Karen Read trial 2: Everyone who’s testified as of week 4

Jurors in the second Karen Read murder trial have heard from a lot of witnesses.

They’ve heard testimony about text messages from the fired lead investigator, Michael Proctor, and how he searched her phone for “nudes.” Testimony about phone data regarding John O’Keefe’s movements at the time prosecutors say Read struck and incapacitated him.

Canton first-responders have testified about hearing Read say, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.” Jurors have also heard from two key witnesses, Jen McCabe and Kerry Roberts, who were with Read when they discovered O’Keefe’s unresponsive body at about 6 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022.

The judge anticipated the trial lasting six to eight weeks. The prosecution has presented nearly four weeks of its case, and the defense is expected to use about two weeks to present its side.

Here’s a recap of everyone who’s testified to date.

Prosecutors called Timothy Nuttall as the first witness. He’s a firefighter with the Canton Fire Department.

He testified about arriving at 34 Fairview Road around 6 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, and performing CPR on O’Keefe.

At one point, Read approached him and said, “I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,” Nuttall said.

“I remember it very distinctly,” he testified.

2) Kerry Roberts

Kerry Roberts lived in the same neighborhood as O’Keefe. They became close after O’Keefe took custody of his niece and nephew after his sister and brother-in-law died.

Read called Roberts at 5 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022. Roberts described Read as frantic and they both searched for O’Keefe before finding him outside the Canton home.

When EMTs arrived, Roberts said Read was running around screaming, “Did I hit him? Did I hit him? Is he dead? Is he dead?”

During cross-examination, Roberts said she misunderstood a question during her testimony in front of a grand jury that indicted Read. She told the grand jury that she heard Read ask another witness, Jen McCabe, to Google hypothermia that morning.

During the second trial, Roberts said she did not actually hear Read ask McCabe, but based her answer on what McCabe told her.

Roberts admitted that her answer was “technically” false, and at one point, the judge asked if she lied to the grand jury.

“I did. Not intentionally,” she replied.

• Read more: Recap of the first day of testimony

3) Peggy O’Keefe

Peggy O’Keefe did not testify during the first trial.

She spoke through tears about seeing her son in the hospital. He was “bruised up,” and his eyes were closed.

“It was not a good scene,” she said.

4) State Trooper Nicholas Guarino

Trooper Nicholas Guarino said his primary role in the district attorney’s office is examining digital forensics.

He performed extractions of several phones as part of the Read investigation, including her and O’Keefe’s phones.

Guarino has been called intermittently throughout the trial by prosecutors to testify about voicemails she left O’Keefe after she left 34 Fairview Road.

• Read more: Recap of the second day of testimony

5) Daniel Whitley, paramedic with Canton FD

Daniel Whitley, a firefighter/paramedic in Canton, testified about responding to 34 Fairview Road.

The morning of O’Keefe’s death, Whitley and other first responders took Read to Good Samaritan Hospital after her parents requested she be taken there for a psychological evaluation.

Before they did so, Whitley said Read repeatedly asked first responders if there was any chance O’Keefe could be alive.

“We were trying to give her hope,” he said.

6) Jean DeMulis

Jean DeMulis, the general manager at C.F. McCarthy’s, gave brief testimony about video footage from the Canton restaurant and bar.

O’Keefe and Read visited C.F. McCarthy’s the night before he died. Jurors saw video footage of the two inside the bar.

7) Brigid Meehan

Brigid Meehan, owner of the Waterfall Bar & Grille in Canton, also gave brief testimony. The prosecution played a video from inside the bar and Meehan confirmed it was accurate.

8) Michael Camerano

Michael Camerano said he grew close to O’Keefe and his family when his children began playing sports with O’Keefe’s niece and nephew.

Camerano was C.F. McCarthy’s with O’Keefe when Read joined them. He left the bar around 9:30 p.m.

On the morning of O’Keefe’s death, Camerano said he woke up to several missed calls from his wife and from Read.

He said he went to O’Keefe’s house that morning to pick up O’Keefe’s niece.

“She looked distraught,” Camerano said.

Camerano testified that in the month leading up to O’Keefe’s death, his relationship with Read appeared normal and affectionate.

• Read more: Recap of the third day of testimony

9) Dr. Garrey Faller, former chief pathologist at Good Samaritan Medical Center

Dr. Garrey Faller was the chief pathologist at Good Samaritan Medical Center when O’Keefe was brought there.

Faller said doctors at the hospital were ordered to take a blood sample from Read. Faller admitted it was rare that hospitals are “in the business” of taking a person’s blood alcohol content for the purposes of a criminal case.

10) Jason Becker, Canton firefighter

Jason Becker, a Canton firefighter and paramedic, said he was with Whitley when they brought Read to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation on Jan. 29, 2022.

At the time, she mentioned being in an argument with a man she described as her husband, meaning O’Keefe, although they weren’t married. She told Becker their last conversation was an argument.

11) Ian Whiffin

Ian Whiffin is a digital forensics examiner with Cellebrite, a company that provides digital tools to law enforcement.

He testified that he became involved with the case regarding a 2:27 a.m. time stamp for a Google search of “hos long to die in the cold” that showed up in a witness’s phone extraction.

Whiffin explained that the time stamp corresponded to when the witness, Jen McCabe, opened the tab, not when she made the Google search.

He also testified about data obtained about the movements of O’Keefe’s phone after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022. He said that O’Keefe’s phone registered 36 steps between 12:31 a.m. and 12:32 a.m. for a total of 84 feet on Jan. 29, 2022. That is about the time prosecutors said last trial that Read struck O’Keefe, but they have not given a time of impact yet in this second trial.

Read more of his testimony here and here.

12) Jen McCabe

Jen McCabe testified about how she became close with O’Keefe through their children.

Read and O’Keefe met up with McCabe and a group at the Waterfall on Jan. 28, 2022. Shortly after midnight, the group decided to go to her brother-in-law’s house, only a short drive away. Read and O’Keefe were invited, but they had trouble finding the house and spoke on the phone to McCabe to get directions.

McCabe said she saw Read’s SUV outside the home and texted O’Keefe several times. She looked out the window at least four times, but he never entered the house, she said. Read drove away and McCabe testified she never saw O’Keefe on the front lawn or anywhere else.

The next morning, Read called McCabe in a frantic state, and at one point, Read said, “Did I hit him? Could I have hit him?” and mentioned she had a cracked headlight, according to McCabe.

McCabe, Read and Roberts later got together and went looking for O’Keefe before 6 a.m. They first returned to O’Keefe’s house, where Read had spent the night. Then they decided to go to 34 Fairview Road, and Read spotted O’Keefe on the lawn first as they arrived in the pre-dawn hours.

When McCabe, Roberts and Read discovered O’Keefe in the snow, McCabe said she was “shocked” and “stunned.”

“At first I just stood there for a minute because I couldn’t believe it was him,” McCabe said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I think I knew in that moment that John was dead.”

Alan Jackson, Read’s lawyer, scrutinized McCabe’s testimony when she recounted that Read said “I hit him” three times. He handed her grand jury transcripts from her testimony in 2022, and she admitted she did not say at the time that Read had said the statements.

• Read more: Five takeaways from week 1 of Karen Read’s retrial

13) Hannah Knowles

Hannah Knowles, a forensic scientist at the Massachusetts State Police crime lab, reviewed Read’s medical records from Good Samaritan Medical Center to determine her blood alcohol level.

The concentration translated to a blood alcohol content of between 0.078 and 0.092, Knowles said. The legal limit to drive in Massachusetts is 0.08.

Knowles said she determined Read’s blood alcohol was between 0.14 and 0.28 at 12:45 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, conducting what she described as a retrograde analysis.

During questioning by Read’s attorney, David Yannetti, Knowles said she had no “direct knowledge” about the reliability of the results from Good Samaritan’s lab.

Knowles said the “foundations” of her calculations would be incorrect if Read continued drinking after 12:45 a.m. that morning. She also confirmed she was never asked to test the blood alcohol content for anyone else in the case.

14) Ryan Nagel

Ryan Nagel testified that he drove to 34 Fairview Road shortly after midnight on Jan. 29, 2022, to pick up his sister, who was there for a birthday party.

Nagel, his then-girlfriend and another friend were in a truck, and as they approached 34 Fairview Road, he said he saw Read’s SUV approaching from the opposite direction. Nagel’s friend, who drove the truck, flashed the SUV to take the turn onto Fairview Road, and the SUV parked about a car length ahead in front of the house.

“I saw there was a woman inside the SUV in the driver’s seat with her hands at 10 and 2,” Nagel said. He said he could see the woman inside because the car’s dome light was on.

Nagel did not see anyone else inside the vehicle. He said he never saw anyone else enter the home, other than his sister, who decided to stay at the party.

Nagel estimated they were in front of the house between 12:30 a.m. and 12:35 p.m., right about the time prosecutors say Read struck O’Keefe. Nagel said they drove away, and he did not see anyone besides Read inside her car.

15) Heather Maxon

Heather Maxon testified about what she saw from inside the truck with Nagel, her then-boyfriend, and their friend who was driving.

Maxon said Julie Nagel was the only person she saw in the driveway that night.

Maxon said she saw a woman sitting on the driver’s side of an SUV as the truck drove by. She never saw anyone else.

“Did you see anybody lying on the front lawn?” Special Prosecutor Hank Brennan asked. Maxon said she didn’t. She confirmed during cross-examination that she did not see O’Keefe inside the SUV.

16) Sarah Levinson

Sarah Levinson was inside 34 Fairview Road, celebrating a birthday for the homeowner’s son, Brian Albert Jr.

Levinson said there were no “problems” inside. McCabe encouraged her and Julie Nagel to stay and continue celebrating Brian Albert Jr.’s birthday.

“Anything extraordinary or remarkable happen inside that house?” Brennan asked. Levinson said there wasn’t.

When Levinson left 34 Fairview Road, she didn’t see anything unusual, she said during cross-examination.

17) Katie McLaughlin, Canton firefighter

Katie McLaughlin is a firefighter/paramedic in Canton. She is one of the first responders who testified that she heard Read say “I hit him” on the morning of O’Keefe’s death.

She testified she didn’t ask any follow-up questions because Read was “very upset” and she “didn’t feel comfortable pushing and asking for more.”

Under direct examination, McLaughlin testified she was friendly with Caitlin Albert, whose parents lived at 34 Fairview Road.

The pair went to high school together and were in the same grade, but were not close friends, she said. McLaughlin said she didn’t remember seeing Albert following O’Keefe’s death.

18) Paul Gallagher, retired Canton police lieutenant

Paul Gallagher is a former Canton police lieutenant and retired in 2024.

Gallagher was the highest-ranking officer on scene at 34 Fairview Road on the morning of O’Keefe’s death.

There was no reason to start a criminal investigation at the time, Gallagher said. With the Massachusetts State Police not responding to the scene, Gallagher began processing the area.

“We had a duty and an obligation to check around where he was found to see if there was any explanation as to what caused his medical condition,” Gallagher said. He said he observed “pink blood.”

Gallagher said he used a leaf blower to clear the area of snow. A shovel could have damaged the scene, he said.

He described how police used red Solo cups to collect blood droplets uncovered by the leafblower. Another officer who lived nearby brought the Solo cups.

Gallagher said he uncovered a broken cocktail glass in the snow near where O’Keefe’s body was found.

During cross-examination, Gallagher confirmed he did not find O’Keefe’s shoe, hat, or any pieces of red taillight.

Jackson questioned why Canton police never sought a search warrant for the house after police initially believed O’Keefe’s injuries were a result of an altercation.

The house “had nothing to do with the incident based on the evidence at that time,” Gallagher said. He said he would have had to “twist circumstances” to get a search warrant for the home.

19) Robert Gilman

Robert Gilman, a meteorologist, testified about a report he produced about the weather conditions leading up to Jan. 29, 2022.

He said the storm met the criteria for a blizzard in Canton and described it as the biggest January storm in history.

“The ground was frozen and the surface was frozen,” he testified.

During cross-examination, he confirmed that a “vast majority” of the snowfall accumulation happened after 6 a.m.

20) Canton police Lt. Charles Rae

Canton Police Lt. Charles Rae told the jury he was not part of the response to 34 Fairview Road on the morning of O’Keefe’s death, but did go to O’Keefe’s home for a well-being check.

Rae visited for only about five minutes, and he said he did not take note of the condition of Read’s SUV. The defense did not cross-examine him.

21) State police Lt. Kevin O’Hara

Lt. Keven O’Hara, of the state police, led a search on the property of 34 Fairview Road shortly after 5 p.m. the day O’Keefe died.

O’Hara and the six other troopers stood shoulder to shoulder, using shovels, garden rakes and head lamps to search. He said they were specifically focused on looking for O’Keefe’s missing sneaker and pieces of taillight.

The first piece of taillight was found at 5:45 p.m., he said. O’Keefe’s sneaker was found upside down, flush up against the curb, he said.

In all, the team found six or seven different pieces of taillight, O’Hara said. “A couple of the pieces” were found at ground level near the asphalt.

The team ended its search around 6:15 p.m., but didn’t “really touch the front yard area,” he said.

22) State police Trooper Connor Keefe

Trooper Connor Keefe works in the homicide unit assigned to the Norfolk County district attorney’s office.

He did forensic extractions of McCabe and Roberts’ phones.

Keefe was at 34 Fairview Road while the State Police Special Emergency Response Team conducted their search on the night of Jan. 29, 2022. He said his primary role was to log anything the team found into evidence.

Keefe showed several pieces of evidence to the jury, including O’Keefe’s sneaker, pieces of red taillight and clear pieces of taillight.

He confirmed that the medical examiner did not rule O’Keefe’s death a homicide.

23) Jessica Hyde

Jessica Hyde, a forensics expert, provided additional testimony about the 2:27 a.m. time stamp on McCabe’s phone for the “hos long to die in cold” Google search.

“It’s not about the time it was searched, it’s about the time the browser tab you opened either went to the background … or the current search,” she explained.

It would be “erroneous” to assume the 2:27 a.m. timestamp reflects the time “hos long to die in the cold” was actually searched, she said.

24) State police Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik

Sgt. Yuriy Bukhenik, a member of the state police, gave lengthy testimony across three days.

He provided details of how the investigation got underway, including receiving a call at 6:44 a.m. about an unresponsive man in the snow in Canton. He told Michael Proctor, the on-call officer, to contact Canton police.

Proctor was fired earlier this year due to his handling of the Read case.

Bukhenik and Proctor were shown bits of broken cocktail glass when they arrived at the Canton police department at about 9:15 a.m. They also learned that Read questioned whether she hit O’Keefe while at the scene.

After interviewing Brian Albert, the homeowner, and Jennifer and Matt McCabe at the McCabe residence, Bukhenik and Proctor decided to drive to the hospital to see O’Keefe.

Bukhenik said he observed the injuries — blood under the eyelids, a cut to his eyelid area, a series of cuts and bruises to the right arm, swelling in both eyes.

They were photographed, he said.

He said O’Keefe was missing one of his sneakers, which he found significant.

“At that point, our theory had evolved to a vehicle strike based on the injuries,” Bukhenik said. “And I was suspecting that he was hit out of his shoes.”

Bukhenik and Proctor then drove to Dighton to speak with Read. She had gone to her parents’ house there.

“With the missing shoe, her stating that, ‘did I hit him’ and along that line of statements, I was interested in the vehicle that she was operating that night,” Bukhenik said.

On the drive to Dighton, McCabe called the state police investigators and gave them additional information.

The two investigators noticed “a large piece of red taillight cover missing” from the rear right side of the vehicle.

They interviewed Read, who said she drank vodka sodas the night before and did not see O’Keefe enter 34 Fairview Road.

When asked about the broken taillight, Read said, “I don’t know how I did it last night,” according to Bukhenik.

The two investigators seized Read’s phone and towed Read’s SUV to Canton.

• Read more: Karen Read trial recap: Investigator says case handled with ‘integrity’ despite fired trooper

Under cross-examination, Bukhenik disagreed with the characterization of Proctor as the lead investigator. He described Proctor as the “case manager.”

Asked by Jackson if he believed that state police handled the case with integrity, Bukhenik responded: “This investigation was conducted professionally, with integrity, and all the evidence collected, all the statements collected, pointed in one direction.”

A lengthy stretch of testimony pertained to text messages between Read and another witness in the case, Brian Higgins, a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Higgins was at the Waterfall when Read and O’Keefe went there. He later joined the group that went to 34 Fairview Road.

The texts, read in court by Bukhenik, showed that Read initiated the conversation with Higgins on Jan. 12, 2022.

At one point, Read wrote to Higgins, “You’re hot,” and he asked if she was “messing” with him.

“This is so out of left field,” Higgins wrote. “Where did these feelings come from?”

Bukhenik continued to read aloud the text messages, one of which revealed that they had shared a kiss.

While at the Waterfall bar on Jan. 28, 2022, Higgins texted her, “Well?” while Read and O’Keefe were nearby.

When asked about the text messages, Bukhenik said, “My opinion is that it’s an angry girlfriend trying to set up a hookup.”

Bukhenik said he was not aware of phone calls between Higgins and Albert at 2:22 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2022, during questioning from Jackson.

• Read more: Karen Read trial recap: No ‘animosity’ between ATF agent, O’Keefe on Jan. 29, 2022

25) O’Keefe’s niece

Prosecutors called O’Keefe’s niece to the stand. The court did not allow the broadcast of her testimony.

Reporters inside the courtroom said her testimony focused mainly on O’Keefe’s relationship with Read.

She testified that their relationship had deteriorated in early 2022, and about the morning her uncle was found. On cross-examination, Yannetti asked the niece about Read’s role in her life.

26) State police Sgt. Zachary Clarke

State police Sgt. Zachary Clarke testified about going to the Canton police department at 9 a.m. on Feb. 1, 2022.

He said investigators sought fingerprints inside Read’s SUV, but there were “no usable impressions.”

Another trooper, Joseph Paul, asked Clarke to perform a series of braking and acceleration tests with digital video, Clarke said.

27) State police Sgt. Evan Brent

Sgt. Evan Brent is a member of the state police crime scene services unit.

Brent said he went to the Fairview Road house on Feb. 3, 2022, and he documented any discovered evidence.

He also photographed a Chevy Traverse in John O’Keefe’s driveway, and he did not observe any damage to the car. A video taken from O’Keefe’s driveway showed Read’s SUV lightly hit the Traverse on the morning of Jan. 29, 2022.

28) Needham police Sgt. Ryan Gallerani

Needham police Sgt. Ryan Gallerani testified about his collection of DNA swabs of Proctor and Bukhenik in January 2024 that were later tested at a lab in Virginia.

On direct examination by prosecutor Adam Lally, he did not explain why he was asked to do so.

29) Maureen Hartnett, analyst with the state police crime lab

Maureen Harnett, an analyst with a state police crime lab, said she went to the Canton police garage to process Read’s SUV.

She testified that there were no positive results for blood on various areas of the vehicle’s undercarriage. She said there were scratches and “apparent pieces of glass” on the car’s bumper.

Harnett said she also found an “apparent hair” sticking onto the rear side of the SUV.

• Read more: Karen Read trial live updates: Scratches, glass found on bumper of Read’s SUV

This post was originally published on this site