Serialously with Annie Elise
263: Karen Read Retrial: Everything You Need to Know | Facts, Shady Secrets, & Cover Ups
Mon, 21 Apr 2025
This week on Serialously with Annie Elise, tune into the notorious case of Boston police officer John O’Keefe, who was found lifeless in the snow outside a quiet suburban home. His girlfriend, Karen Read, became the immediate suspect—accused of running him over with her SUV and leaving him to die in a blizzard. As the case unfolded, whispers of a cover-up, corrupt investigators, and missing evidence began to surface. Karen claimed she was being framed, while others insisted she was hiding the truth. A lead investigator was later fired, texts were uncovered, and the cracks in the prosecution’s case grew deeper. Now, as her highly anticipated retrial begins in 2025, the stakes are even higher and the mystery more twisted. Was Karen a killer in plain sight—or the fall girl for something she didn’t do? 🔎Join Our True Crime Club & Get Exclusive Content & Perks 🔎 Join The Club: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise 🎧 Need More to Binge? Listen to EXTRA deep dive episodes every week on Apple! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164 Follow Annie on Socials 📸 🩷Instagram: @ _annieelise, https://www.instagram.com/_annieelise/?hl=en 💜TikTok: @_annieelise, https://www.tiktok.com/@_annieelise?lang=en 🗞️ Substack: @annieelise, https://substack.com/@annieelise 💙Facebook: @10tolife, https://www.facebook.com/10toLIFE ⭐️Sponsors ⭐️ O Positiv- Take proactive care of your health and head to http://OPositiv.com/AE or enter AE at checkout for 25% off your first purchase. CBDistillery- Visit http://CBDistillery.com and use code AE for 25% off. Audible- Visit http://Audible.com/SERIALOUSLY or text SERIALOUSLY to 500-500. SKIMS- Check out the Fits Everybody Collection at http://skims.com/annie. Shop Annie’s Closet & Must-Haves! 👗 Poshmark: https://posh.mk/Tdbki6Ae0Rb ShopMY: https://shopmy.us/annieelise Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/10tolife?ref_=cm_sw_r_apin_aipsfshop_BKN1ZMCMEZHACVFQ2R75&language=en_US Disclaimer ‣ Some links may be affiliate links, they do not cost you anything, but I make a small percentage from the sale. Thank you so much for watching and supporting me. 🎙️ Follow the podcast for FREE on all podcast platforms! Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/serialously-with-annie-elise/id1519456164 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6HdheEH8WeMTHoe5da34qU All Other Platforms: https://audioboom.com/channels/5100770-serialously-with-annie-elise Get Involved or Recommend the Case 💬 About Annie: https://annieelise.com/ For Business Inquiries: [email protected] Episode Sources 🔗 Boston 25 News Boston.com CBS News COURT TV MassLive NBC10 Boston The Boston Globe The Patriot Ledger Today.com WCVB Channel 5 Boston WHDH Wikipedia WJAR *Sources used to collect this information include various public news sites, interviews, court documents, FB groups dedicated to the case, and various news channel segments. When quoting statements made by others, they are strictly alleged until confirmed otherwise. Please remember my videos are my independent opinion and to always do your own research. •••••••••••••••••• Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this video are personal and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the creator(s). These views are subject to change, revision, and rethinking at any time and are not to be held in perpetuity. We make no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information on this video and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. It is the reader’s responsibility to verify their own facts.
Chapter 1: Who is Karen Reed and what is the background of the case?
Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly. I'm your host, Annie Elise, and we have got a lot to talk about today.
Now, you may be familiar with the name Karen Reid, whether you have followed the case, heard about the case, watched the docuseries Body in the Snow, or just saw all of these clips going viral on your TikTok. You might be familiar with the name.
We first covered Karen's story about two years ago, I believe it was now at this point, and we've given some updates since then, but her second trial is now well underway. And what's really interesting, okay, this case first and foremost has been just absolutely polarizing. It has divided...
the whole country on whether they believe that Karen is guilty or whether they believe that she is innocent and being framed. There are also so many allegations of conspiracy, cover-up, corruption, and so many players involved too that it's really difficult to make heads or tails of things and to keep it all organized and keep it straight.
So today we are going to discuss everything you need to know about Karen Reed as we are now in this second trial. Not only the case itself and everything that went down with the case, the red flags, the shadiness, the inconsistencies, but also what happened in the first trial because there were a lot of bombshells.
We also are going to talk about everything that has happened since then up until this new trial beginning because there is a lot to go over.
So now that we are well into the second trial, I wanted to jump on here and just break it down for you and tell you everything you need to know about Karen Reed, about the case, about the first trial, about all of the shady crap that has been going on behind the scenes and what doesn't make sense.
And then once you have that information, whether you're following the new trial or not, you can decide for yourselves. Did Karen Reed kill John O'Keefe? Or is she being framed? And I'll be honest, if you think you know this case like the back of your hand and that you couldn't possibly learn any more information, I promise you there's more. That is how complex this case is.
I also personally have been talking with one of Karen Reed's family members, and we have sent a correspondent who is there, boots on the ground, in Boston, covering this trial. So we are live streaming the trial every single day over on my YouTube channel, 10 to Life. We are commenting on it. We are sharing our theories, our information. We have our correspondent there, as I mentioned as well.
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Chapter 2: What happened on the night of John O'Keefe's death?
But two years into this relationship, things just turned completely upside down. It was Friday, January 28, 2022. Just a typical night out. Karen and John had plans to grab some drinks and go meet up with some friends. Most of them were also fellow Boston police officers, just like John. And it really wasn't anything out of the ordinary.
They had argued a little bit that morning and were kind of blowing off some steam separate from each other, but then they reconnected that night at the bar and they were just going to have a fun night out. So they started at one bar just grabbing drinks with their friends, and then they moved over to the Waterfall Bar and Grill.
There they were hanging out with a familiar group that they often saw. It included Jen McCabe and her husband, as well as other officers and their spouses, and everybody just seemed to be in good spirits. No drama, no tension. In fact, multiple witnesses would later say that the vibe was just overall light. Karen and John appeared very happy.
So as the night started winding down around midnight, after they had had quite a few drinks with one another at all the different bars, Jen McCabe invited the group back to her sister's house. The house was located at 34 Fairview Road, and the home was nearby, about two and a half miles away, so not very far. And people just figured that they would keep the night going a little bit longer.
So as they're on their way over there, at 12.14 a.m., John texted Jen saying, where to? To which she replied with the address. A few minutes later, John then called her, trying to figure out exactly where the house was. Jen looked out the window and saw a black SUV, Karen's Lexus, pull up near the house. Then, at 12.31 and again at 12.40 a.m., Jen was texting John, encouraging him like,
Hey, park behind my car in the driveway. Like, where are you? Hello? What's going on? She later then told investigators that she saw Karen's SUV move from where it was originally parked, that she moved to the other side of the property. And this detail would become way more important later because where she's saying her car moved to is the same general area where John's body was eventually found.
So Jen texted John again at 1245 a.m. with just a simple hello, but there was no response. Then apparently not long after, the SUV pulled away. But then over the course of the next few hours is when everything shifted. Because in the early morning hours at 4.53 a.m., Karen woke up and she called Jen just fully frantic in a full-blown panic. She told Jen she could not find John.
He wasn't answering his phone. He wasn't responding to her text messages. She couldn't find him anywhere. And she was freaked out. And I think when we went back and looked through all of the digital data, it was something like once Karen had returned home shortly after 1 a.m., she had called John and texted him some odd like 50 times or something like that.
which remember, they had all been drinking. And look, it's easy to cast judgment, but I'll just admit for myself, I'll kind of throw myself on the sword here, I've definitely done that. When I was younger or when I was even older and in a toxic relationship, if I was drunk, I would rapid fire dial them until they would pick up the phone.
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Chapter 3: What inconsistencies and shadiness were found in the investigation?
They were arguing, no, no, no, not only is she innocent, but she's actually being framed. They claimed John didn't die outside in the snow. He wasn't hit by a car. In fact, he went inside that house at 34 Fairview Road, and he was attacked, possibly even attacked by a German shepherd that lived there, or possibly people, and that there was a fight that broke out.
Then they say he was dumped outside, left to die out there in the cold. And with this allegation, which obviously was a very serious allegation, and
indications of some bigger conspiracy the defense was pointing fingers at law enforcement and alleging a cover-up that involved multiple people who were at that house party at that house that by the way was a cop because remember it was full of cops it was full of heavy hitters in the community and there was an atf agent there there was chris albert who was a cop i mean there were definitely people in very important positions inside that house
The defense also highlighted what they believed were inconsistencies in the investigation, such as missing surveillance, a remodel in the basement of that house, a dog that used to live there, the German Shepherd, that then seemingly vanished after John was killed, also the house in question being sold shortly after John's death. I mean, a lot of things that just rubbed people the wrong way.
Then there's also the Google search. The Google search heard round the world. Because apparently, Jen McCabe, the one who invited John and Karen over to that house that night, the one who also helped Karen search the following morning for John, she allegedly searched how long to die in the cold. at 2.27 a.m., hours before John's body was ever found.
So that Google search, it raised a lot of eyebrows. And again, we're going to get into way more of the nitty gritty details of this in just a little bit here. So the defense is alleging a cover-up, corruption, conspiracy, Karen being framed. But the prosecution says, no, the case is clear. Karen was drunk.
She admitted that she was, quote, hammered, that she doesn't remember huge parts of the night. Surveillance footage also shows her drinking at multiple bars. Witnesses also said that she was acting erratically at the scene and, in her own words, reciting, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him. Let's also not forget that she was the last known person with John.
So the case quickly became deeply polarizing, just dividing public opinion. On one side, there were people who believed Karen Reed was the victim of this massive cover-up, this cover-up involving law enforcement and other people who were at the house the night that John died.
Yet, on the other side, there were those who were convinced that she was the one responsible for the death of a Boston police officer. And at the heart of all of it was one haunting question that still remained. What really happened to John O'Keefe that night?
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Chapter 4: What were the charges and how did the first trial unfold?
Was there, now you mentioned that you didn't fill out paperwork. Was there any discussion about should we check the box on the verdict slip?
So we didn't check the box on the verdict slip because we were still deliberating on the second charge of involuntary manslaughter. And that continued with deliberation. We did send out notes asking for clarification. But unfortunately, we did not ask the question at the time, should we treat each charge individually and separately?
So explain to us why the presumption was that you had to come to a conclusion on all three. Was there any debate among the jurors about whether or not we have to agree on all three counts or it can be just one count or it can be two counts? Was there any discussion or debate amongst the 12 of you about
what the rules were when it was time to fill out the verdict slip and determine and let everyone know where you were in these deliberations?
So one of the big things that happened was we all agreed and voted, and we kind of not came back to any of those charges. We never revisited them because we had already voted on them. And then we kept on debating on that second charge.
And because we kept on debating on that second charge and deliberating, that kind of got us caught off guard at the end in terms of how to respond to that and whether to ask. There was a couple of us who did clearly indicate that maybe we should ask about treating each charge independently, but the majority overruled and essentially we were left to believe that it needed to be all or nothing.
See, that's interesting. See, that's fascinating. That's something I would think. the folks in Massachusetts would be interested in is that now you're talking about there's debate about the rules within the jury. See, I look at that, that's the fault of the system, not informing you ahead of time about these things.
Now, of course, this is all dependent on whether what this juror was saying was 100% factual or not, right? However, other jurors have now come forward and have agreed with him. So it seems very likely that all of this was true. Which, just based on these accounts, it seems like Karen very well could have walked out of the courtroom last summer...
being acquitted of two different charges, the worst being second degree murder, which that is an insane loss for the defense because she could have been acquitted. She wasn't based on what they're calling a technicality with the jury, which unfortunately, that's just the way it is until a verdict is actually read and announced. It's not a verdict. It's not, you know, official.
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Chapter 5: Why was the first trial declared a mistrial and what did jurors reveal?
It's the first impression of the case as a whole. Now, could this ruling affect the defense's arguments? I don't know. But I want you to keep the idea of a third party's involvement in mind, because we are going to come back to it later. Now, this was not the only thing that this new lead prosecutor was initiating.
And at the time of this recording, a lot of things that are being talked about are just pretrial motions, and they haven't been accepted or denied. So by the time this goes live, there might have been a definitive decision made for some of these. But for the sake of this episode, I do want to go over some of the legal lead-up just so that you can have a full understanding.
Now, for one thing, the prosecution wanted data from a cell phone belonging to the vlogger Turtle Boy to be included in the evidence. And I talked about this before, but More specifically, they want to see text messages that were exchanged between Karen and Turtle Boy. They want these on display due to what they believe shows Karen's, quote, consciousness of guilt.
And if you're more familiar with this case, or even if you watch the docuseries, you're probably a little bit familiar with Turtle Boy. But you'll know that he has been somebody who has shouted corruption from the rooftops pretty much from day one. He also is somebody who is directly responsible for a lot of the inconsistencies and the shadiness to be public knowledge at this point.
He brought it to light. And I gotta just say, like him, don't like him, wherever you sit on that, whether you think it's a drama or not, 99.9% of what he has presented has turned out to pan out. So, I mean, he's the reason I believe too that this case got such notoriety and why so many people got involved and in investigating with the cover-up piece of it.
Now, in these text messages that the prosecution wants entered into evidence, Karen apparently goes over things with him like the defense's theories, certain materials, and even other types of evidence. Which maybe doesn't seem like it's a big deal on the surface.
Like, okay, maybe he's a witness listed in this now and they want to go through the data, they want to go through the cell phone records. But the reason that this is such a big deal is because there are actually criminal charges against Turtle Boy for witness intimidation.
So it seems like the prosecution is potentially trying to like tie those two things together, almost like Turtle Boy and Karen are kind of working in cahoots with one another. And sure enough, one day before jury selection began, the motion was granted. Although the judge specified that any communication between Karen's attorneys and Turtle Boy was completely off limits.
So the prosecution was only allowed access to the text messages between him and Karen directly. However, there were a lot of them. Karen even said on the docuseries herself that she was going through a third party as she was communicating with him in the beginning, but then she just started going to him directly and sending him things directly. So, I don't know. We'll see.
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Chapter 6: What legal issues and constitutional arguments affect the retrial?
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And if that's not your vibe, that's totally fine. There's Onyx Storm for all my fantasy lovers out there. Never Flinch by Stephen King if you want nightmares in like the creepy way that we all apparently do. or even The Tenant by Frida McFadden if you're in like a psychological thriller mood. And it's not just audiobooks.
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That's audible.com slash serialistly or text serialistly to 500-500. Karen's defense team has, of course, grown since the first trial, and interestingly enough, a new addition on her team was technically involved in her first trial, though under a different job.
A woman named Victoria George served as an alternate juror in Karen's first case, but now she's going into this second trial as part of Karen's legal team. Apparently, during Karen's first trial, she was just so moved by what was going on and what she was witnessing and seeing that she felt like she had to get more involved.
She even gave an official statement about her involvement, which reads, I was a fair-minded juror who left this trial questioning the integrity of the system long before the defense filed a motion to dismiss with allegations of jury tampering." It is the Reed case itself and the fact that it is still being brought that has left many in Massachusetts wary, distrustful, and scared of our system.
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Chapter 7: How is the second trial different and what new motions and strategies are involved?
He himself is a trained first responder. He's a big-name cop in the town, and there's a dead body on his lawn, and he doesn't even come out of his house? I mean, weird, yes, but does it prove his guilt? Not necessarily. It is, though, pretty strange.
Another thing is that the investigators never went into the house to take photos, to look at a potential crime scene, to ask questions, to just look around, and that's concerning because it's suggested that John could have been murdered inside that house. Yet... Nobody even went inside to take a look around.
And something I'm still stuck on that does kind of coincide with Brian Albert's possible guilt is the topic of that Google search by Jen McCabe. Remember, Jen is Brian's sister-in-law, and the defense claims that at 2.27 a.m., Jen searched how long to die in the cold.
The search was then later deleted, though she claimed on the stand during the first trial that she's not the one who deleted it, that she doesn't even know how to delete a search, and that it's all, once again, a big coincidence. But I genuinely can't think of any reason why she would have been Googling that at 2.27 in the morning. especially that night in particular.
It's just something I cannot wrap my head around.
However, I will say that both Jen and the prosecution argue that the search was actually made much later, that it was made at around 6.23 a.m., that, you know how you have in Google, like, different tabs that open, that she went to a tab that she had been using at 2 in the morning and searched how long to die in the cold at the direction of Karen while they were on the scene, and that it just triggered that previous timestamp.
It was a fresh new search. It wasn't an old one, which even though it's only a couple hours apart, it does make a world of difference, right? Because on one hand, if it happened at 2.27, that was hours before John's body was even discovered. On the other hand, if it happened after 6 a.m., once his body was discovered, that would make more sense.
And let's just say it was a glitch or the way, you know, that Apple has the different pop-up windows when you're searching on Google. Let's say she did search it at 6.23 a.m., Why would you delete that search? Why would you need to delete it? Why would you ever delete a search like that? It just makes no sense. I mean, if you found your friend and you're curious, like, oh my God, he's here.
How long does it take to die in the cold? I get that. But why would you delete it after the fact? That feels a little shady. Another thing that stuck out during the first trial, too, was remember how it was alleged that while they were on the scene, Karen repeated the phrase, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.
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Chapter 8: What role do experts and third-party evidence play in the retrial preparations?
Right around the time, there's also a questionable Google search about how long to die in the cold. Now, as if that is not shady enough, it gets even worse because Brian Higgins destroyed his phone and also destroyed his SIM card, getting rid of any possible way to digitally trace what really happened here. He put both of them in a trash bag.
He drove to a military base and he tossed them in a dumpster after destroying both of them. And get this, this disposal was the day before, one day before, he was given formal notice, don't destroy your phone. Literally, the day before they formally said, don't destroy your phone, we're going to be looking at it as evidence.
He goes off, cracks the SIM, cracks the phone, puts it in a trash bag, drives to a military base, and puts it in a dumpster. That's weird. That's suspicious. Like, I don't know many cops who are doing that unless you have something to hide, right?
And although he wasn't given the formal notice not to destroy his phone yet, because remember, he disposed of it one day prior before he was given that notice. Who's to say there wasn't someone internally who tipped him off that that formal notice was coming down the pike? There's just so many questions and shady shit that is going on in this case.
And look, I don't get super conspiracy often, but something is weird here. Something is not right. Now, Jen McCabe also had more bizarre phone activity, aside from just that Google search. because she also called John rapid fire multiple times in a 10-minute period. Now, this was around 12.45 a.m., right when Karen said she dropped John off at the house or shortly after.
And Jen, what did she claim these phone calls were for, these rapid fire calls to John in a 10-minute period? What do you think? Butt dial. How many people in this situation, in this house, are butt dialing people? Like, make it make sense, right? The defense is, of course, arguing, saying, no, it's because something happened inside that house.
There was an altercation, whether it was Brian Higgins, who had been flirting with Karen, and there was an altercation between him and John O'Keefe, whether it was something else going on, there was an altercation in that house.
Then as they're cleaning up or moving things around or frantically trying to like whatever with the scene that they were looking for his John's phone and they couldn't find it. So they had Jen call him multiple times to try to find the phone. I mean, how many times have you misplaced your phone and you're like, hey, can you call my phone so I can find it? Call it again. Call it again.
I'm going to go from this room to this room to this room and look for it. So the defense is saying that's why she rapid-fire called him, because they were looking for his phone. Now, was that the truth? Or was this just an on-the-spot lie? I don't really know. But if I was a betting person, I would bet money that all of these call logs are once again going to be brought up during the second trial.
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