Karen Read murder retrial: Key witness Jennifer McCabe takes the stand
One of the key witnesses in the murder retrial of Karen Read recounted on Wednesday the chaotic moments after they found Read's boyfriend, Boston police officer John O'Keefe, unresponsive in the snow outside a Massachusetts home in 2022 during her multiday testimony.
Prosecutors allege, following a night of drinking in Canton, that Read struck O'Keefe with her Lexus SUV outside of a get-together at another officer's home and left him to die in a blizzard in January 2022.
After a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the initial murder trial last year, she is being retried on charges including second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a collision causing death. She has pleaded not guilty and maintains her innocence.
Jennifer McCabe, who had testified during the first trial, took to the stand again starting on Tuesday in the Dedham courthouse, telling jurors Read was "hysterical" when they found O'Keefe in the snow outside the home.
McCabe testified Wednesday that while talking to a first responder at the scene, she heard Read say, "I hit him, I hit him, I hit him."
McCabe described O’Keefe as "a very good friend" whom she met through his guardianship over his niece, a close friend of her daughter. She said she met Read in summer 2020 and that they "hit it off," bonding over their shared experience living with multiple sclerosis and socializing frequently at gatherings.
McCabe had attended a social gathering at a bar the night before O'Keefe was found with him, Read and others. She was also at the get-together following the gathering at the bar at a home belonging to her sister and brother-in-law, a Boston police officer.
McCabe said she got a frantic call from O'Keefe's niece on Jan. 29, 2022, shortly before 5 a.m., saying O'Keefe had never returned home from the evening out.
McCabe testified the niece handed the phone to Read, who told her that she and O'Keefe had "gotten in a fight" and she had left him at the bar and he didn't come home.
McCabe recalled telling Read she had seen the defendant's SUV parked outside of her sister's home.
“She told me that she didn’t remember being there,” McCabe testified Tuesday. "She started saying, ‘Could I have hit him? Did I hit him?"
McCabe said she jumped into "mom mode" and volunteered to help Read find O'Keefe. Along with another friend of O'Keefe's -- Kerry Roberts -- another key trial witness who testified last week -- they drove through a blizzard to search for O'Keefe at his home, where McCabe said Read pointed out she had a cracked taillight on her SUV.
They continued to McCabe's sister's home, where she said they saw a body outside.
“It wasn't until I got very close over to them that I saw Kerry removing the snow from John's face," McCabe testified Tuesday, her voice wavering.
"I was shocked,” she said. “I couldn't believe that was him just lying there."
McCabe said Read straddled O'Keefe, lifted both their shirts and laid on top of him, in an attempt to warm him.
"Kerry Roberts and I made eye contact and I, like, knew, I was like, 'I'm going to call 911,' but I think I knew, in that moment, that John was dead," McCabe said.
The prosecution played the 911 call in court on Wednesday, during which McCabe is heard telling the operator there is a "man unresponsive in the snow" and they were unsure how long he had been outside. Incoherent yelling in the background can be heard on the call.
McCabe identifies the man as 46-year-old John O'Keefe and says he is bleeding from his face.
"I think he passed away," she says in the call.
McCabe testified she was "in shock" at that moment.
"My heart was racing. I was trying to be as helpful as I could and get the most important information out as quick as I could, to the 911 operators," she said. "But also the scene there with Karen and Kerry was a bit chaotic between the two of them."
McCabe testified Wednesday that Read was "erratic" and was "doing a lot of screaming and yelling" and at one point asked her to Google "hypothermia" and "how long it takes for somebody to die in the cold."
She also recounted going inside her sister and brother-in-law's home to wake them up and inform them of what was going on.
"They woke up startled and confused," she testified Wednesday.
She said the incident "didn't make sense to anybody" and no one knew what had happened.
McCabe testified Wednesday that after recollecting the events of the morning, she decided to call police and ultimately told Massachusetts State Police officers what she recalled Read saying, "I hit him," and about the broken taillight.
Throughout Read’s first trial, her defense attorneys levied allegations that McCabe facilitated multiple acts of “collusion” between witnesses to incriminate Read in the death of O’Keefe.
While questioning her on the stand on Wednesday, defense attorney Alan Jackson asked McCabe if she ever discussed testimony with Roberts, to which McCabe said no.
"We've shared our experiences. We've become very close. We've both lived through a traumatic experience," McCabe said.
Jackson said he was "concerned" about the two women discussing the facts of the case and asked if they could have influenced each other's perceptions of the day, to which McCabe said no.
Jackson also accused McCabe of lying to officers from another law enforcement agency who came to her home to question her about the case. McCabe testified she initially told the officers at her home that, in the time between their arrival and her speaking with them, she had called two people -- her husband and Roberts. However, she confirmed that she afterward followed up to tell them she had spoken to three additional people -- O'Keefe's mother, her witness advocate with the local district attorney's office and her Boston police officer brother-in-law.
McCabe said she didn't lie to the officers, but had forgotten who she had called.
Jackson also pressed McCabe on whether she called Roberts to find out what she told the officers and "to ensure that your story would line up with her story," which McCabe denied, responding she was only curious if Roberts had also been contacted by them.
"We both know what happened. We don't have to have a story. There is no story. There's what happened, and that's it," McCabe said.
McCabe testified her intention was merely to give Roberts a "heads up" that law enforcement may be visiting her next, as she has done in the past when she has been approached by the media and the defendant’s private detectives.
“We're just like normal moms,” McCabe said. “We're not used to this."
Jackson also grilled McCabe on her recollection of seeing Read's SUV outside her sister's home during the get-together. Asked if she heard a collision or screams for help, she said no. She also said she did not see his body upon leaving about an hour later and had not looked at the lawn where he was discovered.
Jackson forcefully questioned McCabe on a discrepancy he insinuated existed between her testimony in this trial and her testimony to the grand jury that indicted Read on the manslaughter and murder charges. Asked whether she told the grand jury that Read said, "I hit him, I hit him, I hit him," at the scene, McCabe said she wasn't sure.
"I have testified a number of times, but I was there the morning of Jan. 29 when your client said, 'I hit him, I hit him, I hit him,'" McCabe said.
He also questioned McCabe on whether she relayed certain information to officers in the early days of the investigation, including her testimony that Read told her she had an argument with O'Keefe the night before he was found.
"It took me hours and in some cases days to remember all the things that Miss Read had said," she said. "I was in a state of shock."
Court adjourned Wednesday afternoon, with Jackson's cross-examination of McCabe scheduled to resume on Friday.
McCabe said she hasn't spoken to Read since the day O'Keefe was found dead.
Read alleged McCabe was lying on the stand as the defendant left court on Wednesday, saying she never told the witness to make a Google search that morning.
"Every statement's different. Under oath. Not under oath," she said. "This is very similar to what we saw a year ago."
