DEDHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - On Tuesday, jurors heard frantic calls made by Karen Read to her boyfriend John O’Keefe and also heard testimony about the tail light on her SUV, and whether damage was found at the crime scene.
Read is accused of killing O’Keefe, a Boston police officer, by hitting him with her car and leaving him to die in the snow in the early morning hours of January 29, 2022.
State Trooper Nick Guarino takes the stand, jurors see phone records, health data
Phone records and health data show that after victim John O’Keefe got out of Karen Read’s Lexus at 34 Fairview, within a couple minutes, Read started calling his phone 52 times in total during the overnight hours.
State Trooper Nick Guarino testified after several unanswered calls, Read started leaving voicemails. Many of which were filled with expletives.
Read seemed desperate to find O’Keefe and leaves more than a half dozen messages on his phone during the time period when the state claims he would have been bleeding and freezing to death on the lawn at 34 Fairview. In one of them, she accused O’Keefe of being unfaithful.
“You are (expletive) using me right now,” said Read in a voicemail. “You’re (expletive) another girl. [Your niece] is sleeping next to me. You’re a (expletive) loser! (Expletive) yourself!).
Records show the calls began at 12:33 a.m.
At 12:36 a.m., Read’s phone connected to O’Keefe’s home Wi-Fi.
At 12:37 a.m., she leaves her first voicemail.
The calls stopped at 1:18 a.m., but resumed at 4:38 a.m., and Read’s tone switched from rage to panic.
Paul Gallagher retakes the stand
Retired Canton police lieutenant Paul Gallagher returned to the stand Tuesday in the Karen Read murder retrial.
Gallagher used a leaf blower to remove layers of snow from the ground where O’Keefe’s body was found. On Monday, he showed the jury the broken cocktail glass he says he found in the snow near O’Keefe’s body.
He also defended his unorthodox methods for processing the crime scene.
“I started with a low speed and began whisking away the snow. And then I saw how it was uncovering those pink spots, becoming brighter red, so I verified it was frozen or coagulated blood,” Gallagher said.
The defense has been highly critical of how Gallagher collected DNA evidence in Solo cups and Stop and Shop bags. But, he testified he was forced to make quick decisions in blizzard conditions.
Read is accused of killing O’Keefe, her boyfriend, by hitting him with her car and leaving him to die in a snowbank after a night of drinking. Her lawyers argue she is being framed. Her first trial last summer ended in a mistrial.
The defense is insinuating that Gallagher did search the residence thoroughly because he knew the home, 34 Fairview Road, belonged to another police officer.
“You have a guy out on the lawn with no coat on. You think the coat might be inside the house? That might be a reasonable assumption? Yes or no?” defense attorney Alan Jackson asked him Tuesday.
“No,” Gallagher responded.
“You’ve got a guy outside with no shoe on. You think the shoe might be inside the house?” Jackson asked. “That might be a reasonable assumption?”
“I never saw Mr. O’Keefe. I wasn’t aware that he didn’t have his shoe,” Gallagher said.
“Because you didn’t seek to find out the details. The fact is you didn’t seek a search warrant,” Jackson said.
“I wouldn’t, correct,” Gallagher said.
“The fact is you never searched the house,” Jackson said.
“That’s correct,” Gallagher replied.
“The fact is you never searched the basement,” Jackson said.
“That’s correct,” Gallagher said.
“The fact is you never searched the garage,” Jackson said.
“That’s correct,” Gallagher replied.
One of the Canton paramedics who tried to save O’Keefe’s life also testified Monday. Katie McLaughlin told the jury she heard Read confess to hitting her boyfriend.
Jury views statements Read made on camera
The 18 member jury also viewed several clips of statements Read made on camera. In one, she discusses what was going through her mind the morning the body was found.
“He’s roughly where I left him, so yeah, when I found him I was thinking, ‘Did I, like, clip him?'” Read said on camera in an Investigation Discovery docuseries.
Meteorologist testifies about the weather the night of the crime
Rob Gilman, a South Shore Meteorologist, testified about the weather when the crime took place. He was not a witness in the last trial.
“This was the biggest January storm in history,” said Gilman.
He examined weather data and said there was almost no snow on the ground just after midnight on January 29 in Canton, at the time Karen Read was driving over to Fairview Road with O’Keefe. He said the snowfall picked up overnight, and by 6 a.m., when O’Keefe was discovered, there were nearly four inches on the ground.
Gilman said due to a cold snap, the ground would have been very hard.
“It would have made the ground impenetrable, that hard,” said Gilman.
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