Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman at the center of one of the most closely followed trials in recent Boston memory, has been found not guilty of murder and manslaughter. The jury delivered its decision on Wednesday, bringing an end to a case that’s captured national headlines since 2022.
Read, 45, was accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe. Prosecutors claimed she struck him with her SUV during an argument and left him outside to die in a snowstorm. O’Keefe’s body was later found in the snow in Canton, Massachusetts.
But Read’s defense told a very different story. Her legal team insisted that O’Keefe was actually killed during a house party hosted by another Boston cop. They claimed there was a cover-up by local authorities, including police officers and investigators, to frame her for a crime she didn’t commit.
Emotional Scenes Inside and Outside Court
When the not guilty verdicts were read, Read burst into tears and hugged her lawyers. Outside the courtroom, hundreds of supporters who had followed the case from the beginning cheered loudly. Some had traveled from out of state to be there.
The jury, made up of seven women and five men, did find her guilty on one lesser charge — operating a vehicle under the influence. Still, the main charges that could have led to life in prison were thrown out.
This was the second time the case had gone to trial. The first ended in a mistrial last year when jurors couldn’t reach a unanimous decision.
