A Boston police officer who testified at Karen Read’s second trial this spring resigned from the department effective Sept. 1, months after she took medical leave.
Officer Kelly Dever’s testimony at the Read trial was marked by a number of tense exchanges with Alan Jackson, the lawyer who headed Read’s defense. Dever worked for the Canton Police Department when the body of Read’s boyfriend, Boston Police officer John O’Keefe, was found on the front lawn of a fellow officer’s Canton home.
“The resignation of Police Officer Kelly Dever, ID# 173471, assigned to BAT/Leave of Absence Section, Org. #36135, after being presented, is hereby effective September 1, 2025,” reads a personnel order released by the department Friday.
On the stand, Dever explained that her recollection to the FBI that she saw the then-Canton police chief and Brian Higgins, an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, alone with Read’s SUV at the Canton Police station was a “false memory.” Dever testified she had signed off for the day by the time Read’s SUV arrived at the station.
In July, weeks after Read’s acquittal on all charges save for misdemeanor operating under the influence, Jackson sent a letter to Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox, claiming Dever’s credibility had been “irreparably compromised.”
Jackson suggested in his letter that there were two possibilities: either Dever lied on the stand or she “actually suffers from a condition that subjects her to false memories.”
“In either case, her credibility and reliability as a law enforcement officer are irreparably compromised,” he wrote, according to a copy of the letter published by Boston 25 News. “Her reports, statements and testimony can no longer be presumed accurate, and any case — current or prior — involving Officer Dever must be reviewed accordingly.”
The letter came just a day after Cox told reporters he didn’t know Dever had any connection to the Read case.
“I have an organization full of over 3,000 people, and we support all our folks,” he said, according to a video published by WBZ. “The reality is that I get information passed on, whether those people are high or low, and I encourage everyone.”
“I have no idea what they’re talking about with Karen Read. I had nothing to do with Karen Read, no discussion about Karen Read.”
During the trial, Dever testified she went to Cox’s office for a one-on-one meeting prior to testifying, but after speaking to the FBI. Jackson suggested Cox told her to “do the right thing,” which Dever would not confirm.
Even during a trial that featured moments of high drama, Dever’s testimony stood out for her confrontational demeanor on the stand.
In one memorable moment, Dever criticized Jackson for mispronouncing her name.
“Like you can’t remember my name, I don’t remember,” she said.
Mark Bederow, a criminal defense lawyer in New York City, described Dever’s demeanor as “embarrassing” and “beyond inappropriate.”
There was “no need for her open hostility and nastiness,” he told MassLive in a telephone interview during the trial. “It was childlike.”
Dever is the latest in a string of officers whose jobs have been impacted by their connection to the Read case. At least three Massachusetts State Police troopers who investigated Read have either been reassigned or, in the case of Michael Proctor, fired. A Canton Police detective was also disciplined in the wake of the Read trial.
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