Karen Read

Karen A. Read was born on February 26, 1980, in Blacksburg, Virginia. As a child, she moved with her parents, brother, and sister to Taunton, Massachusetts, where she grew up in a cul-de-sac and studied piano. She attended Coyle & Cassidy High School, a Roman Catholic school in Taunton, where she was a standout student.

After graduating from high school, Read attended Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts, earning both a bachelor's and a master's degree in finance. She went on to build a professional career in the financial sector, working in equity research at Fidelity Investments. She also returned to Bentley University to serve as an adjunct professor of finance.

Read initially dated Boston police officer John O'Keefe in their twenties before parting ways due to career obligations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, O'Keefe contacted Read on Facebook, leading the couple to rekindle their relationship. They had been dating for two years and Read was residing in Mansfield, Massachusetts, when O'Keefe died in January 2022.

On the night of January 28, 2022, Read and O'Keefe visited the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton, Massachusetts, alongside acquaintances. Read later drove O'Keefe to an after-party at the Canton home of retired Boston police officer Brian Albert during a severe winter storm. Read drove away after dropping O'Keefe off, and several hours later, after O'Keefe failed to return home or answer his phone, Read and two mutual friends went searching for him.

Around 6:00 a.m. on January 29, 2022, O'Keefe was found unconscious in the snow on Albert's lawn and was pronounced dead shortly afterward at age 46. An autopsy determined his cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head and hypothermia. Days later, Read was arrested and subsequently indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence of alcohol, and leaving the scene of a personal injury and death.

Prosecutors alleged that Read struck O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV while backing up in Albert's driveway after heavy drinking and left him to die. Read's defense team, led by attorneys Alan Jackson and David Yannetti, maintained her innocence and argued that O'Keefe had entered the home, where he was fatally injured during a physical altercation, attacked by a dog, and dragged outside. The defense asserted that law enforcement officers engaged in a concerted cover-up to protect individuals inside the residence and frame Read.

Read's first murder trial commenced in April 2024 at Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham before Judge Beverly Cannone. The proceedings became the subject of extensive media coverage and online commentary, with demonstrators regularly gathering outside the courthouse. During the trial, defense attorneys heavily scrutinized the actions of Massachusetts State Police Trooper Michael Proctor, the lead investigator in the case, presenting derogatory and offensive text messages he had sent about Read during the investigation.

On July 1, 2024, after five days of deliberations, the jury informed Judge Cannone that they were deeply deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous verdict, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial. Hours after the declaration, the Massachusetts State Police relieved Trooper Proctor of duty and later suspended him without pay.

Following the mistrial, Read's legal team filed motions seeking to dismiss the charges of murder and leaving the scene, asserting that multiple jurors had come forward stating the jury had reached a unanimous agreement to acquit her on those two counts before deadlocking on manslaughter. Judge Cannone and subsequent appellate courts, including the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and a federal judge, denied the dismissal requests, clearing the way for a retrial.

Jury selection for Read's second criminal trial began on April 1, 2025, in Dedham. The retrial featured extensive expert testimony on digital forensics, crash reconstruction, and wound analysis, along with testimony from O'Keefe's family and responding officers. On June 18, 2025, on their fourth day of deliberations, the jury acquitted Read of second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating under the influence, and leaving the scene of a collision causing death. She was found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol, for which Judge Cannone sentenced her to one year of probation.

Following the criminal proceedings, Read encountered multiple civil legal actions. O'Keefe's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Plymouth Superior Court against Read and two Canton establishments. In November 2025, Read filed a civil lawsuit against former investigator Michael Proctor, state police personnel, and several witnesses from the criminal trial, alleging conspiracy and malicious prosecution.

Trooper Proctor was formally terminated by the Massachusetts State Police in March 2025 and subsequently had his law enforcement certification suspended. Read completed her one-year term of probation for the operating under the influence conviction on June 18, 2026.