants a full primer on all things Karen Reid. So without further ado, please enjoy our deep dive on the death of John O'Keefe and the trial of Karen Reid. And then if you've already heard this episode, just head on over to part two. Well, well, well, Chandler. Hello. Hello.
We are here today to do a true crime deep dive. We don't do true crime very often, but every now and then a case comes across our desk and we have to do a deep dive on it. So today that is what we were doing. Yes, Chandler. This case is so interesting. Without further ado, we are getting into the death of John O'Keefe.
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Chapter 2: Who were John O’Keefe and Karen Reed?
Now, what is very, very crucial in this case is none of it honestly makes a ton of sense. And I think you go into it thinking, like, of course the girlfriend did it. And the woman who's on trial right now is named Karen Reed. So here are the basics about John O'Keefe and Karen Reed. Officer John O'Keefe was a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department.
So the thing about John O'Keefe, and I really want to start with the victim in this case and the person who is deceased. He sounds like one of the most stand up wonderful men on this podcast and Chandler, especially there can be some man hating happening. And that does not apply to the valiant man that John O'Keefe seems to have been.
So, yeah, this isn't just because, you know, he was a civil servant. Would we call a police officer a civil servant? I'm not sure. Maybe. Yes, definitely. Remember the time that there was that murder outside dad's office building and those police officers showed up and they were like the most valiant, courageous men and women defending? You almost called them soldiers. I know.
But I just honestly, I have never respected and just felt more protected than when those brave men came to the scene of an active shooter near dad's office. That we were all watching. Yeah. Yeah. These people really put themselves in the line of duty. So absolutely a civil servant. And he was really known for his dedication to his work and family. Yes, Chandler.
What I'll say is I think what makes this case really complex and baffling is that this deals with potential corruption within a police department. And that is really undercuts, you know, the man that John O'Keefe was. So John O'Keefe was known for being a wonderful, wonderful man.
He had been living in Canton, Massachusetts since 2014, and he was actually raising his niece and nephew after his sister died of a brain tumor and her husband died of a heart attack two months later. So the kids, their ages are 16 and 13 at the time of John's death, and they affectionately called their funcle, their fun uncle, by the nickname J.J.,
For the past two years, he has dated a woman named Karen Reed, who is the primary suspect and who is being charged with his murder. He was only 46 years old when he died. So who is Karen Reed? Karen Reed is a 44-year-old equity analyst living in the Boston suburb of Mansfield, 10 miles away from John.
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Chapter 3: What happened on the night of John O’Keefe’s death?
She is listed as being on the faculty in the finance department of Bentley University as an adjunct lecturer, a position she has held for more than 13 years. So she's an accomplished, very astute financial professional and scholar. She has worked in equity research in the tech sector for Fidelity Investments for more than 14 years.
She lived in Mansfield, but spent much of her time at O'Keeffe's helping with the kids. So they originally dated in their twenties, but then they broke up and they reconnected during the pandemic. All right. Okay. So let's get into the crime and the day where all of this took place.
So on January 28th, 2022, Karen and John, as well as a handful of Boston police department friends and their wives went out for an evening at a few local bars. After last call, the group headed to Brian Albert's home. He's another Boston police department. So this is the Boston police department. Yeah. I don't know, maybe it's like Canton was a town within the Boston area.
Yeah, I think it's like San Clemente is in Orange County. Yeah, totally, totally. So after last call, the group headed to Boston PD Sergeant's Brian Albert's home to continue the gathering in the early hours of January 29th. So basically, they're all out on the night of January 28th, and they want to keep the party going at Brian Albert's house.
So sometime during that time, tragedy struck and John ended up dead. Three days later, Karen was arrested and is currently on trial for second degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a personal injury and death. John's death specifically.
John's death, the following investigation and the ongoing trial has many twists, turns and reasonable doubt that has everyone split on what has happened and who is to blame for his death. So let's really dive into what we know. Okay, so let's get into the hours before John died on January 28th, 2022. So over the course of the evening, John and Karen have a large number of drinks during the night.
They are at this bar and they're shown on surveillance footage as appearing to be in good spirits, affectionate with each other. After the bar's last call, other members of their group are heading over to Boston PD Sergeant Brian Albert's house and John wants to join.
Karen was reportedly apprehensive about joining the group at Brian Albert's home since she didn't hear them receive an invite to join the group. I mean, we've all been there, right? It's like, are we actually invited to this party? Right. So this is what Karen says.
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Chapter 4: How was John O’Keefe’s body discovered and what were the initial reactions?
So Karen and John leave the bar and surveillance video shows John taking a cocktail glass containing a drink from the bar on his way out. So that's very important to remember. He has a glass in his hand from the bar when he leaves. Right. So Karen drives her and John to Brian Albert's home in her Lexus SUV. And they arrive at the Albert's home at 1245 a.m.
Karen allegedly drops John off at the Albert's driveway and waits in her car to hear back from John, you know, whether or not they were actually invited to the home. She testified that she was not feeling well. And so after about 10 minutes of waiting to hear back from John, she was reportedly irritated and drove away. Around 5 a.m.
that morning, Karen woke up and realized that John wasn't home still. Call logs show that Karen tried calling John many times, 53 exactly, between 1230 a.m. and 603 a.m. She called Jennifer McCabe, who is Brian Albert's sister-in-law. Okay, Brian Albert, the house that they're all at.
She calls his sister-in-law, Jennifer McCabe, who was with the group the previous night to see if she knew where John was. Jennifer did not know where John was. So then...
jennifer calls chris albert's wife julie to see if she knows where john was so i'll just say here she calls the brother so brian albert's brother is chris the brian albert is the house they were at she calls his brother's wife julie to see if she knows where john is at this time yeah karen told jennifer and julie that john didn't arrive home last night and that her memory of the night before is bad since her last memory was at the waterfall bar the night before so she doesn't even remember the driveway necessarily
Karen allegedly said she was worried he might be dead. So then, together, Karen, Jennifer, Julie, and Kerry Roberts, who is a lifelong friend of John's, go looking for him around 5.30 AM. Yeah, I think that, so I kind of, I'm interested, curious for your thoughts on this. I mean, you pull up to a house. You're a boyfriend. You've both been drinking a lot.
You spend 10 minutes waiting in the car for him to tell you whether you're invited or not. And then you're just like, whatever, I'm over this. I'm leaving. That sounds like maybe kind of reasonable to me. Like I can kind of imagine like maybe he was so drunk because she's just like, he forgot about me and I don't even want to go anyway. So I'm just leaving. Yeah. Yeah, definitely.
I think what is a little bit odd to me is maybe even looking for him this soon. This is what strikes me as odd. Because I think when you're out, you know, a night of heavy drinking, your boyfriend doesn't come home with you. Like, wouldn't you just kind of assume like, oh, he probably crashed somewhere and his phone's probably on do not disturb or something.
And I think what helped me sort of understand why she went to go look for him is. In one of the podcasts I was listening to, the person said that because he was such a dedicated uncle to his niece and nephew and they had had this tragedy of both their parents being lost, like he wouldn't have just forgotten to call or forgotten to say, hey, I'm not going to make it home.
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Chapter 5: What key evidence was found, including phone records and the 911 call?
then I don't think she would have said, could I have hit him? I hit him. Because why would she admit to it right there? Right, right.
Totally.
That to me actually makes it seem like super strange. It makes me think that she's completely caught unaware of what's going on. And if there's any chance she knew she was guilty, she would be like, what happened to him? How did this happen? How did this happen? Or yeah, like she wouldn't have even discovered where his body was first. She'd let like somebody else do that. Yes.
So this is the thing that's interesting about this case. There's a lot of conflicting details. One second, you'll think, oh, she's definitely guilty. The next second, you'll think, no, something else is completely amiss. OK, so the prosecution, known as the Massachusetts Commonwealth or just the Commonwealth, this is who is indicting people.
It's basically like whenever, and I think that sometimes this kind of gets confusing when you're listening to true crime stuff. But you know how like in the Genshaw case, it was the people versus Genshaw. Like if you commit a crime, if you kill someone or commit a fraud case, like you're really committing a crime against the community.
And so the prosecution will represent the people in this case who want justice. And specifically in this community, that would be the Massachusetts Commonwealth or just the Commonwealth.
So the prosecution is saying that Karen backed into John with her car in a fit of rage in the early morning hours of January 29th and then drove off, leaving him to die in the snowbank on the freezing Massachusetts night. They're citing Karen's cracked taillight as prime evidence that she backed into him. OK, so Karen's defense.
The defense is saying that Karen is innocent and that she is being framed for John's murder and that there is a massive police cover up going on by Massachusetts State Police. The defense alleges that Karen dropped John off at the home of Boston PD Sergeant Brian Albert.
Then he went inside the home and was killed either by Brian Albert's dog or by someone who was at Brian Albert's home early that morning. You might think like, OK, that sounds really far fetched. Like the Boston Police Department are creating a conspiracy to frame Karen Reid for the murder of John O'Keefe when it's like you drove drunk. Like, are you kidding me? You had a broken taillight.
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Chapter 6: What charges were filed and who are the legal teams involved?
It's perfect. Add a little peanut butter. It'll taste like the best dessert. I also, of course, everyone knows I'm obsessed with the clear protein. I have one to two cans a day. It bumps my protein up by 20 or 40 grams. It is just the easiest way to grab some extra protein from the fridge and not mess up my kitchen. Clean Simple Eats is truly the brand to go to for all of your protein needs.
Everyone, go to cleansimpleeats.com and use code POPAPOLOGIST for 10% off your order. cleansimpleeats.com, use code POPAPOLOGIST, grab a bag of the chocolate brownie batter protein powder, and I swear it will taste like a Wendy's Frosty. It tastes like a dessert, okay, but it's good for you. Clean, grass-fed protein. Lauren, you know how we've been on a dead run for like the last week?
Well, let me just tell you that thank God I had early bird to, you know, help me unwind after the craziest seven days. I took a full gummy and was able to literally knock out in the best way possible. They're so effective at just making your brain melt away.
All of a sudden, like the rush of an internal monologue, all your anxiety, all the stuff you're stressing about, it just kind of gets muted and it just kind of like mushes away and you can truly fall asleep. It's incredible. They're simply perfect. I love taking a half if I'm going to unwind and watch a show. A full one is maybe more when I'm just looking to fully go to sleep.
And they do a perfect job every single time. I will say a single bottle will last me a really long time because a half does wonders. I usually only take a half. I highly recommend going to earlybirdcbd.com. using code POP20 for 20% off. So let's get into another huge piece of evidence, which is Karen's car, Karen's Lexus SUV.
So the collision reconstruction team, when they were processing Karen's Lexus, noticed broken glass fragments on the rear bumper that could be a match to the cocktail glass John took from the bar.
shattered rear taillights that were missing, red and clear plastic, various scratches and dents, a large scratch and a minor dent on the right side of the rear taillight, plus chipped paint near the bumper. They also tested the car's backup camera, which was confirmed to be working.
So if Karen put the car in reverse, the car would have shown John in the rearview mirror and the warning sounds would have alerted her that something was behind her car as well.
So the crime scene was reconstructed, and according to the prosecution, the Commonwealth, you know, that's prosecuting Karen Reed, the crime scene reconstruction data indicates that her car reversed 60 feet at a speed of 22 miles per hour around the time she was believed to have struck John with her car.
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Chapter 7: What are the conflicting theories and relationship dynamics in the case?
And that's when the taillight was broken. So Jennifer McCabe, who's an important person in this, and we briefly brought her up earlier. If you'll remember, she is the sister-in-law, I believe, of Brian Albert. And she was one of the women that Karen called, and she went along to go look for him.
And so basically what the defense says is that Jennifer McCabe actually went along with Karen to help look for the body. And she did that with the intention of inserting the idea that Karen Reid would have killed John herself. Basically, she wanted to be there to potentially make Karen look bad. And she's one of the key witnesses who says, I said I hit him, or Karen said I hit him.
And another crazy thing about Jennifer McCabe, and I'm kind of like getting to a detail a little bit ahead of itself, but I think it's really fascinating.
So one of the big pieces of evidence for the defense is that there was a search on Jennifer McCabe's phone at like 2.30 AM that said how long till someone dies of hypothermia in the cold or how long for someone to die in the cold, I think exactly is what it said. But it was like misspelled or mistyped.
And the defense, that's like a huge moment for the defense, because they say that that means that she, what was happening at 2 30 AM, why was she Googling that? Um, so she's a really important figure and her testimony at trial was really fascinating and her and Alan Jackson sort of get into it. And there's this moment where he basically says like, you might've liked John O'Keefe.
You might've not intended for this to happen, but he was just a friend. He wasn't family. And her family is Brian Albert. Her family is who she's protecting now. with potentially this case and it's just saying yeah it's it's crazy
Yeah, and also, I mean, obviously, it's like, why would she Google at 2.37 AM before she knew that this guy was missing how long it takes for someone to die in the cold? Right. So here are issues with the prosecution's theories. So as we've discussed, John's injuries don't appear consistent with being backed over by a car. So he has laceration, swelling, and broken bones on his head.
And as we said at the beginning of this episode, you would think that he would be injured at his midsection if he was struck by a car. There are also marks on his arm that look like a dog bite. And the Alberts actually did have a big German shepherd who has supposedly attacked people before. And they rehomed this dog to a different state just shortly after John dies.
Do you know what else they did? What? They sold their house. Oh, do you know what else they did? What? Apparently, they redid their entire basement before they sold the house. So all the floors were ripped out. Anything with any sort of forensic evidence was destroyed. Very interesting. And also, let's not forget, everyone, he climbed those three flights of stairs, according to his Apple data.
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Chapter 8: What are the defense’s claims of a police cover-up and evidence tampering?
Also, one of the key investigators is named Michael Proctor. And one of the things that comes out in this case is that this guy clearly hates Karen Reid. And there are text messages from the lead investigator, Michael Proctor, to his friends.
So from this guy to his friends on his personal phone that make fun of her, like make fun of the fact that she has Crohn's disease, make fun of her looks, call her a whack job. I'm sorry, if someone's investigating your case, they should be impartial. They should not be making fun of your chronic illness. Have you read these texts? Yeah, they're atrocious.
And I don't even want to share them because they're so atrocious and so awful. It's horrific. I mean, what I will say is there's one in particular where he's talking about how he searched her phone. And his friend says, you know, ask him about searching her phone or whatever. And he goes, yeah, no nudes yet. Haven't found any nudes yet or something. And it's just like, what?
Where's the professionalism? Where are you treating this like, yeah, being impartial, like you're saying? And he calls her a whack job. He's like, he fully does not like her. And so that's also a big problem. OK, so this case has been so mishandled that, and the jury doesn't know this right now, everyone, but this case has been so mishandled that the Department of Justice has gotten involved.
And there is now a federal probe and investigation into how this was handled. And the feds apparently have a 3,000-page report, which has not yet been released to the public.
The Norfolk County District Attorney, Michael Morrissey, sent a letter to the Department of Justice. Those are the feds, folks, okay? So you've got the local prosecutor sending a letter to the feds requesting that the federal probe of the Karen Reid case be transferred out of Massachusetts. So in the middle of trying to prosecute someone for murder...
The feds are looking at the people who investigated the case and investigated Karen Reed.
According to the defense, the report from the feds confirms the following things. Jennifer McCabe's search was at 2.27 a.m. before Jennifer knew John was missing, not 6 a.m. when they were discovering the body. John O'Keefe's injuries also could not have been caused by the impact from a car.
So the prosecution's medical examiner testified in front of the grand jury that the injuries John suffered were not the result of a fight and that the marks on his arms were abrasions caused by blunt force trauma. Separately from the first investigation, the FBI hired an independent team of investigators, professionals, you know, they have three PhDs to reconstruct the entire accident.
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